New York Jets Cheerleaders Open to 'Mindblowing' Drag Queen

The choreographer for the New York Jets Flight Crew cheerleading squad, Denise Garvey, is prepping for the squad's upcoming tryouts. Garvey spoke with WNYC recently, and told the radio station that she's pretty much open to anyone who wants to apply, including drag queens.

I've embedded the audio here.

GARVEY: We don't have any strict requirements - no weight or height requirements - we have all different girls on the team and all different girls looking to try out..."

REPORTER: There's not the kind of human variety you might find in a supermarket checkout line - the largest body is about a size "6″ -and there are no male cheerleader wannabe's.

GARVEY: we haven't had any men apply... we are looking for young women.

REPORTER: If there was a mind blowing drag queen?

GARVEY: I guess everyone deserves a fair chance - so that would be my attitude.

You have to give it to Garvey for laughing and not rejecting the idea out of hand, or worse, making some kind of homophobic comment which is (sadly) what I might have expected.

(via AOL sports)

Previously
Jake Gyllenhaal to Play Hall of Fame QB Joe Namath [tr]

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News: Orcas, Dax Shepard, Homecoming King, Alabama

NPR runs heartbreaking piece on two boys who identify as girls: "It’s really hard for him. He’ll disappear and close a door, and we’ll find him playing with dolls and Polly Pockets and … the stuff that he’s drawn to...He really struggles with the color pink. He really struggles with the color pink."

Dax Shepard appears to be acting out the role of Abercrombie door dude in the new film When in Rome.

Neil Patrick Harris's Barney shows off his new trophy date, Britney Spears. Watch it.

Jay Bakker to spend Mother's Day in honor of the late Tammy Faye pressuring megachurch pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church to sit down and talk to LGBT activist group Soulforce: "I want to celebrate my mother's life, and help spread the message she lived and preached. We need to stop thinking of ourselves as 'us' and 'them.' We hope the families of Lakewood Church will open their hearts and minds to us and sit down and have a conversation and share a meal. ... Let's put our differences aside and share the love and hope of Christ."

Details on the first dates of Madonna's "Sticky and Sweet" world tour.

Arizona Christian group Alliance Defense Fund has hand in New York same-sex marriage cases.

Shawnee Mission East High School loves its gay Homecoming King.

Investigators say photographers won't be charged for photos of teenage water polo players that turned up on gay porn websites: "The Orange County district attorney's office says a four-month investigation determined Scott Cornelius and Allen Rockwell didn't commit any crimes. Cornelius, a University of California, Irvine, police employee currently on paid leave, is still being investigated by the university to determine if he violated college policies. Photographs of youths as young as 14 taken by Cornelius and Rockwell appeared on homosexual pornographic Web sites. But district attorney's office spokeswoman Farrah Emami says 'legally there were no criminal charges we could file.'"

Killer whales photographed hunting dolphins for the first time ever.

Matt Foreman's new perspective.

Your money's worth: Mario Lopez embroiled in Broadway bicep controversy.

Two card stud.

Alabama legislature passes two pro-gay bills: "In an email from State Rep. Patricia Todd, she announced that the Alabama House of Representatives passed the Hate Crimes Bill sponsored by Rep. Alvin Holmes of Montgomery by a vote of 46 to 44, mostly along party lines. While the fate of the bill is unsure as it moves to the Senate, this is huge progress, as the legislation was defeated last year. Also passed (unanimously) was an anti-bullying bill sponsored by Rep. Betty Carol Graham of Alexander City and Sen. Parker Griffith of Huntsville. This is also going to to the Senate."

Truce Off: McGreevey's fail to reach a settlement in their divorce trial.

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Pete Wentz Runs with the Gays

New York magazine ran into Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz hanging out with members of Gym Class Heroes and Panic at the Disco at the gay/mixed night at his bar Angels & Kings. They report that Pete was attending because he likes to "run with the gays."

NY Intel: "Wentz is straight, like so straight people can't stop talking about how he may have knocked up Ashlee Simpson! Naturally, we accosted him. 'I heard it's gay night, right?' he asked us, after we complimented his pointy hair. Turns out Pete has 'great 'dar,' by which he means he has a highly tuned interior electromagnetic sensor which lets him know when there are moving or fixed homosexuals nearby. So naturally we asked, Do you like running with gays, Pete? 'It seems sometimes like nobody knows how to have a good time anymore,' he told us. 'But the gays are always having a good time.'"

Previously
Pete Wentz Loves Wearing Jessica Simpson's Pumps [tr]
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News: Thomas Roberts, Penguins, Jason Castro, Kylie Minogue

New York high court refuses to strike down state's recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriage: "The Court of Appeals declined yesterday to review the mid-level appellate court's decision to recognize the couple's Canadian marriage, the first such ruling by an appellate court in New York State. For now, that lower court decision remains binding across the state."

Thomas Roberts talks to The Advocate about the news industry's glass ceiling for gays: "It’s funny that people think I got fired from CNN. I left CNN on my accord: I resigned from my contract because of personal reasons. I never dealt with anything but respect and kindness. There’s a great misconception. I’ve worked my ass off, I’ve been fortunate, and luck doesn’t hurt either. If people don’t like that I’m gay or that I talk about being gay, I’m sorry. Because that’s not my problem."

American Idol's resident stoner Jason Castro has his own hot doll, complete with dreads, and it can be yours.

A-Rod faints as daughter is born.

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Filipino Archbishop defends right of gays to participate in Santacruzans: "If they are devotees, they are religious and they look decent, I believe they have the right to join in. I think it would be better for us to see gays who act formally and decently in the Santacruzan rather than young and beautiful women who are not clean and [are] immoral."

Gay penguin book And Tango Makes Three is "most objected to" library book in America for second year straight: "Other books on the ALA's top 10 list include Maya Angelou's memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in which the author writes of being raped as a young girl; Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, long attacked for alleged racism; and Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass, an anti-religious work in which a former nun says: 'The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.'"

Three teenage girls admit to tagging school and vehicles with racial, vulgar and homophobic messages in Wisconsin.

Moldova hopes to hold its first Gay Pride ever: "Organisers of the Gay Pride in Moldova – 'Rainbow over the Dniester' – are hopeful of being able to stage a parade this year in the country’s capital, Chisinau. The Pride is the seventh to be organised, but in previous years the parade has been banned by the authorities. 'During three previous consecutive years, public authorities have banned the public manifestations on various pretexts,' said a spokesperson for GenderDoc-M, the Pride organisers. 'This year after we applied to the City Hall to inform the authorities about planned public manifestation within the Pride, we got the information, which gave us hope.'"

Kylie Minogue show hot out of the gates in Paris.

One benefit to having a fat ass.

Rhode Island lawmakers to debate bills that would allow same-sex couples married elsewhere to divorce in that state: "Lawmakers filed the divorce bill after Rhode Island's Supreme Court ruled in December that a lesbian couple married in Massachusetts cannot divorce in Rhode Island, where they live. Massachusetts is the only state to legalize gay marriage."

Looks like Dick Cheney's gone hunting again.

John Travolta is a subway terrorist.

White House admits it is missing email backups from start of Iraq war: "The White House acknowledged in a court filing last night that it no longer has backup tapes of email from between March 1 and May 22, 2003, a period that includes the beginning of the Iraq war. Yesterday's filing is the latest development in the ongoing White House emails lawsuit, in which two non-profits, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive (NSA), are suing to force the administration to recover any missing emails and institute a more effective email archiving system."

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News: Polaroid, McGreevey Trial, Banksy, Van Hansis

Anti-gay evangelical preacher stabbed to death in Perth, Australia.

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Is Jake Gyllenhaal getting Nailed?

Till death: McGreevey divorce trial begins Tuesday. "Legal analysts expect New Jersey's former first couple will approach new lows, even for divorce court. 'I'm not going to tell you this is going to be the worst case ever in the history of New Jersey divorces,' said Charles Abut, a matrimonial lawyer who operates the New Jersey Family Law blog. 'But I think if you asked longtime matrimonial lawyers, 'Give me the your top 10 worst,' this one is going to appear on everyone's list.' The proceedings, which are expected to last up to six weeks in Elizabeth's Union County Courthouse, have been divided into three sections. Superior Court Judge Karen Cassidy has said she will rule separately on each part: Custody of the couple's 6-year-old daughter, Jacqueline; the amount of child support and alimony McGreevey must pay Matos McGreevey; and, finally, Matos McGreevey's claim McGreevey defrauded her, tricking her into a marriage of political convenience even though he knew he was gay."

In March I posted about the appointment of Yale music professor and singer Richard Lalli to Yale residential college master, one of the school's highest recognitions. Now the Hartford Courant has profiled Lalli.

Frank Rich wonders why the media is ignoring John Hagee...

Indiewire talks to gay filmmaker Arthur Dong: "As a gay Asian American filmmaker I'd be naive to think that anti-gay bigotry and racism has not affected the opportunities or lack thereof in terms of my work. But the way I confront it is to first acknowledge whatever factors I think might be there, and then forge ahead anyway with that knowledge. We all have thrust upon us unwanted external forces that we have no control over, whoever we are, and if we allow them to be barriers (excuses?) to our goals, then we may as well give it up because perseverance, passion, and stamina is a must for independent filmmakers."

Inside Banksy's CANS Exhibit.

John Mayer asks for hair Haikus.

T.R. Knight and Mark Cornelsen already planning for children. Knight: “I wouldn’t rule [adoption] out at all. I think it would be adopting versus any other route. But yeah. I mean, there are a lot of kids who need homes.”

FOX News radio host John Gibson mocks MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, lesbians.

As the World Turns' Van Hansis reportedly dating fellow actor Tyler Hanes.

Australian Capitol Territory forced to back down on civil partnerships: "The ACT decision comes as the deeply religious Mr Rudd faces growing attack from Christian groups over his Government's decision to remove discrimination against gays from all other federal laws. Mr Corbell yesterday accused the Rudd Government of breaking a commitment to the states and territories to allow them to legislate as they saw fit. The legislation, which was quashed by the Howard government in 2006, would have allowed gay couples to have their relationships recognised in a legally binding ceremony."

Gay powerlifter Chris Morgan reaches World Championships.

Israeli court denies restraining order against gay man's former partner because nation's family and domestic violence laws do not apply to gay partnerships: "The complainant told the court that the former lover, a younger man who had lived in his Ramat Gan home with him for two years, was abusing him psychologically. He argued that as common-law partner he was entitled to the protection of the family court."

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On the Stage: South Pacific, Macbeth, From Up Here

Kevin Sessums last reviewed Gypsy, The Four of Us, and The Drunken City for Towleroad. You can also catch up with Kevin online at his own blog at MississippiSissy.com.

If Patti LuPone is proving her chops as the new Ethel Merman of Broadway in her portrayal of Mama Rose in Gypsy then the newest version of Mary Martin, Merman’s old Rialto rival, that tomboy from Texas who could spark the constricted heart of the most uptight of tenors, is Kelli O’Hara. She is starring in one of Martin’s most reknowned roles as Nellie Forbush in the Lincoln Center Theatre production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. Indeed, at times it seems as if Martin is peeking from beneath O’Hara’s otherwise pitch-perfect portrayal so that it has the eerie quality of watching a kind of double performance, a musical characterization cast in the artistic terms of pentimento when one notices such a thing on a canvas for the first time. There is a richness to the texture. Yet it is a bit dizzying if one keeps focusing on it.

So let’s focus on that first legendary production. It was based on two stories from James Michener’s collection called Tales from the South Pacific, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948, an award the musical itself won two years later — along with all nine of the Tony Awards it was nominated for. Since Michener’s two stories — "Fo’Dalla" and "Our Heroine" — were so serious, Rodgers and Hammerstein along with Joshua Logan, the original director, and Leland Hayward, the show’s producer, asked him to write a third story not found in the book and he came up with one about Luther Billis, the show’s womanizing comic relief. Ezio Pinza was cast as the romantic male lead, Emile De Becque, setting up the precedent of casting, when possible, a strapping opera singer in the role.

It has always been rumored that Oscar Hammerstein was so taken by Mary Martin in the last scene of Kurt Weill’s One Touch of Venus, when she appeared in her tight-fitting gingham dress, that he insisted she be cast as Nelli. (She had been cast in Venus, her starmaking role, when Marlene Dietrich backed out of the lead because she, of all people, found it “too sexy and profane.”) Martin was at the time, however, on the road in a national tour in one of Merman’s great roles, Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun, and didn’t think she wanted to commit to what appeared to be yet another long run in her future. But when Rodgers and Hammerstein flew out to meet her on the road and played “A Cockeyed Optimist” and “Some Enchanted Evening”, two of the first songs they’d written for the score, she accepted on the spot.

The show opened in Boston to rave reviews — so much so that playwright George S. Kaufmann joked that Bostonians were slipping money under the door of the Shubert Theatre in Boston not to buy tickets but just because they wanted to slip money under the door of the theatre where South Pacific was playing. Once it arrived in New York its reviews were so rapturous that the state’s Attorney General threatened to shut it down once word got out that scalpers were charging — back in 1949 — two hundred dollars a ticket. He, of course, backed down. And the show ran for over five years.

This production — directed by Bartlett Sher, who directed the last big musical hit at Lincoln Center Theatre, The Light in the Piazza, the score and lyrics for which were written by Rodgers’ grandson, Adam Guettel, and whose two young romantic leads were played by O’Hara and South Pacific’s Lt. Cable, Matthew Morrison — could run just as long as the original one judging by its own critical reaction and the visceral love the audience has for the show from the first sweeping notes of its overture. In fact, it is one of the mosty stirring overtures I have ever heard or — and this is the genius of it — witnessed. As the floor of the stage slowly moves back into the far reaches of the Beaumount’s deep recesses, the orchestra is revealed and the music becomes even more lush. It is a thrilling moment but also a dangerous one. Not because of the stage mechanics of it, but because one wonders how anything after it could be as thrilling.

For me, the overture was, indeed, the highlight of the show though I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of it. But it is a deeply old-fashioned one — especially because of the book by Hammerstein and Logan even with its allusion to pedophilia in its secondary love story between Lt. Cable and Liat. Most of the performances, however, could not be bettered.

O’Hara is proving to be Broadway’s brightest light. There is a wholesomeness about her that does not lessen her sexiness. Paul Szot, the Brazilian opera star, who is her Emile de Becque, is brilliant and, yes, equally sexy. One of the heartbreaking highlights of the show is his second-act solo “This Nearly Was Mine.” Matthew Morrison proves his musical mettle yet again as Cable — though I wonder what his grandpa, John Wayne, would think of his always taking his shirt off in his stage appearances and pleasing all us gay guys so much in the audience. The Hawaiian star Loretta Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary — a role that could be problematic because of its racial stereotyping in a show that preaches against racial stereotypes — finds the anger and bitter beauty that transcend such problems. Yet, sadly, I was disappointed in Danny Burstein. As much as I loved his portrayal of the daffy Latin matinee idol in The Drowsy Chaperone, I found him quite offputting as Luther Billis. He overplays the admittedly hoary comedy of the part and I just didn’t find him believable as a womanizer. His is a grating presence in the show when it should be a welcome and happy one...

All in all, it is a wonderful evening. Even the sailors are all individuals in their varied posturings about the stage. And be advised — right before O’Hara brings the house down with her marvelous-as-Martin version of “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair,” two of the shower doors open and the cutest sailors scurry about the stage butt-naked adding to the leitmotif this theatre season of male nudity which enlivens even this, the most old-fashioned of musicals.

T T T 1/2 (out of 4 possible T's)

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, Lincoln Center Theater-Vivian Beaumont, 150 West 65th Street, New York. Ticket information here.

***MACBETH

Patrick Stewart is packing them in as the title character in Macbeth at the Lyceum Theatre in a production that originated at the Chichester Festival Theatre before moving to the West End then had a sold-out limited run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Now it’s taken up bloody residence on Broadway. Stewart is the frontrunner to take home the Tony in a couple of months for Best Actor. And although I admired the production for its high concept that takes fascism to a fetishistic level, I could never get out of my mind that I was watching just that: a production. It’s so highly stylized that one is never bored, but one is never moved as well.

Continued, AFTER THE JUMP...

Director Rupert Goold certainly makes his presence felt but his wife, Kate Fleetwood, could have been less of a presence perhaps as I felt she fell into the trap of overacting the part of Lady Macbeth. And when the the three witches began to rap one of their most famous scenes, I wasn’t tapping my toes but rolling my eyes. If a production could be overly interesting, this could be it. Utterly fascinating but flawed. I kept thinking, what’s next? Setting MacBeth on Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise?

T T (out of 4 possible T's)

Macbeth, Lyceum Theatre,
149 West 45th Street, New York. Ticket information here.

***FROM UP HERE

Julie White did rightly win the Tony last year for Best Actress for her portrayal of the hyper and hilariously cold-hearted personal manager in The Little Dog Laughed. As her theatrical follow-up she’s chosen The Manhattan Theatre Club production of From Up Here, playwright Liz Flahive’s sensitive cliche-free play about how a family deals with a teenage son who has taken a gun to school in order to threaten his bullying classmates. Instead of a treatise concerning gun control politics and violence in America, Flahive and the director Leigh Silverman have chosen to more delicately approach the issues that such a plot device places in front of all of us. It is not only the son who must deal with the consequences of his actions, but also his extended family.

The production still felt a bit like an out-of-town tryout of a promising work the night I saw it in previews a few weeks back but it is well worth a visit if you’re interested in new plays instead of the spate of revivals that increasingly make up the New York theatre season. White is her expected magnificent self. I kept waiting for the scene that made her choose this play as her follow-up to Little Dog Laughed and it comes toward the end when she and her son have ended up back in the police station once she herself has lost control and gotten in trouble. It is an acting class of nuance and stillness and histrionics all wrapped together as she and the young actor who plays her son, Kenny, Tobias Segal, find depths in the characters that leave them as well as the audience speechless with wonder.

T T 1/2 (out of 4 possible T's)

From Up Here, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street, New York. Ticket information here.

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Demetri Martin to Star in Ang Lee Film About Gay Woodstock Figure

Last week I posted about Ang Lee's next project, Taking Woodstock, about gay interior decorator, hotel manager, and Bethel, NY Chamber of Commerce head Elliot Tiber and his role in facilitating the legendary rock festival in upstate New York.

Today, Variety reports that comedian Demetri Martin is in negotiations to star in the feature:

"Martin is best known for his "Trendspotting" segment on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Film is based on Elliot Tiber's memoir, which is being adapted by Focus topper James Schamus. Tiber wrote the book -- which was published last year -- with Tom Monte. Martin will star as Tiber, an in-the-closet gay man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills, who inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969. Focus is eyeing a late August start date. Martin's upcoming films include Fox Atomic's The Rocker and Universal's Kids in America. He also wrote and is attached to star in DreamWorks' Will, which Jon Stewart is exec producing."

AFTER THE JUMP, Martin in one of his stand-up routines. More on the Woodstock film here.

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Madonna Opens Candy Shop at Roseland in NYC

We sent Towleroad correspondent Josh Helmin to cover M Dolla's gig last night in New York. Here's his report, along with some YouTube clips we discovered that may vanish quickly. So get a taste quick. Josh is one half of Josh & Josh are Rich and Famous, and co-produces our Towleroad TV segments. Unfortunately, we couldn't get her Madgesty on Towleroad TV - yet - but we'll have another segment of that coming up soon.

Last night Madonna delivered a six-song, 32-minute high-intensity performance at the Roseland Ballroom in midtown Manhattan, in front of an estimated crowd of 2,200. Many of those attending camped out before sunrise for a chance at the free tickets handed out that day. (The rest of the lucky attendees won entrance through Z100, Verizon, or Madonna’s online fan club.)

A few minutes after ten o’clock Madonna appeared onstage on a throne, blonde hair lightly curly and clad in black pants and top, to deafening screams from the audience. Those standing on main floor crushed forward to get closer to her Madgesty, and thus my already good spot turned into a position about twenty-feet from the Material Girl herself.

After the first two songs, both from her new album Hard Candy (out this week), the audience went crazy as the first strains of “4 Minutes to Save The World” began. When Justin Timberlake popped on stage moments later the response was so vigorous that it was briefly impossible to hear the song. Madonna and Justin’s choreography had them grinding against each other and pacing the stage while singing their #1 iTunes hit.

After Justin left the stage Madonna slung her guitar across her chest and addressed the crowd. “This next song is for all of you that I saw last night sleeping on the sidewalks waiting to get tickets,” she said, before launching into a hard rock remix of “Hung Up.” Throughout the night she seemed ready to debut her new guitar skills, choosing to play her instrument during three of the night’s songs, and she looked far more comfortable doing so than in previous performances.

What perhaps made the performance so enjoyable was the clear impression that Madonna herself was having a great time. The love coming from the audience was unmistakable. She also looked amazing, especially considering that her 50th birthday is coming up in August. Her arms were, as usual, perfect ellipses of rock hard muscle (better than mine are ever going to be, I can tell you that much). And, to her credit, she also sang live. She certainly had backing vocals, but the effect of singing live was appreciated, especially considering the number of performers today who choose to lip synch, even when the choreography isn’t half as vigorous as Madonna’s.

The one snafu of the evening for Madonna came during the middle of “Hung Up” during which she briefly began singing the wrong words. She tried to cover for a second, and then looked behind her momentarily, before figuring out where the song was and jumping right back in without losing her composure. It was a quick error, and seemed to be forgiven immediately.

Madonna's Roseland Set List

Candy Shop | Miles Away | 4 Minutes

Hung Up | Give It 2 Me | Music (Fedde Le Grand Mix)

Clips via Madgetribe.

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NYC's Fuerzabruta Launching 'Boys Night'

Fuerzabruta, the wet and wild, techno music romp with the mylar overhead swimming stage is about to launch their "Boy's Night" on May 16th. They promise 'Boys Night' will "feature remixed scenes and choreography – putting the men of Fuerzabruta in the water and at the fore." For those of you who haven't seen it, this is probably a good time.

Our Kevin Sessums reviewed it here. I had the opportunity to see it when it first opened and recommend it, particularly with the added man action.

A couple clips of the show, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Smith College students protest, defeat Ryan Sorba, author of The Born Gay Hoax.

One of Tokyo's most famous is dead at 22 (that's 70 in human years).

MIT takes no action against student who threatened LGBT group after receiving an email about the group's end-of-semester celebration. Said the student's email: "If you fucking fags send me something like that once again or contact me in any other way, I swear you won’t be able to study at Sloan for some time because you will spend it at resuscitation department. If this is what you want, go ahead." (email and response)

A new Nike ad directed by Guy Ritchie.

Anglican school council in Australia formally endorses ban on bringing same-sex partners to the school formal: "Up to eight students had wanted to take boyfriends and raised the issue with a senior staff member, who passed the request to Churchie headmaster Jonathan Hensman. At the time Mr Hensman said it was not appropriate for students to take a same-sex partner because escorting a young woman to a formal was part of the boys' education. But after reports in The Courier-Mail Mr Hensman referred the matter to the school council. A brief statement posted on the Churchie website yesterday said the council 'strongly supported the headmaster's position on the school's education programs in social settings'."

Reichen Lehmkuhl splits with model boyfriend Ryan Barry, writes up list of Hollywood dating tips.

Viral campaign for The Dark Knight issues 35 mm film trailers to 12 winners of its contest, each one individually defaced by The Joker.

Presbyterian church court issues conflicted ruling in same-sex union case: "A San Rafael minister who presided over several same-sex ceremonies didn't violate Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) rules, because same-sex marriages don't exist in the church, a church court ruled Tuesday. At the same time, the Permanent Judicial Council's ruling affirmed the right of same-sex couples to have unions, a ceremony that would theoretically have a distinct liturgy. The ambivalent ruling - affirming the rights of gays and lesbians to have their relationships sanctioned by the church but not considering them equal to those of heterosexual couples - is likely to disappoint both sides in the debate."

Tenant who lived in Austrian incest house heard knocking from the basement for 12 years but did nothing: "I wish to God that I could turn back the clock. The signs were all there but it was impossible for me to recognise them. Who would ever believe something so terrible was going on right under my feet? It is a regret I will have to live with for the rest of my life."

Street artist targeting NYC subway ads.

Kathy Griffin was fired from Hannah Montana because she told Jesus to suck it.

Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick is somewhere under the rainbow.

Gay books: Publishing Triangle awards handed out.

Hometown boy makes good: Portland paper profiles Chad White.

Jake Gyllenhaal is opening a restaurant: "The so-called ‘closet chef’ is said to be in the development stages of an organic restaurant project, for which he plans to travel throughout Italy collecting ideas...The actor has always said he planned to open a high-end dining venue by the time he was thirty (he has three years left), as long as his acting career had put him in a position that would make that possible."

Dusty Springfield to be played by...Nicole Kidman?

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Chelsea's Food Bar Closed

NYC blog Eater reports that as of this morning, Eighth Avenue's long-lived gay eatery Food Bar has been shuttered...

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Gay New York Couple Holds Sit-in, Demands Marriage License

Oyster Bay on New York's Long Island was the site of a same-sex marriage demonstration as gay couple Dan Pinello, 58, and Lee Nissensohn, 50 walked in to the Oyster Bay clerk's office yesterday afternoon and held a symbolic sit-in, demanding that they be issued a New York marriage license. Pinello and Nissensohn have been together 13 years.

Pinello and Nissensohn knew they would not be issued one, but sat in the office until they were issued tickets for trespassing. Outside, a crowd of nearly 60 supporters (mostly strangers) held signs and chanted. The supporters were among those who had been sent letters by the couple announcing their intention to make this act of civil disobedience.

Said Pinello, a government professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice: "We are law-abiding citizens. We pay our taxes. We have no other choice left."

Newsday reports: "The goal of the couple's 'act of civil disobedience' - as they called it - was to persuade Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset) to pressure State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) to take a bill that would allow same-sex marriage to the Senate floor for a vote. A Marcellino spokeswoman has said the senator supports state law, which says marriage is between a man and a woman. Bruno has said he is against the bill. The bill, which was co-sponsored by the couple's own senator, Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington), remains in the judiciary committee."

Watch NBC4's news report on the sit-in, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Self-Described 'YouTube Superstar' Tricia Walsh-Smith is Back

Tricia Walsh-Smith, the desperate wife of Shubert Organization President Philip Smith, is back with another video, entitled "And yet another crazy day in the life of a Phoenix rising from the ashes." Here's the first one if you missed it.

She pulled "courage" from her Tarot deck, which has apparently given her the will to keep fighting.

This video is her response to the responses to her first video. Smith is upset that her eviction order has kicked in, she's in debt, and she's being harassed by Smith's employees who have been posting "disgusting, disgusting comments trying to slag [her] off and slander her name."

Honestly, I think she's doing a pretty good job of that herself.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Video #1
Her First Play Was Appropriately Titled 'Bonkers' [tr]

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News: Gay Sikhs, Shia LaBeouf, GLAAD Awards, Chernobyl

Gays join march for Chernobyl victims in Minsk: "When Sergey Androsenko, the 19 year-old leader of the Gay Youth Association in Belarus, paraded the gay “Rainbow Flag” through the streets of Minsk this afternoon, a little piece of LGBT history was made. It was the very first time that the flag had been seen on a political event in Belarus."

Is David Beckham planning to join the cast of X-Men Origins: Wolverine?

Norman Mailer's gay sexual fantasies detailed in new book by his mistress Carole Mallory: "At one point in April 1990, when Mailer was 67 and married to his sixth wife, Norris Church, Mallory worried that her lover of the previous seven years 'could get AIDS'. Three weeks later, she wrote that Mailer had asked her what other men she would like to sleep with. When she mentioned a man named Paul, Mailer is said to have replied: 'He’s gay. Why don’t we all three f***?' At another point she writes: 'He asked me to wash his bottom. So SAD. He is so ashamed of what he likes.' On October 24, 1990, Mallory scribbled in a black spiral notebook: 'I think Rick Stratton is his lover. One of them.'"

GLAAD media awards held in Los Angeles. Coverage here, here, and here.

The White House Correspondent's Dinner was definitely not A-Listy enough.

Bobby Trendy unmasked.

$500 million private Airbus A380 features conference room, grand lounge, master bedroom.

Air traffic controllers sound yet another alarm over working conditions, fatigue.

Gay gossip columnist Ben Widdicombe of the New York Daily News puts down his pen: "I have been a gossip columnist for all my 10 years in New York—first with the online fashion column 'Chic Happens,' and six years full-time with the Daily News. But for a writer New York is like a fairground, and I think it’s time to go on some of the other rides. Also lately I’ve developed a peculiar attitude towards scandal—with some of the items that have crossed my desk I’ve thought, 'This really isn’t any of my business.' Which is problematic for a professional gossip columnist."

Gay men and lesbians in St. Petersburg, Russia have started their own "Day of Silence".

The beef is roasting.

Gay gossip columnist Ted Casablanca getting married.

Parents of Florida hate crime victim Ryan Keith Skipper fight for anti-bullying legislation on what would have been Skipper's 27th birthday.

Police storm gay rights group meeting in Kyrgyzstan: "Police forced their way into the premises of the LGBT group Labrys, which was in the midst of hosting a dinner for 30 domestic and international advocates. Members of the Kyrgyz Anti-AIDS Association and other local groups were joined by international partners from organizations including COC, the Dutch LGBT association that is the world's oldest gay groups and Gender Doc-M, an LGBT group in Moldova. Police threatened to arrest anyone who did not produce identification papers."

The biggest Mentos-Coke explosion of all time.

A father speaks out about having a gay son.

Gay Vancouver man forms support group for LGBT Sikhs: "Since launching the group April 6, Amar has signed up 33 members – mostly men, but a few women as well. He says the quick response is proof of the need. Citing the 'one in 10 rule,' in which some researchers estimate that 10 per cent of the general population is homosexual, Amar believes there are thousands of gay Sikhs in the Surrey-North Delta area. He knows of some who have been forced into marriages and lead a secret double life – dancing in gay clubs at night, and sadly, sometimes bringing sexually-transmitted diseases home. 'This should not be happening,' he says."

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NYT Looks at the Young Gay Newlywed Game

The New York Times published a major Sunday magazine piece on the new crop of young, 20-something newlyweds that Massachusetts' marriage laws have spawned. Here's a bit of it:

"Most of the couples insisted they shared those responsibilities in 'an egalitarian way.' While Joshua occasionally referred to himself as a 'gay housewife,' other young gay married men bristled at the notion that they would fashion their domestic lives around heterosexual stereotypes.

"'It never ceases to amaze me how many people will say to us, ‘So, who’s the woman, and who’s the man, in your marriage?’' says Jason Shumaker, who lives in a Boston suburb with his husband, Paul McLoughlin II, who is an assistant dean at Harvard. They met eight years ago when they were 25, and they legally married at 29 (registering to wed on the first day gay couples could do so in Massachusetts). 'I just think that’s the dumbest question ever,' he added. 'Yes, we’re married, but we’re also two guys, so neither one of us has to be ‘the woman.’' (And 'with no ovaries drying up,' as Paul put it, they don’t need to rush into having children. They plan to adopt in the next five years, once Paul finishes his Ph.D. in higher-education administration at Boston College.)

"During a break from opening the door to trick-or-treaters at their home last Halloween, Jason and Paul — who wore matching lizard outfits — told me about the T-shirts they’d donned at the end of their reception. The front of Paul’s shirt read, 'I Am the Husband,' while the back read, 'I Am the Wife.' (Jason’s shirt had the opposite emblazoned on each side.) 'It was fun to make a little bit of a social statement and poke fun at the idea that we would fit neatly into these heterosexual roles,' Jason said."

I think just about anyone who has been in a gay relationship has experienced the curiosity of straight friends as to 'who's the husband, who's the wife?' As for the 50's photos of domestic bliss, I've yet to come across anything that idyllic among any couples I know. But it's not a bad thing to dream.

Young Gay Rites [nyt]

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Empire State Building to 'Glitter' for Mariah Carey

Hey New Yorkers, if you look up at the Empire State Building this weekend and wonder why it's lit in pink, lavender, and white, it's because the largest phallus in New York state is honoring...Mariah Carey.

According to a press release, that's apparently the color 'motif' of the new album E=MC² and she's going to be at a ceremony tomorrow at 1 pm at the building where she's going to flip the switch on a scale model of the building that I guess will light up and, I don't know, play Touch My Body or something.

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Chace Crawford Gets Shrieks in Chelsea, Snores on Lower East Side

New York Magazine's Chris Rovzar lured Chace Crawford deep into the heart of Chelsea to dish about the real-life gossip and the new season of Gossip Girl, which returns tonight. According to Rovzar, Crawford is pretty much over all the fawning:

"After some haggling involving mentions of well-lit public places, Chace agreed to meet us for a chaste lunch at Chelsea’s Empire Diner. When he walked in, wearing black Levi’s skinny jeans and a Diesel hoodie that hit his slender wrists just so, the restaurant’s flamboyant waiters shrieked and hugged him. They later said it was because he was a regular, but shrieks and hugs are a natural reaction to someone who looks like him. (We should know: By the end of our own conversation, our voices had gone up at least two octaves. Only Mariah Carey’s dogs could hear us.) 'I like to hang out on the Lower East Side,' he said. Hence the skinny jeans. 'Don’t try to get anywhere too quickly,' we joked shrilly, immediately loathing ourselves. The cool kids down on Rivington are nowhere near as sycophantic as us. 'Most of them don’t even give a shit,' he said."

And if rumors are true, tonight's episode will feature the reveal of Gossip Girl's gay character.

The Genius of Gossip Girl [ny magazine]

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Kinky Details Emerge in Richard Quest Arrest

On Saturday, the New York Post added a few details to the report on CNN reporter Richard Quest's early Friday morning arrest:

"CNN personality Richard Quest was busted in Central Park early yesterday with some drugs in his pocket, a rope around his neck that was tied to his genitals, and a sex toy in his boot, law-enforcement sources said... Quest was initially busted for loitering, the source said. Aside from the oddly configured rope, the search also turned up a sex toy inside of his boot, and a small bag of methamphetamine in his left jacket pocket. It wasn't immediately clear what the rope was for."

As the result of a hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, the misdemeanor charges against Quest will be dropped after he undergoes six months of drug counseling, which will lead to an "adjournment in contemplation of dismissal."

Previously
CNN's Richard Quest Arrested in Central Park on Drug Charge [tr]

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CNN's Richard Quest Arrested in Central Park on Drug Charge

Richard Quest, the host of CNN's "Business Traveler" and "Quest" and an international correspondent for the network, is being arraigned today on a misdemeanor drug possession charge after an overnight arrest in New York's Central Park:

"Mr. Quest was arrested early Friday morning after being escorted out of Central Park for violating the park curfew, a law enforcement official said Friday. The park is closed from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. The police noticed Mr. Quest at 64th Street and West Drive at about 3:40 a.m., the official said. As he was being escorted out, he volunteered, 'I have meth in my pocket,' according to an official briefed on the case. The police searched him and recovered a small amount of methamphetamine in a Ziploc bag."

Quest, who is gay and British, began his career at the BBC, and joined CNN in 2001.

AFTER THE JUMP, one of Quest's "Quest" segments...

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News: Alan Tudyk, Pope Benedict, Provincetown, Christina Aguilera

Bush thanks Pope Benedict XVI for an "awesome" speech. Approval rating at 28%.

Armani Exchange holds London briefing.

Somebody is way too young to be flipping the bird. Did he learn it from his mother or his father?

Study: Same-sex marriage in Iowa would be a boont o the economy. "The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimates that same-sex weddings and related tourism would lead to $160 million in spending over the next three years. The total economic activity related to same-sex marriage would give the state an extra $5.3 million per year in tax revenue, the study says."

Earthquake rocks Illinois: "A 5.4 earthquake that appeared to rival the strongest recorded in the region rocked people awake up to 350 miles away early Friday, surprising residents unaccustomed to such a powerful Midwest temblor. The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered 6 miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind. It was felt in such distant cities as Chicago, Cincinnati and Milwaukee, 350 miles north of the epicenter, but there were no early reports of injuries or significant damage."

Chace Crawford on his perfect companion: "I don’t have any real guidelines for any particular girl. If they ring your bell, they ring your bell."

Alan Tudyk tapped for gay role in new pilot from Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan that centers around the partnership between two writers, based on them. One is straight, one is gay.

University of Massachusetts hosts Drag Ball: "Students were decked out in their drag finest, men in wigs and gaudy prom-inspired eveningwear and women suited up with matching fedoras and suspenders. The Drag Ball kicked off with an entertaining introduction from host Envy Chanel, winner of Miss New England International Plus 2008. The feisty bundle of joy donned an outfit nothing short of noticeable. 'I bought you disco ball arms, Asians on the body, and slippery black boots," she playfully cooed.'"

LOGO claims broadcast of first gay-targeted High-Definition TV show.

Matthew McConaughey channels Jesus.

Rich of FourFour honors the best vagarm in history.

New writers colony sprouts in Provincetown, in Norman Mailer's old house: "Joan Didion, William Kennedy, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Gunter Grass have consented to be on the board. Four universities have expressed interest in partnering with the project. Mailer's third-floor studio, just as he left it, will be preserved as a museum. The home's four bedrooms will be used to house visiting distinguished writers and scholars. The first floor will be an area for lectures and conferences. Writers who are accepted will receive a stipend and be housed in other locations in town. There will be slots for writers of fiction and non-fiction, as well as those working on scripts for stage and film. Funds have already been pledged, and Schiller hopes the colony will be launched next year."

Domestic partners: Salt Lake City begins registration of gay couples.

The Gay Recluse honors the smokin' hot statuary of Washington Heights in NYC.

Florida same-sex marriage foes kick off ballot initiative in West Palm Beach. Sidney Lanier, a retired Florida Highway Patrol officer: "The world that we grew up in is very different than the world we live in. Some changes have been good. But some things are never meant to change, because they define us as human beings."

Kylie Minogue's new video for "All I See" has been released - watch it.

Gay sperm donor loses bid for guardianship of his blood child, being raised by two lesbians: "Rejecting his claim yesterday, Mr Justice John Hedigan said the child's welfare was best served by remaining with the couple, and by the man in his forties having no guardianship or access to the infant. There was nothing in Irish law to suggest that a family of two women and a child had 'any lesser right to be recognised as a de facto family than a family composed of a man and woman unmarried to each other and a child'. The judge added that the rights of a man who acted as a sperm donor were no greater than those of an unmarried father. He had the right to apply to be appointed as a guardian, but no automatic right to appointment."

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