News: DOMA, Jesus Christ, Scott Evans, Le Mystique, Steve Jobs

DOMA repeal effort heating up: Nadler to introduce bill, HRC delivers surveys.

Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Community Churches rile bigots with billboards that say Jesus loved gays. Church website.

And this is what they mean when they say 'Jesus freak'.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District in California to provide harassment and discrimination prevention training as part of the settlement of a lawsuit involving football players who harassed the lead actress in a production of Rent and used anti-gay slurs in a Facebook video.

Minneapolis promoters First Avenue dump 'murder music' singer Buju Banton: "While seven shows have been cut, Banton’s tour still includes 20 other scheduled stops."

Ohio anti-discrimination ordinance to get floor vote.

Check out Saturday Night Live's upcoming line-up.

One Life to Live's Scott Evans talks about acting with his mom, coming out.

Randi Reitan: This mom is heading to the National Equality March.

Lesbian couple married in Iowa wants name-change in Nebraska. State says no.

A majority of Minnesota State Fairgoers approve of equality for gays and lesbians: "In the adult survey, participants were asked 15 questions; teens were asked 11. A total of 6,702 adults answered poll questions, and 476 teenagers. ... The adult poll asked: 'Would you support legislation that would provide same-sex couples with the same legal and economic rights and responsibilities as married couples, such as providing health care insurance coverage for one another, inheritance and pension benefits, hospital visitations and medical decision making?' More than 61 percent said yes and almost 34 percent said no."

Whitney Houston hits #1, looks to Oprah season opener.

Drag queen to sing at Giants game.

Part two of Outsports' interview with Johnny Weir: "I think everyone has the right to ask people anything. But the way I see things like coming out parties and being very theatrical and making such a big spectacle of things, I just don’t agree with making it a big spectacle. I was born Johnny Weir, whatever that entails. People can make their own assumptions and people can talk and people can chat, but it doesn’t change who I am and all of these things that contribute to my life."

Le Mystique: Montreal's oldest gay bar closing its doors.

Steve Jobs talks to the NYT David Pogue following Apple's iPod event yesterday.

Ashton Kutcher thinks pink.

Maine marriage equality opponents to rally in Augusta on Sunday: "More than 1,000 gay-marriage opponents are expected to rally in Augusta for an evening event Sunday featuring religious and conservative leaders from across Maine and the country. It's the second such rally held in the state capital this year and it's designed to inspire and motivate same-sex marriage opponents, said the Rev. Bob Emrich, of Plymouth, one of the organizers."

News: Men's Vogue, Brazil, Michael Steele, Namibia, Chupacabra

Finger bitten off at health care protest in Thousand Oaks, California.

Men's Vogue really did deserve to fail.

Mythical Chupacabra found in Texas?

Namibia to hold first gay rights march: "About 40 people are expected to take part in the event supported by Czech Republic NGO People in Need (PiN). In a press statement issued yesterday, PiN Sexual Minorities Co-ordinator Jacobus Witbooi said the march would also mark the inauguration of a new project for sexual minorities known as Ada Ma /Hao, meaning 'Let's Stand Together'."

Daniel Craig grows a pornstache...

Lady Gaga's VMA performance "to inspire a movement."

Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert McDonnell backs away from 1989 graduate thesis: "Man’s basic nature is inclined towards evil, and when the exercise of liberty takes the shape of pornography, drug abuse, or homosexuality, the government must restrain, punish, and deter."

Outsports interviews Johnny Weir.

Chace Crawford pulled in to bad photo shoot.

Focus on the Family to cut 75 more jobs: "an 8 percent reduction in a workforce that already has been cut twice since September 2008."

Tobias Wolff on gender identity protections and making the case.

Grad student interrupts RNC Chair Michael Steele to tell him about her mother who died of cancer because she couldn't afford chemotherapy medications. Steele's response: "So people go to town halls, they go out to the community, and they're like this. [shakes fists] It makes for great TV. You'll probably make it tonight. Enjoy it." Watch.

Brazilian magazine DOM shuts down: "not only because of the recession and the difficulty in finding advertisers willing to support a gay publication in Brazil, but also because of internal management issues."

Samantha Jones hits Sex and the City 2 set.

DSquared2's Dan and Dean Caten to get star on Canada's Walk of Fame: "It's the hugest award that we've received so far. It's an inspiration for all young Canadians: The sky's the limit, you can do whatever you want to do if you put your mind to it. It doesn't matter where you come from, it's where you want to go."

Mariah Carey works her early 90's look.

Washington state poll: support for same-sex domestic partnerships increases. "In 2006, about 59 percent of registered voters in Washington supported either same-sex marriage or domestic partnerships with the full rights of marriage, compared with 41 percent who favor fewer rights for such couples. But by 2008, 66 percent of registered voters said they supported same-sex marriage (36.7 percent) or full domestic partnerships (29.3 percent). Just 32.6 percent were in support of lesser rights."

Johnny Weir: Blonde in a Bubble Bath

On Monday I posted the teaser trailer for Pop Star on Ice, the forthcoming documentary about figure skater Johnny Weir. The film premieres at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 24.

The full trailer is now online. Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Johnny Weir to Skate on to the Big Screen

A new documentary is on its way this summer about figure skater Johnny Weir.

Watch the teaser for Pop Star on Ice, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Johnny Weir, Maryland, Nicolette Sheridan, True Blood, Bush

Killer withdraws "guilty" plea in Ryan Keith Skipper murder case. The plea bargain would have spared William Brown Jr. the death penalty. Brown is now scheduled to go on trial October 12.

Jackman's got milk.

Nicolette Sheridan bitchslaps Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry.

Figure skater Johnny Weir to be subject of reality show: "The half-hour 'Be Good Johnny Weir' will follow its subject, his coach, choreographers and hangers-on as they ready for the 2010 Winter Games. Sundance has ordered eight episodes of the series, which is produced by Endemol's Original Media."

Maryland General Assembly approves tax breaks for domestic partners: "The bill adds same-sex domestic partners to the list of family members who can inherit homes without paying taxes on that property."

John Barrowman wants to be a dad: "We really would like to be parents. I'm extremely broody and emotional right now. I think this year will be the year Scott and I look into making something happen. We're trying to work out whether to take the adoption route or something else. he other night I went to see Jason Donovan in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert and I was in floods of tears watching the scenes between him and his son."

True Blood is on its way back to Bon Temps.

Trans drag performer murdered in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

New Archbishop of England and Wales Vincent Nichols on gay relationships: ""I will always be happy as a guide to stick with Pope Benedict..Homosexuality - is it a sin? Homosexuality is not a sin. A person who is of a homosexual orientation is as worthy and as dignified as anybody else and one of the things I regret about our society is that it tends to identify people by their sexual orientation and that is a diminishing of a person. "Nobody should be put in a box because of their sexuality."

Democracy Now: Somali piracy originally began because of illegal fishing and toxic dumping by Western ships off the coast.

Lindsay Lohan eggs on the paparazzi.

BUSH SIX: Former Bush administration officials may face torture charges in Spain — Alberto Gonzales is among them. Video.

Orlando Bloom is Main Street's finest.

New orangutan population numbering up to 2,000 found in Indonesia: "A team surveying forests nestled between jagged, limestone cliffs on the eastern edge of Borneo island counted 219 orangutan nests, indicating a 'substantial' number of the animals, said Erik Meijaard, a senior ecologist at the U.S.-based The Nature Conservancy."

Isaac Mizrahi is a slob: "It takes a lot of effort for me to look this put together. If I had my way, I would sit on the couch all day and eat ice cream and go to pieces with my dogs because that is the ultimate luxury to sit and watch TV with one's dogs. I don't get time enough to do that. My boyfriend thinks I'm a little nuts because that's all I want to do on my time off and he's bored with that. He wants to go to India or something, but I'm not doing that, it's too late for India.""

News: Pedro Zamora, Pakistan, Judy Shepard, Venezuela, Adam Senn

18-year-old Seattle man charged with anti-gay hate crime after confrontation on bus followed by attempted robbery.

Family in attendance at capacity premiere of MTV biopic about late former Real World housemate and AIDS activist Pedro Zamora. Pictured, Zamora's sister Mily and star Alex Loynaz.

A shirtless Ed Westwick spotted proving he loves women.

Gay Pakistani man now living in New York tells Newsweek how a threat forced him out of the closet in Karachi: "He told me to drive again, and as we drove around for what seemed like hours, I had a vague sense that I needed to play his game and find a way to survive this ordeal. He demanded that I admit homosexuality was a sin, and I eventually complied. I also promised to meet him at a hotel the following day, where he would tell me how much money he wanted. He warned me that he had my car's license-plate number, and that he'd track me down if I didn't show."

Ciara debuts new video for "Love Sex Magic" with Justin Timberlake.

A whole bundle of Wild Things photos now out in the wild...

GQ profile on gay bishop Gene Robinson, Hendrik Hertzberg's New Yorker editorial on Prop 8 victory among nominees for National Magazine Awards.

Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary calls for gays to be stoned to death at London press conference: "'If a man likes another man, it can happen, but if you go on to fulfil your desire, if it is proved, then there is a punishment to follow. You don't stone to death unless there are four eyewitnesses. It is a very stringent procedure. 'There are some people who are attracted to donkeys but that does not mean it is right.'"

The son of poet Sylvia Plath, who took her own life at 30 by gassing herself in an oven, hanged himself at home after a battle with depression.

Gay Missouri man who claimed his businesses were targeted by an arsonist because he's gay is charged with burning the businesses himself: "The fires destroyed the three businesses and investigators said graffiti left at the fire scene initially appeared to support Thornton's claims to media outlets that he was being targeted for his sexual orientation and that the arson was a hate crime. Larson and Smith were charged Thursday following an investigation by Stockton police, the state fire marshal's office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms."

Alleged anti-gay attack in Atlanta questioned after surveillance cameras reveal nothing: Atlanta police "not taking stand" on legitimacy of hate crime.

Male model fix: The City's Adam Senn.

Hookies: Even gay hustlers have their own awards show.

Figure skaters getting pulled into a sequined vortex. Johnny Weir: "To be accepted worldwide, American skaters need to understand that excess is necessary. And yes, I take credit for that. I'm a firm believer that if you're a figure skater, you should wear a figure skating costume. You can't just wear all black and skate to Beethoven. There needs to be a story, and you're the storyteller."

Lesbian couple boycotts Napa after City Council declines to pass resolution supporting same-sex marriage.

Venezuela's 'Organic Bill for Gender Equality' on fast track: "it would include language allowing 'the union between two people of the same gender' in the form of something she called 'co-inhabiting associations'."

Judy Shepard brings message of need for tolerance to 4,000 professional school counselors in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Vancouver Fountainhead Pub assault not likely to be labeled a hate crime because those involved were playing pool together beforehand?: "The victim of the assault, Ritchie Dowie, a father of two, remains in grave condition in hospital with massive head injuries and is not expected to recover. The incident occurred in the Fountainhead Pub on Davie St., March 13, at about 8 p.m. Vancouver’s gay community have labeled the assault a hate crime following allegations that Woodward called Dowie a 'faggot' when he was apprehended by other patrons of the pub following the assault. Woodward’s counsel Joel Whysall said Friday that there was no evidence a hate crime had been committed."