Brit Boyband Singer Duncan James: 'I'm Bisexual'

Duncan James, an actor and singer in the British boyband Blue, tells the UK's News of the World that he is bisexual:

"I've been in loving relationships with men as well as women - and I'm not ashamed. "But even though I fancy men, I still fancy WOMEN too. Am I gay? Am I straight? Am I bi? That's why I was so frightened about talking. Now, in my early 30s, I know who I am and I'm proud of who I am. I don't want to hide anymore. I don't feel I should launch a big comeback with Blue hiding this - I don't want to go back to the time in the band when I felt I had to keep certain things quiet. I want to be OUT and say I've had relationships with men as well as women...I thought there might be weirdness but there wasn't. All of the boys accepted it. We were perceived as lads who went around and slept with women but on the inside we had a lot of love for each other. We always hugged and kissed each other...When you're a young band trying to be successful, there's a lot of pressure on you to be clean-cut and accessible to your female fans...I know most gay guys think, 'Bi Now, Gay Later' and maybe one day the thought of being with a woman won't work for me. But likewise, maybe the thought of being with a guy might be the same. I might want to settle down with a girl to have a family lifestyle. That appeals to me too. Mainly I just want to be happy. I want to be in a long-term relationship and, most importantly, be in love."

"Sooner or Later", a video by Duncan James, AFTER THE JUMP...

The Monroe Doctrine

Queerty turns in a fascinating and lengthy interview with gay TV pioneer Jim J. Bullock, most famous as Too Close for Comfort's sexually ambiguous Monroe.

"I didn't perceive myself as gay," he says. "I just thought of myself as funny."

Bullock officially came out of the closet on The Joan Rivers Show in 1990, and came out as HIV-positive in 1997.

"People were thinking you might not get hired because you might touch a bagel or whatever."

The piece is filled with Bullock's reminiscences about his eager beards, his time on The Jim J. & Tammy Faye Show with the late Tammy Faye Messner and what it was like having fans of Too Close for Comfort writing in asking if Monroe was gay...and hoping he wasn't.

Michael Urie Plays Early Gay Activist, Won't Discuss His Own Sexuality

Ugly Betty actor Michael Urie, who is starring in a play right now called The Temperamentals, about the formation of the nation's first pre-Stonewall gay rights organization, The Mattachine Society, refuses to discuss his own sexuality with New York magazine:

In the context of this play, it's almost impossible not to ask you about your own sexuality. You've never really publicly declared it, but on your own website, you identify yourself as "a member of the LGBT community" and say that organizations that help people with HIV/AIDS or people who are LGBT are "A-Number 1 in my book!" So what's the deal?

Well, that's my M.O. I'm interested in keeping — you know, actors have to be able to do lots of different things, and while I'd say there's an ongoing theme [to the parts I play], I'm also not interested in having any real publicity about who I am and what my private life is and things like that. I'm an actor and I don't want to be a [fill-in-the-] blank actor.

Do you really think that saying "I'm gay" would stop you from getting an array of roles?

That's not really the point. By using publicity to say something like that, it could become a person's M.O, and I'm not interested in that. I really think this article should be about The Temperamentals. I understand where you're coming from and why you think this is important and that this is a play about being true to yourself. But artists and activists are not quite the same thing, and I feel like support can come from lots of different ways.

Do you get sick of reporters asking you about this?

They don't ask about it as much as you might think. Actually, it's been a long time since anyone asked it. I don't think it's really newsworthy if the gay guy from Ugly Betty is gay or not.

Except, of course, if he's playing a character "who left before he could be outed to become a fashion designer so influential he made the cover of Time in 1967" in a play about gays who stood up for themselves by coming out. 

Gene Simmons: Adam Lambert 'Killed His Career' by Coming Out

In a mid-June interview with FOX Philadelphia, Gene Simmons said that Adam Lambert should stop talking about his sexuality.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Said Simmons: ""Mostly he should shut up about his sexual preferences. We, America, the rest of the world, really don’t care. I mean, if the story becomes ‘I prefer farm animals to,’ you know, who cares? Be quiet about what it is you do indoors and go out there and sing."

In a more recent interview, AOL asked Simmons why he was "talking smack" about Lambert:

"I don't think I've been talking smack at all. In fact, if anything, I've been soft-peddling. He's enormously talented, best talent 'American Idol' has had, but I think he killed his career because now the conversation is not about his talent but about his sexual preference. He's done. You're forcing people to deal with issues they may not be interested in. Life is unfair, and the masses don't all live in L.A. They live in Wisconsin and Nebraska, and you're on crack if you think the same rules apply there. My advice is still the same, shut the f*** up, just sing and let people say whatever they want. But I do wish him the best because he's got all the talent in the world. If only the world was not homophobic, but it is. I would be the first one to vote for equal rights for gay women and men, and get the church and the state to stop telling everybody how to lead their lives, but do I think he's killed his career? Oh, in an instant. I hope I'm completely wrong. I hope he becomes the next Beatles and proves me wrong."

Watch Simmons' original interview, AFTER THE JUMP...

Gay Turkish Football Referee Fights Back After Firing

Turkey's football federation is "backpedaling" after firing referee Halil Ibrahim Dincdag because he is gay and outing him to the press following a surge of public support in his favor. The surge was in response to the fact that instead of running and hiding,  Dincdag went on a popular sports program to discuss his sexuality.

The Independent reports: "Mr Dincdag's television appearance was an act of considerable courage. Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, unlike in some other Muslim countries. But homophobia is widespread, no-where more so than in the world of football. 'The crowds shout 'faggot' at referees whose decisions they don't like,' Mr Dincdag said. 'Well, here I am.' His principled stance brought him a wave of support. Three-quarters of Trabzon's 80 referees rang him up to congratulate him. Thirty thousand people signed a petition launched by Turkey's most influential newspaper backing his campaign. One columnist even compared him to Harvey Milk, America's first openly gay politician. Turkey's deputies brought his case to parliament. Most importantly for Mr Dincdag, his pious family, from whom he had kept his homosexuality secret, stood behind him.

Said Dincdag: "They thought I was an ant that they could crush, they thought I would run away and hide in a corner. But they have destroyed my life and I will fight them to the end. The day the press started writing about me, I went into a coma, and the day I appeared on TV I died. Thirty-three years of my life had disappeared. Since then, I have been trying to resurrect myself.""

The football federation now claims that Dincdag was fired for his performance and activists are saying his case has the potential to become a landmark anti-discrimination case because of Turkey's European Union accession bid.

Said Ali Erol, a spokesman for KAOS-GL, an Ankara-based gay and lesbian rights group: "For years, the European Union has been talking about the importance of legislation on sexual discrimination in the workplace. So far Turkey has not taken one step forward."

News: Flamingos, Pizza Hut, Frameline, Sao Paulo, Barney Frank

Newsman Walter Cronkite gravely ill.

Baby flamingos frightened by pink sock.

Pizza Hut gets a new name.

Rich Juzwiak at FourFour takes a hard look at the recently-broadcast PBS DADT documentary Ask Not.

Labor leader Stuart Appelbaum comes out: Being gay. It's who I am.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera files amicus brief in support of Olson-Boies challenge to Proposition 8.

California marriage equality battle goes to Chinatown: "Lost in the 2009 election wreckage for gays was the marriage campaign's relative success in Asian communities, which have swung toward support of same-sex marriage at a faster rate than the rest of California and have become a model for other groups."

Barney Frank introduces legislation decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Long Island man charged with assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment in homophobic attack.

Cristiano Ronaldo extends tanning streak.

Window Media publisher and Avalon Equity partner David Unger axed by the Small Business Administration.

Wayne Besen on Obama and the Democratic Party: "The Democrats took our money, our votes and our volunteer hours and now they tell us to wait patiently, like good little gays. As far as I'm concerned, if the donkeys can't deliver now, they can kiss my ass. The Democrats run the show in Washington and if they will not act like a majority party, then they do not deserve to be one."

Karen Ocamb: Will gays divorce the Democrats?

Democrats caving on health care reform? Where in the world is Kathleen Sebelius?

Justin Chambers takes a swim in Hawaii.

Porn producer and actor Michael Lucas to appear on Ugly Betty: "How will ABC deal with a porn star on one of its prime time programs? I am curious to see how this will play out. Now, I am not suggesting that my little walk-on will change the world. But I hope it will be one step taking us out of the privacy of people’s bedrooms and onto a larger stage. And I hope the American public will enjoy seeing a porn star as a real person, not just as a hot body."

21 hurt in Sao Paulo Gay Pride bomb attack.

Robert Pattinson hit by NYC cab.

Can Apple control the derogatory use of the word "gay" in their user-generated app reviews? If so, they should.

Australian man awarded $468,736 for school bullying he endured in the 90's: "He told a civil hearing in the NSW Supreme Court he was abused by older students, including being struck with a broom, having his knuckles rapped with a steel ruler and being called 'sterile', 'faggot', 'pedophile' and 'Nazi'.

A preview of San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival.