News: Donal Og Cusack, Ecuador, Magic Johnson, HPV, Jared Polis

Here Media chairman Stephen Jarchow on Gay.com purchase and expanding "empire": "As the result of this deal, we have become a unique company that straddles traditional distribution and digital distribution. We own pretty much the entire media for the gay marketing space."

Irish hurler Donal Óg Cusack gives his first public interview since coming out.

Michael Jackson wears Tom Ford cologne and speaks to LaToya from beyond the grave.

Matt Foreman: TV ads not the answer in Maine.

Brad Pitt in motorcycle fender-bender.

Rep. Jared Polis holds LGBT town hall in Denver.

"All of us old junkies just turn into dowagers." Carrie Fisher gives a candid interview to Kevin Sessums at The Daily Beast.

NYT: Timing key in Olson-Boies Prop 8 challenge: "Mr. Olson’s problem, then, is that he may reach the Supreme Court too soon. Public support for same-sex marriage is gaining ground, particularly among younger people. But a majority of Americans remains opposed to the practice."

Charlize Theron kisses woman for $140,000 at San Francisco auction benefit.

Beckham embracing the werewolf trend.

Diocese of South Carolina distances itself from Episcopal Church over gays and same-sex unions: "Eighty-seven clergy members voted to pass the resolution after a nearly hour-long debate during a special convention in Mount Pleasant, Canon Kendall Harmon said, with 17 voting no. The vote allows leaders of the diocese to reduce its participation in the national church without severing ties completely, as some dioceses and parishes have."

NYPD cars retrofitted with "rumble" technology.

Roadblocks to HPV vaccine for men continue...

Nude coffee maker Eric Williamson defends himself after incident: "I looked straight at the cops and said, 'You're telling me that none of you guys have ever walked across your kitchen or run to the laundry room to get some pants?' I was treated like an animal. If there was something offensive, would not a knock on the door and heads-up suffice?"

First look: Lady Gaga on Gossip Girl.

Male model fix: Andre Ziehe.

Food critic slammed by animal rights groups for shooting "inedible" baboon for sport: "Writing in yesterday's Sunday Times Style section, Gill said he was driven by the urge to be a 'recreational primate killer' while on a trip to Tanzania. 'I know perfectly well there is absolutely no excuse for this,' he wrote. 'Baboon isn't good to eat, unless you're a leopard. The feeble argument for cull and control is much the same as for foxes: a veil of naughty fun.'"

Gay Iowa couples reflect on six months of marriage.

Transgender makeovers offered on busy Quito, Ecuador street.

College of William and Mary names transgender homecoming queen: “We figured it would be something different for the school to go through, something that hasn’t happened too often. I was kind of surprised that I won because I knew the other girls running. I know that they’re really friendly; they’re wonderful people, so I was unsure.”

Book: Magic Johnson blames Isiah Thomas for gay rumors.

Morrissey discharged from hospital following weekend stage collapse.

Washington man gets 18 months in prison for gay immigration fraud: "Steven Mahoney touted himself as an expert in immigration affairs and ran Mahoney and Associates in Kent, which advised immigrants on how to stay in the U.S. He pleaded guilty in April, acknowledging that between 1998 and 2007 he filed as many as 99 false immigration documents and was paid between $1,000 and $4,000 for each."

Irish Hurler Donal Og Cusack: 'I'm Gay'

Donal Og Cusack, a legendary Irish goalkeeper in the Gaelic sport of hurling, has come out of the closet in a new biography, the Belfast Telegraph reports:

"The player has lifted the lid off his bisexual past in a candid story of his life that makes him the first ever senior GAA star to publicly declare his homosexuality. The Cork hurler from the small village of Cloyne is a legend in GAA circles after winning three All-Ireland finals. Yet in what may shock the sporting establishment, he admits to sleeping with both women and men before accepting his sexuality as a gay man in his autobiography Come What May published by Penguin Ireland and due out this month. In an honest and down-to-earth account of his life as one of the GAA's most high-profile players, he reveals how he tried to date women as a young man even though he knew from the age of 13 or 14 'that I was a bit different'. 'I tried to go out with women to make sure, to see what kind of feeling it gave me,' he writes.' I went out with nice women and good women, but sure, I still knew. I wanted something else. I get more out of men. I just do. Always have. I know I am different but just in this way. Whatever you may feel about me or who I am, I've always been at peace with it,' he said."

Watch a clip of a hurling match, AFTER THE JUMP...

Dublin Says Good-bye to Boyzone Star Stephen Gately

Approximately 3,500 people lined the streets outside Dublin's St Laurence O'Toole Memorial Church to say good-bye Saturday to Boyzone star Stephen Gately, who died suddenly last weekend at the age of 33.

Watch a video, AFTER THE JUMP...

The Guardian reports: "After Gately's coffin was carried out of the church, the surviving members of Boyzone stood behind the hearse in a silent group, huddled for a few minutes' reflection while local women and children showered them and the hearse with dozens of white roses. As the funeral cortege made its way up Seville Place, flanked by five garda motorbike outriders, a train on the railway bridge over the street suddenly halted while thousands all around clapped and cheered. Among the celebrities who attended the funeral were the band's founder and X-Factor judge Louis Walsh, David Furnish, Shane Ward, Jason Donovan, Brian McFadden and Vanessa Feltz. Messages of condolence were sent by David and Victoria Beckham and Elton John, among others. When the Gately family, friends and the celebrities he knew and worked with had gone, five photographs of the singer at various stages of his life were left behind inside the church, and one of him together with the rest of Boyzone. Gately was later cremated after a short service at Dublin's Glasnevin cemetery."

An autopsy reported that Gately had died of natural causes. There was widespread criticism this week over a homophobic Daily Mail column by Jan Moir which used rumors surrounding Gately's death to slam the gay "lifestyle" and the "happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships".

Gately married Andy Cowles in March 2006 in one of the first high-profile same-sex civil partnerships after they became legal in the UK.

Today, tabloid News of the World released video of the night Gately died showing the singer and Cowles leaving a nightclub in Majorca. The video appears to contradict reports that Gately had been on a drinking binge.

Watch a report on the funeral, featuring clips of Boyzone singing at the church service and Ronan Keating reading an emotional memorial, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: 'Ex-Gays', Neil Patrick Harris, Favre Goat, Swine Flu, Ireland

Neil Patrick Harris to guest judge on American Idol.

The "Michael Jackson is alive" conspiracies start.

Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays LOSE court case, portray it as "precedent setting" victory. TWO: "In a breathless press release PFOX called their failure a 'precedent setting case' and claimed that the Court ruled that 'former homosexuals are a protected class that must be recognized under sexual orientation non-discrimination laws.'  What the court actually did was disagree with DC’s Office of Human Rights, which had said that ex-gays are not covered under the D.C. Human Rights Act, because a protected a group must show immutable characteristics."

Ryan Gosling works up a sweat at the gym.

CBS 5 profile on Congressional hopeful Anthony Woods.

Utah homophobe Chris Buttars attacks Salt Lake City non-discrimination ordinance: "I've never seen any facts. I see these wild accusations. Let's say someone is gay, but [he's] also a terrible employee -- is that possible? [He gets] fired for something else. You know the gay community is going to claim [the employer] did it because he's gay."

Chris Brown instructed to stay away from Rihanna for five years.

Adam Lambert joins charity to help public schools in need of arts and music funding.

Dallas: Jimmy Lee Dean testifies against Bobby Singleton in Oak Lawn gay bashing case.

CDC: Gay and bisexual men contract HIV/AIDS at a rate 50 times that of the general population.

Irish Cardinal Sean Brady speaks out against same-sex civil unions: "The book of nature is one and indivisible. It takes in not only the environment but also life, sexuality, marriage, the family, social relations—in a word—integral human development. Our duties towards the environment are linked to our duties towards the human person, considered in himself and in relation to others. It would be wrong to uphold one set of duties while trampling on the other."

Owner of Castro bar Blackbird dies of swine flu: "He was 41 years old, and was in Palm Springs at the time of his infection, and he had not been traveling abroad, according to business partner Shawn Vergara."

SICK: Purple Favre goat found in car trunk.

Washington Referendum 71 signature error rate still within limit: "Elections officials said Tuesday they've checked more than 110,000 Referendum 72 signatures. Backers of the measure want to overturn Washington's new "everything but marriage" same-sex domestic partner law. Officials say 97,261 signatures have been accepted and 13,027 rejected. The overall error rate is 11.81 percent, up from the 11.72 percent rate reported Monday."

Irish Village Hosts 'World's Smallest Gay Pride'

The small village of Easkey on the coast in County Sligo, Ireland, went "gay for a day" on Sunday, according to Irish Central:

 "The local Family Resource Center of Easkey, population 250, is urging residents to 'go gay' in an act of support of the local LGBT community. The village, which is best known as a surfing and fishing town and has just two shops, two pubs, two butchers and a post office, will host a reception in its Family Resource Center followed by a shoreside barbecue. Organizers expect around 80 people from the community to attend, all of whom will wear pins proudly stating: 'gay for a day.'"

Said organizer and 10-year Easkey resident Denise Clarke, 48: "There is a trend now in Ireland where gay people are leaving the big cities and returning to their rural roots. It is no longer a necessity to run off to Dublin or London or Manchester to 'come out'. As a society we have moved on and are more broadminded and accepting. [When she first moved to the small seaside town of Easkey, she was ostracized and] "people were afraid of the new lesbian in town. One woman even rang around the local farmers to warn them that their wives could be in danger. It was just a lot of fear and some ignorance, but an event like this today helps dispel those myths and brings the townfolk together."

Meanwhile, in Dublin on Sunday, 5,000 took to the streets in support of marriage equality.

(image source)

5,000 March, Demand Marriage Equality in Dublin, Ireland

Five thousand gays and lesbians and supporters marched in the streets of Dublin, Ireland yesterday in opposition to a civil partnership bill being introduced by the government. Why? The government should be offering full marriage, they say.

Watch video, AFTER THE JUMP...

Irish Times reports: "The crowd, which had earlier marched from Dublin’s City Hall, was campaigning for an outright lifting of the ban on same-sex marriages. It included gay and lesbian groups, representatives of Amnesty International, the Union of Students in Ireland and others. A number of speakers gave personal testimony of their bid to get equal rights, and two women, introduced as Mia and Shani, spoke of having to “validate” their relationship to officials of the Department of Justice. The form of validation was a written testament to their commitment to each other. Mia told the crowd she had felt insulted and demeaned by having to make such a validation to 'a bureaucrat with a stamp', but had done so to ensure residency permission for Shani. The women said they felt the process was unequal in that heterosexual couples did not generally have to go through such a process. Heterosexuals could confer citizenship rights on their partners by marriage, they argued. 'Why is my citizenship overshadowed by my sexual orientation. I am either an Irish citizen or I am not. It really is that simple' said Mia."

Watch a news report from RTE Ireland, AFTER THE JUMP...