News: Eminem, Pilot Whales, Outfest, Tel Aviv, Jesus Luz, Tim Kaine

DNC Chair Tim Kaine issues LGBT Pride month statement.

Second 'Million Fag March' held near Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church: "Love, who organized the march, said he picked the Gage Park location because it is the same place Westboro leader and anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps began staging his protests in 1991."

Guess which celebrity turned down the offer Eminem accepted to be the butt of Bruno's MTV Movie Awards joke.

Obama names new Army Secretary, Rep. John McHugh: few clues as to position on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

Zachary Quinto grows a John Waters pornstache.

Washington Post on the Robert Wone murder case: "So began a real-life parlor mystery -- an unsolved killing and alleged coverup in the guest room of an elegant home in the heart of Washington's gay community, with a trio of seemingly unlikely suspects: a self-described "polyamorous family" of three men. The bizarre murder that evening of a young Ivy League lawyer named Robert Wone, still grist for gossip and conjecture on the city's gay blogosphere, has vexed police and prosecutors since the 911 call just before midnight Aug. 2, 2006." 

THIS was a laugh-and-a-half last night for its pure pathetic-ness.

Madonna boytoy Jesus Luz gets a dedicated spread in L'Officiel Hommes.

UGLY: The mindset behind Maine's anti-marriage equality petition drive.

Scotland Yard alarmed at rise in homophobic crimes: "Campaigners say anti-gay violence has surged, and Scotland Yard statistics reveal a 9% rise in homophobic and transphobic offences to 1,372 in the year to April...Acting Detective Superintendent Gerry Campbell, of the Metropolitan police, who headed a recent operation against hate crime that led to 292 arrests, said: 'Homophobia cannot be considered a thing of the past, it's on the increase.'"

L.A.'s Outfest film festival announces 2009 line-up: "The impressive list of films and filmmakers involved with this year’s festival include writer-director Peter Bratt’s powerful drama 'La Mission' starring Benjamin Bratt, as the Opening Night Gala; Adam Salky returns to Outfest with his stunning debut feature 'Dare' starring Emmy Rossum, Alan Cumming and Zach Gilford, as the Closing Night Gala."

Johnny Depp does Vanity Fair.

Tel Aviv welcomes Mideast's first gay clinic?

Blue whales heard singing off New York coast for first time.

55 Pilot whales die in mass stranding in South Africa: "Authorities shot dozens of exhausted whales that beached on a shore near South Africa's storm-lashed southern tip Saturday amid scenes of grief and despair from volunteers who had tried to save them."

Nadine Smith: No excuses. No delays. Do we really mean it?

TIME: How to come out on Facebook...

Band of Thebes looks at the new exhibition at the New York Public Library: 1969: The Year of Gay Liberation. "Fifteen years ago, in honor of Stonewall 25, the library held a huge lgbt show in the premiere gallery on the first floor, complete with giant pink triangle banner outside, emblazoned with 'Becoming Visible.' Now for the 40th anniversary, we get half the hallway on the third floor."

Gay Ugandan immigrant deported from Britain and then returned is now suing the Home Office: "The 38-year-old originally fled to Britain in 2001, fearing that being gay - which in Uganda can result in life imprisonment or even death - put his life in danger. He had an outstanding application for a judicial review on his case when he was taken by four security men and bundled on to a flight to Kampala on September 18, 2008."

News: Vampires, Solar Storm, Richard Hatch, LDS, Twitter, Crabs

Maine man murdered because of sexual advances, killer says: "A man found dead in his car on railroad tracks in Bethel last month may have been beaten with a cast-iron pan and strangled with a belt before a train hit his vehicle, according to a police affidavit. Police believe Scott A. Libby, 25, of Raymond was beaten and strangled to death after making sexual advances to a former employee."

Headmaster sends out notice: no vampires attending Boston Latin School.

Madonna begs for Mercy.

Gay activists to launch service-oriented campaign instead of protest during next week's LDS General Conference in Salt Lake City: We wanted to harness that energy for productive means. We don't feel that there is a need to protest [the LDS Church] further."

Jake Gyllenhaal's green day.

Football legends Maradona and Pele continue homophobic feud: “What do you want me to say? He lost his virginity to a man.”

50 Cent, Britney Spears, Kanye West among celebrities who have Twitter ghostwriters.

Gay adult site The Sword will stream the entire GayVN Awards (gay porn's biggest night) from its website (site nsfw) tomorrow night.

Thierry Mugler unleashes costumes for Beyoncé tour.

Wichita pastor to get $14,000 in settlement of Gay Pride arrest case: "Holick was arrested on a charge of criminal trespassing at the June 2007 Pride Parade & Festival, which was held at Heritage Square Park in downtown Wichita. Holick had said that he had gone to the event to "communicate the gospel message" to people attending the parade and festival. In October 2007, the criminal trespassing charge against Holick was dismissed in Wichita Municipal Court."

Why I....:Sean Penn, Jim Carrey, and Benicio Del Toro in talks to play Larry, Curly, and Moe, respectively, in Three Stooges remake.

Anatomically correct barstool for men.

New study reveals crabs can feel pain, and they retain a memory of it: "Scientists made the discovery by submitting hermit crabs to small electric shocks. They say it has important implications for crustacean welfare in the food industry. The researchers delivered electric shocks to wires attached to the shells of hermit crabs. Only crabs that received shocks vacated their shells during the experiment, indicating that what they had experienced was unpleasant. With less powerful shocks, below the threshold that forced them out, crabs remained in their shells but appeared to be waiting for an opportunity to move. When a new shell was offered to them, they were more likely to switch homes than crabs that had not received a shock. This suggested that the crabs retained a memory of the pain they had felt earlier, said the scientists."

Lance Bass used Brazilian to build buzz?

Ian Somerhalder set to enter vampire fray.

San Diego gay community angered by Assemblyman Marty Block's failure to vote on resolution condemning Proposition 8: "In an interview yesterday, Block said he is unwavering in his support for allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, but questioned the wisdom of passing the resolution. 'It frankly had nothing to do with my support for marriage equality. I just thought the tactic of Legislature telling the court what to do with a case before it was not a good tactic,' the San Diego Democrat said."

Something new to worry about — solar storm: "A year later and millions of Americans are dead and the nation's infrastructure lies in tatters. The World Bank declares America a developing nation. Europe, Scandinavia, China and Japan are also struggling to recover from the same fateful event - a violent storm, 150 million kilometres away on the surface of the sun."

Boy Culture on George Weber: It could happen to you.

Senators absent from Berry confirmation hearing.

Survivor's Richard Hatch wants a judge to free him from prison immediately: "Hatch, who is representing himself, filed the request Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Providence. He is now serving a four-year and three-month sentence at a prison in West Virginia. The reality TV star argued in a 43-page memo that he should be released because he is innocent, was represented by ineffective lawyers and that a judge improperly calculated his prison sentence."

News: Jesus Luz, Hawaii, T.R. Knight, Kansas, Suze Orman, Mexico

Appointment of John Berry, the openly gay Obama nominee to head the Office of Personnel Management, to be swift because of the waning morality wars?

Elton John and Billy Joel hit the road together.

Luz Out: Madonna dumps Jesus.

Gay Wichita man gives huge collection of LGBT historical materials to the University of Kansas: "Library officials say the collection, documenting the history of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals in the Midwest, gives insight into the experiences of the gays in the Midwest. 'This addition could potentially put us on the map for GLBT materials in the Midwest,' said Tami Albin, undergraduate instruction and outreach librarian at KU. McKinney's collection of more than 160 boxes strengthens the holdings the library already maintains, Williams said."

Mary Tyler Moore a right-winger? “Maybe more of a libertarian centrist. If McCain had asked me to campaign for him, I would have...I do watch a lot of Fox News. I like Charles Krauthammer and Bill O’Reilly.”

Study on LGBT poor released.

That dude from the OC makes a pretty hot cop.

Jim Carrey - Ewan McGregor gay prison romance to go straight to DVD?

An update on the status of civil unions in Hawaii: "Right now the bill is waiting for Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, with the support of her colleagues, to pull it from the JGO Committee and bring it to the Senate floor for a full vote. We are working hard on the legislators. We have the support of the majority of Senators. But our opposition, made up of the Hawaii Family Forum and the christian hate groups, are, as always, very well bankrolled...

T.R. Knight in car accident on Hollywood Boulevard.

Gay Republicans seeking alternative to Log Cabin: "Jimmy LaSalvia, a former Log Cabin policy director, said he’s had discussions with gay Republicans at GOP events and concluded that Log Cabin is 'missing a lot of opportunities to provide a voice for gay conservatives...We’re looking at a political landscape where gay Republicans aren’t represented,' he said. 'Log Cabin’s absence has left a void on the political landscape.' Log Cabin, which didn’t respond to the Blade’s request for comment, is operating at minimal capacity even as it prepares for its annual national convention, which will take place in April this year in D.C."

Six years ago Shrub lied to the world.

Irish MP Iris Robinson avoids prosecution for calling gays an abomination: "The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in Northern Ireland confirmed today it was not proceeding with an investigation into the MP's comments. Robinson, who is married to Northern Ireland's first minister, Peter Robinson, also said gay people could be 'cured' of their homosexuality by psychotherapy.

Tori Amos debuts new music at SXSW.

Mexico's Social Democratic Party nominates gay man and 31-year-old helicopter pilot as mayoral candidate in Guadalajara, Mexico: "The party earned about 2.6 percent support nationwide in a December poll. Galan acknowledges that winning 'is not the most likely scenario' in Guadalajara, which has been in the hands of the right-wing National Action Party for more than a decade. But he said Tuesday he hopes to raise proposals to 'improve the situation for the majority by addressing the needs of minorities.'"

Still around: The attention whore of the GOP is horny for conservatives.

WWD profiles Suze Orman: "One New Year’s Eve, at the age of 12 or 13 ('I can’t remember which'), Orman went to a party and hung out with a girl named Susie Kaplan, whom Orman had a crush on. 'It was late and Susie had fallen asleep with her head on my lap and my best friend Laurie Brown looked at us, got it, and started a rumor that I was a lesbian. Of course, I denied it. During my freshman year of college, I came back and said, ‘Laurie, remember that rumor you started about me years ago? Well, that was true.’'"

Kansas Discharges 9 Year Veteran Under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Kansas has discharged its first soldier under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, the Kansas City Star reports:

"Amy Brian, who served nine years in the guard, including a stint in Iraq, was investigated and 'separated' last month after a civilian co-worker told authorities they had seen her kissing a woman in a Wal-Mart checkout line. 'I'd never really tried to hide my homosexuality to the close people I worked with,' Brian said. 'And they didn't seem to care or think any different of it.' Brian joins almost 12,500 other lesbian, gay and bisexual service members who the Pentagon has discharged from 1994 to 2007...'I was not separated because of any type of misconduct but plain and simply because someone else had a problem with my sexuality,' Brian said. Brian joined the Kansas Army National Guard in 1991, wanting to follow in her father's footsteps. She served until 1994 and re-enlisted in 2003. In between her enlistments, she got married, had a baby and divorced. She kept her secret for many years but told her family she was gay when she was deployed to Iraq. During her first six months in Iraq, she was part of a maintenance crew at Camp Anaconda at Balad, working 12-hour shifts beside other American troops and civilians from other countries. She later was asked to narrate award ceremonies, write evaluations and do office work. 'Everyone I went with (to Iraq) knew I was gay, and no one had a problem with it,' she said."

Last July, another gay guardsman told Brian "somebody has it in for you" and shortly thereafter she learned she was under investigation.

Yesterday, the NYT published an Op-Ed by Owen West, a commodities trader who served two tours in Iraq with the Marines, calling for the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and suggesting Obama should focus on "military readiness" rather than "civil rights" (the failed approach Clinton took) in approaching the matter.

Writes West: "The lesson for President Obama is that this fight is not about rights, but about combat readiness. This is a propitious moment for seeking change: a nation at war needs all its most talented troops. Last year the principal architects of 'don’t ask, don’t tell,' former Gen. Colin Powell and former Senator Sam Nunn, said it was time to 'review' the policy. That’s a polite way of saying they’ve changed their minds. So have many of us who wore the uniform in 1993 and supported a policy that forced some of our fellow troops to live a lie and rejected thousands who told the truth."

Also, the Boston Globe over the weekend featured two Op-Eds, one from Elaine Donnelly of the anti-gay Center for Military Readiness, the other from Aubrey Sarvis of the Servicemen's Legal Defense Fund (SLDN). You may remember Donnelly from her testimony at July's Congressional hearings on DADT.

The sex-obsessed Donnelly writes: "To make an open-homosexuality policy work, officials will order diversity training programs designed by 'experts' in gay culture whose credentials say nothing about common sense. Mandatory training will attempt to overcome the normal human desire for modesty and privacy in sexual matters - a quest that is inappropriate for the military and unlikely to succeed."

Sarvis, who recently wrote an editorial in the Huffington Post saying that enough "studies" had been done to warrant a repeal of DADT, argues that the time is ripe.

The Globe also posted reactions from Sarvis and Donnelly to one another's editorials.

Last week I posted the trailer for Out of Annapolis, a forthcoming documentary on the subject. I've posted the trailer for another documentary on DADT, called Ask Not.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Recently
SLDN Executive Director Sarvis on DADT: No More 'Studies' [tr]
Obama: More Analysis Needed Before 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal [tr]
Out of Annapolis [tr]

Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Face the Future at KS High School

Take a good look at the photo above, because it's the future.

When Fred Phelps and his clan showed up at Shawnee Mission High School in Prairie Village, Kansas they were met by hundreds of students and adults who faced off against them:

"Their message didn’t sit well with many students at the high school where, according to student Jake Davidson, there is a Gay and Straight Alliance at the school and students elected a homecoming king in 2007 who was openly gay. 'Everyone is equal whether you’re gay or straight,' said Davidson, a 16-year-old junior from Leawood and an organizer of the student protest. 'It’s really cool that everyone wants to be involved and take a stand against this. It doesn’t surprise me that everyone wants to help out.' He said word of the counterprotest ran through the school like wildfire. 'It’s pretty much all anyone has been talking about this week,' he said. Karl Krawitz, East principal, said the administration worked with Prairie Village police to make sure the dismissal of school went smoothly, and the demonstration did not impede traffic or the dismissal process."

16-Year-Old Attempts Murder of Fellow Teen Because He's Gay

A 16-year-old broke into the home of a high school classmate, in rural Tribune, Kansas and assaulted him with intent to kill, authorities say, because he thought his fellow student was gay.

KSN reports: "In Tribune, Kansas, with a population of nearly 800 people, everyone knows each other and as you can imagine the crime rate is low. So when a 16-year-old boy was beaten inside his home, it made a big impact on the surrounding community. Authorities say the beating happened early Sunday morning at Greeley County High School, when a 16-year-old suspect broke into the home of another student. The sheriff says the suspect heard rumors that his classmate was gay, and severely beat him. Authorities allege the suspect brought a small explosive device intending to kill the student."

The family is denying that the victim is gay. The suspect was scheduled to appear in court today. Few other details are available.