News: Neil Patrick Harris, Hip-Hop, Kevin Rudd, PETA, Zac Efron

Australian PM Kevin Rudd presented with first major gay rights challenge of his administration as ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope asks him to allow same-sex civil unions.

Tiny Wookie takes leak on the ruler of the Naboo people.

Anti-gay South American Anglican Archbishop defies requests to stay away from Canada: "Archbishop Gregory Venables, who claims to represent 15 breakaway Anglican congregations in Canada, will speak Friday at a gathering in Delta of the conservative Anglican Network in Canada. Venables, who has been criticized as a rogue archbishop by Anglican colleagues in South America and elsewhere, is recruiting Anglican congregations in Canada and the U.S. that have opposed the ordination of homosexuals and the church blessing of their relationships. The primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Fred Hilz, wrote a public letter to Venables on Monday urging him to stay home and saying that entering his North American jurisdiction 'will further harm the strained relations' between Canadian Anglicans."

Ewan McGregor makes light of skin cancer scare: “It was great fun having skin cancer, it was great, I really enjoyed it.”

Richard's Quest: The CNN reporter's Central Park thought process flowchart.

Zac Efron gives big to cancer patient in the UK.

A night out with Neil Patrick Harris at The Magic Castle: “I’m not the guy who goes to Skybar,” Mr. Harris said. "I’m not good with that random small talk with people I’ll never meet again. I prefer to take a friend somewhere eventful." He also says he's looking forward to welcoming Britney back to his show.

PETA offers $1 million prize for test tube meat: "The organization said it would announce plans today for a $1 million prize to the 'first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in-vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012.' The idea of getting the next Chicken McNugget out of a test tube is not new. For several years, scientists have worked to develop technologies to grow tissue cultures that could be consumed like meat without the expense of land or feed and the disease potential of real meat. An international symposium on the topic was held this month in Norway. The tissue, once grown, could be shaped and given texture with the kinds of additives and structural agents that are now used to give products such as soy burgers a more meaty texture."

Former MTV executive Terrance Dean promises to out DL players in the hip-hop industry in new book.

Investigators suspect gay angle in New Delhi murder.

Janet Jackson, who is set to receive a GLAAD award in L.A. this weekend, talks to E!'s Marc Malkin about AIDS, drag queens, Ellen Degeneres, and Lawrence King: "He was finally coming into his own and being himself and being OK with who he was. He was feeling good about that and not living in this shell and pretending to be someone else. He was letting all of that go and saying, 'This is me.' But being murdered for being who you are, for being real—we were crushed by that."

Neil Haskell, from So You Think You Can Dance, has joined the New York cast of Altar Boyz.

Clay Aiken is Tyra Banks' reward for 500 episodes.

ACLU asks Florida judge to reopen case on Okeechobee gay-straight alliance: " The lawsuit was recently dismissed by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore after its lead plaintiff Yasmin Gonzalez graduated and the club itself dwindled down to zero members, leading the judge to drop a requirement that the group be allowed to meet while the lawsuit was pending. The lawsuit was initially filed in November 2006 under the federal Equal Access Act after the student group claimed the school district would not allow it to meet at Okeechobee High School. The school district claimed it was banning the club in part because it was a 'sex-based' club and could conflict with abstinence-only education."

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Gay Rapper Qboy Fights Homophobic Bullying in Wales

Gay UK hip-hop artist Qboy was speaking out about being gay back in April 2004 when I first posted about him, but now he's involved with Excellence Centre Wales, "an organisation that gathers and shares excellence, information and good practice on equality and human rights as well as for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people" according to 24Dash, to raise awareness and help prevent bullying in schools:

"Rising star, rapper and DJ, QBoy speaks about his own experiences of homophobic bullying at school in his tracks and is committed to raising awareness of the issue. He said: 'When being bullied as a teenager never did I imagine it would play such an important part of my dream career of being a performer. It feels good to turn my unhappy experience into something positive and hopefully help other people going through similar experiences. 'I applaud the schools who are actively trying to combat and deal with the homophobia that is so evident in today's classrooms and playgrounds. Homophobia doesn't just affect those who are gay or perceived to be gay, it affects all of us and it is a problem we all need to help resolve. In the end, every one of us strives to live in a society which is happy and accepting of one another.'"

The group is doing its work in Cardiff, Wales, but it's certainly a message that would translate over here.

Gay rapper Qboy takes anti-homophobia message to Cardiff schools [24dash]

Previously
Qboy: homosexual hip-hop [tr]

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News: Rick Astley, Zimbabwe, Fat Joe, David Cook, Karl Lagerfeld

Zimbabwe: Intelligence officers for the government of Robert Mugabe force opposition supporters to take down their posters and eat them. "Amnesty International cited a case on March 7, when three members of the Morgan Tsvangirai-led faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were ordered by intelligence officers to take down election posters. According to Amnesty, the officials forced the opposition supporters to chew the posters and swallow them."

Fat Joe and Suge White mock fellow hip-hop artists 50 Cent and G-Unit with 'Gay-Unit' mix tape: "Featuring a Photoshoped image of 50, Yayo and Banks tightly embraced, all three rappers are portrayed with smeared lipstick on the face, as Yayo was tattooed with a "I Miss Jail" on his right shoulder and Banks sporting a portrait of Curtis on his left shoulder with 'Delicious' tagged under." (image via Rod 2.0)

American Idol: Is David Cook an 'original', or just a really good cover artist?

University of Pittsburgh study: LGB youth report higher rates of drug and alcohol use. "The odds of substance use for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth are on average 190 percent higher than for heterosexual youth...What's more, for some sub-populations of LGB youth, the odds were substantially higher, including 340 percent for bisexual youth and 400 percent for lesbians, researchers found. 'Homophobia, discrimination and victimization are largely what are responsible for these substance use disparities in young gay people,' said Michael P. Marshal, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC, who led the study. 'History shows that when marginalized groups are oppressed and do not have equal opportunities and equal rights, they suffer. Our results show that gay youth are clearly no exception.'"

The second coming of Rick Astley: the "Never Gonna Give you Up" singer talks about the RickRoll.

Apparently they are remaking the 70's kids TV show Land of the Lost at the La Brea Tar Pits, but I don't know how you can ever replicate the wonderfully bad fake dinos and the Sleestaks...

Ellen Degeneres top television host in new poll.

'Domestic partnership' to become 'mutual commitment' in Salt Lake City? "Some legislators argued that the term 'domestic partnership,' at least in spirit, violated Utah's constitutional Amendment No. 3, which bans same-sex marriage and substantially similar civil unions. Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker said Tuesday he will recommend to the City Council that the name be changed to the mutual commitment registry. The City Council likely will consider the recommendation at its April 1 meeting. If approved, the registry could be up and running as soon as April 7."

Ronald Haines, Episcopal Bishop who ordained lesbian in 1991, dies in Pennsylvania.

Karl Lagerfeld the subject of new documentary: "The film is Lagerfeld Gone Wild, with delights such as Lagerfeld discussing how gay people suck nowadays because they no longer outrage 'bourgeois social norms' and why prostitution should be legal. He's full of opinions."

Mario Lopez hawks abtastic new fitness book.

Vienna LGBT group announces poster competition to raise awareness about homophobia in football: "With the European championships to be held in Austria and Switzerland this summer, Qwien said it wanted to draw attention to homophobia in football. 'By launching a Europe-wide poster competition, we will make an otherwise taboo topic public' during the championships, it said. Posters had to be submitted by the end of May. The best 50 would be selected and then a jury - including Icelandic film director Robert Douglas, Life Ball organiser Gery Keszler, the president of Hamburg's FC St. Pauli football club Corny Littmann, pop singer Jimmy Somerville and Tanja Walther of the the European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation - would pick the best three. The winner would be announced on June 4. The 50 best posters would be displayed "at a public venue" during the championship itself, which runs from June 7-29." (official site)

More gay looks for Jay Leno.

L.A.'s first openly gay police officer seeks new trial in discrimination suit: "Former Sgt. Mitchell Grobeson wants a rehearing of a discrimination suit that sought up to $4.4 million in damages. A jury ruled for the city last year. A Superior Court judge on Tuesday took under submission Grobeson's motions for a new trial and reinstatement to the LAPD. Grobeson did two stints with the LAPD in the 1980s and 1990s before retiring on a psychological disability. The LAPD settled a previous suit by Grobeson in 1993 by promising to improve its hiring and training of gay officers."

Remember Aquaman? Alan Ritchson a superhero again.

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Mary J. Blige Offers Up Her Gay 411 to The Advocate

I've always been a huge fan of Mary J. Blige, but after reading her cover interview in the forthcoming issue of The Advocate, my respect for her has grown by leaps and bounds.

"The majority of my fans are gay," she tells writer Ernest Hardy. "The majority of them are, and I have to really make sure that they know I’m paying attention to the fact that they support me, and I support them."

Blige talks about her youth: When I was growing up, my neighborhood was full of everyone—black, white, Latino, gay, straight. A lot of people that I knew were gay, but they were great people. They were good people. It’s not like they were alien. They were just people. That [acceptance] was just something that was always in me. I’ve never been a judgmental person because I have been through so much hell myself."

She also talks about the loss of her close friend songwriter Kenny Greene to AIDS, and why she got involved with causes like Minority AIDS Project: "[AIDS] was the elephant in the room that nobody’s looking at. It made me be like, Oh, this is right at our front door. This can touch us. So why wouldn’t I want to get involved with something that can help save all our lives, save everybody’s lives?"

And of homophobia in hip-hop, she adds: "The real hip-hop, the real people don’t even care about that. They’ll love you and accept you no matter what because they know who they are. There are a lot of people trying to figure out who they are and what they’re gonna be. There’s a lot of confusion in that. Confusion causes a lack of identity. I’ve heard a couple of guys say foul things, and those guys are not around me anymore because when they say things like that, I’m looking at them like, What makes you so scared? You don’t know who you are? I guess it all boils down to them not being sure about themselves and what they wanna do, whoever that is. I won’t say any names. And I don’t dislike them or anything—it just makes me wonder about them period. ’Cause if you’re not sure about that, then you ain’t sure about a lotta things!"

It's a lengthy interview, with plenty of info on her new album Growing Pains. It hits newsstands on November 20.

The Advocate [website]

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Dooney Da Priest Says Saggy Pants Song isn't an Attack on Gays

Rapper Dooney da Priest said that lyrics in a PSA campaign by the City of Dallas weren't meant to offend gay people. The campaign, an attempt to curb the trend of saggy hip-hop pants, was criticized as homophobic for suggesting that wearing your pants low is a bad thing because it suggests that you are gay.

NPR reports: "After listeners pointed out the inherent homophobia taunting men for looking like they live 'on the down low,' Da' Priest says he apologized to the gay community on his MySpace page. Da' Priest says that the song isn't an attack on gay people, and that he was 'dealing with the N-word, too.'...'Whether their sexual preference is to be a homosexual or being gay, that's their problem,' Da' Priest says. 'I'm the street, I'm the street priest, and I have real good Christian values on what I believe in, and I am against homosexuality. But this is not the reason why I wrote the song.'"

Saggy Pants Songwriter Sort of Says He's Sorry [npr]

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Dallas Launches Homophobic Campaign Against Saggy Hip-Hop Pants [tr]

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Dallas Launches Homophobic Campaign Against Saggy Hip-Hop Pants

In an effort to target the trend of saggy hip-hop pants, the City of Dallas has launched a homophobic billboard and hip-hop campaign that targets low-riding jeans wearers by pressuring them to stop the trend because it's a signal that you're gay.

The "Pull Your Pants Up" campaign features billboards donated by Clear Channel which read: "Pull your pants up! It's rude, not cool... Walkin'' around showin' your behind to other dudes."

If that isn't bad enough, the campaign has a signature song recorded by rap artist Dooney Da' Priest containing lyrics that say, "You walk the streets with your pants way down low/ I don't know/ looks to me you on the down low."

They continue: "If you stand up straight, bet your pants fall/ Might as well walk around with your pants off/
Pull 'em up, pull 'em up, pull 'em up/ Be a real man/ Stand up/ Is that your underwear, man? Pull your pants up."

Dooney Da Priest talked to FOX News: "Got a lot of partners of mine, they come out of jail, they let me know that means you're basically easy, you're lettin another man know that you're available."

Dallas Deputy Mayor Dwaine Caraway talked to NPR about the campaign: "The No. 1 mission is very simple: pulling up your pants. That's all we want. We don't want to throw folks in jail because they wear their pants low. So we're going to make it man's law and not city law."

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Ja Rule Responds to Furor Over Homophobic Remarks

In early September, rapper Ja Rule made his thoughts known about scheduled Congressional hearings regarding the exploitation of women in hip-hop lyrics by telling Complex magazine that the problem with America is not hip-hop, but homosexuality.

Said Ja Rule: "...lets talk about all these f--king shows that they have on MTV that is promoting homosexuality, that my kids can't watch this sh-t. Dating shows that's showing two guys or two girls in mid-afternoon. Let's talk about s--t like that! If that's not f--king up America, I don't know what is....There's a lot of issues we can address besides hip-hop, but they want to put everything on us like we're the problem."

Now, Ja Rule has talked to Spinner and attempted to clarify his position on the issue:

When asked by Spinner if he's homophobic, Ja Rule responds: "I'm a very avid speaker for all people's rights and people having their own preference. I was taken out of context. My statement was more about where our mind state is as a people. We're focused on the wrong things -- like, our country is at war right now. These things are more of a problem to me. Like another case I just read about -- young ladies being raped by six white men. These are the stories that should be popping up on my TV screen. That's what I was talking about, and somehow it got spun into some other s---."

Spinner also asks the rapper what he might do if one of his kids turned out to be gay. Says Ja Rule: "That's their own preference. I'm going to love them regardless. I have relatives that are homosexuals and, you know, they come over for Christmas, hang out. It's something that starts with us. That's why my album is named 'The Mirror' -- because everybody has to look at themselves and take it upon themselves to educate. It's my responsibility to educate my children -- not the TV. I think a visual is more influential than audio, but that goes without being said. You know, that's the world we live in and people are tight in the collar about a lot of issues. It is what it is."

And about gay marriage, the rapper adds, "It's really not my business. I really could care less. It's not something that bothers me."

Ja Rule Looks in 'The Mirror,' Comes Clean on Homophobia [spinner]

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Ja Rule: Gays the Problem with Society, Not Hip-Hop

Rapper Ja Rule is upset that Congress is set to hold hearings regarding the exploitation of women in hip-hop lyrics. He tells Complex magazine:

"They got my man Doug Morris under fire and sh-t, they got him going down to go speak to Congress about hip-hop lyrics, are you f--king serious? There's a f--king black kid right now about to get 25 years for having a fight with some white kids over hanging the nooses over the white tree, let's get to that. Let's get into sh-t like that, because that's what's tearing up America, not me calling a woman a b--ch or a h-e on my rap songs. And if it is, then we need to go step to Paramount, and f--king MGM, and all of these other motherf--kers that's making all of these movies and we need to go step to MTV and Viacom, and lets talk about all these f--king shows that they have on MTV that is promoting homosexuality, that my kids can't watch this sh-t. Dating shows that's showing two guys or two girls in mid-afternoon. Let's talk about s--t like that! If that's not f--king up America, I don't know what is....There's a lot of issues we can address besides hip-hop, but they want to put everything on us like we're the problem. This is going to be a shameless f--king plug, but I said, 'when everyone wants to point the finger, and ask why there's so much corruption, they only need to look in the mirror.' It starts with themselves."

Perhaps Congress should add homophobia to its agenda.

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Kanye West: Still Not Gay

Kanye West continues to address his heterosexuality, in an interview with the UK's Manchester Evening News:

"Speaking out against hip-hop homophobia, some people were like 'Oh, Kanye must be gay! Look at the way he's dressing! And why would he speak about it? He's a gay rapper'," he notes. "And my whole point is, I wouldn't have spoke on that if I was gay or if I was in the closet. I would have stayed so far away from it. And I'm still homophobic myself to certain extent. You know, I wouldn't go to a gay parade and feel comfortable. I wouldn't ever to a gay club or something and just be chillin' and grab a drink. It's being in the entertainment world, I meet so many different gay people who are actually nice people. Where I came from, Chicago, being black and being a hip-hop artist, we used to really disrespect gay people. And the thing is, we can't get close to them with a 10-foot pole. And I realised, 'wow, how ignorant has this been?'"

Kanye West: The Big Interview [manchester evening news]

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Kanye West and Ne-Yo: We're Not Gay! [tr]

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BBC Refuses to Ban The Game, Tells Artists to Play Nice

In July 2006, rapper The Game referred to gay men as "faggots" and "not real men" on DJ Jo Whiley's radio show. This week, BBC officials determined that "the Game's comments were very offensive, completely unacceptable and clearly homophobic."

I'm not sure what took them so long to figure that out. what they were also trying to determine was whether or not to take action against Whiley for the rapper's slurs. They decided that no, The Game acted on his own. According to WENN, "they decided not to take action against Whiley because she made a 'sincere, full and swift' apology and distanced herself and the network from The Game's comments."

While it was reported that any future interviews with The Game had been banned, the BBC denies that's the case, saying, "The BBC does not ban artists, but we do have editorial guidelines making clear that we do not condone homophobic comments or bad language, which all artists are expected to follow when they are on air during a live interview."

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Russell Simmons: "I'm Not Gay"

Def-Jam founder and fashion mogul Russell Simmons sounds off to the Dallas Voice's Daniel Kusner about rumors that gay rapper Caushun, who last month was exposed as a fraud, is trying to expose Simmons as gay and that there is a Blackberry out there being held for ransom that contains "steamy messages" between Simmons and another man.

Says Simmons: "Which came first? Me losing my Blackberry after being single for a year-and-a-half or Caushun trying to expose me for being gay? Don’t drag me into an interview that’s lower than my person — a catty-ass he-said, she-said … I believe gay people deserve dignity. Caushun doesn’t mean nothing to me. He’s not worth it. Essentially he wants to make himself famous. I thought he was a good rapper. Listen, I’m not gay. If I was, I would have the gift of another burden, and I would probably be instantly out. I fight for gay rights all the time. How about that?"

Simmons also talks about homophobia in hip-hop:

"Hip-hop is not music’s most homophobic genre. It’s music’s most honest genre. I know that 50 Cent is perceived as a homophobe. But if you asked him about gay marriage, I’d bet you 10-to-1, he’d approve. And if you asked Ludacris, he’d say the same thing. Rap is an expression of what we see. These artists are simply expressing the homophobia that’s in our society. Are rappers as violent as our government? No. Are the gangster rappers as gangster as our government? Hell no."

Simmons also says that when rappers say "faggot" they're not always referring to a gay person: "I’m not excusing them. But ‘nigger’ doesn’t always mean an uneducated, low-class, less-than-human person. I hear it in context. Unfortunately, however, there are not enough songs about the struggles of gay people."

Gay rapping with Russell Simmons [dallas voice]

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #142

HARDBALL: A discussion about civil unions and bigots.

AKON: Assaults a fan for tossing something at him onstage. Police seek kid to determine if there was any criminal offense.

POLITICS and TERROR: Keith Olbermann on the recent terror warnings.

CONYERS-JEFFERSON: FOX News confuses Congressman John Conyers for indicted Congressman Bill Jefferson.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here!

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Terrence Howard: Don't Judge Gays Because We All Sin

Terrence Howard, currently starring in Pride, a film with the gayest key art and title ever for a film having nothing to do with homosexuals (it's about a swim team for troubled black teens), recently said that although he disagrees with homosexuality, he can't judge others because he too has sinned, though not in the Biblical homosexual sense:

Said Howard, who made the statement with an eye on the homo-bashing Hip-Hop community: "Do I agree with homosexuality? No, I'm a Bible-based young man. But I know the Bible also speaks about homosexuality with liars, adulterers, thieves. I've lied, I've cheated on my wife, I've stolen. So how can I judge somebody for something that's mentioned in the same exact scripture? I believe we're all sinners. We're all trying to make it but our hip-hop community are a bunch of hypocrites right now."

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Gay Rapper Deadlee: Homophobic Eminem Picks Easy Targets [tr]
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