Sarkozy Defends Gay French Culture Minister Over Male Prostitutes

Gay French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand's defense of Roman Polanski has now put his own past under the microscope. French politicians have called the defense an attack on the United States and at least one party has called for Mitterand's resignation.

Mitterand, whom Sarkozy appointed as Culture Minister, in June, apparently wrote a book described as "a mixture of straight autobiography and more dreamlike reflection" in which he talks about paying boys for sex.

Says Mitterand in the book: "I got into the habit of paying for boys [even though I knew] the sordid details of this traffic...All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excited me enormously ... the abundance of very attractive and immediately available young boys put me in a state of desire."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy defended Mitterand through a spokesman: "French political debate sometimes takes on a pathetic form. It's excessive and quite undignified...I have not heard Frederic Mitterrand say anything against France's position of fighting sex tourism."

Openly Gay Frédéric Mitterrand Named French Minister of Culture

In a dramatic reshuffling of several key cabinet positions, French President Nicolas Sarkozy appointed Frédéric Mitterrand his new Minister of Culture last night:

"The film-maker, writer and TV presenter Frédéric Mitterrand, 61, nephew of the late President François Mitterrand, will become culture minister, a very high-profile job in France. This appointment, welcomed by many in the artistic world, will irritate the Catholic, conservative right. M. Mitterrand is a vociferous campaigner for homosexual rights and a columnist in the gay magazine, Tétu."

Mitterand is France's first openly gay cabinet minister.

News: Shane Mercado, Kalamazoo, Nicolas Sarkozy, Bad Christians

Cincinnati Christian University’s chief financial officer Robert Williams arrested on gay 'sexual imposition' charges.

Aussie Idol star Anthony Callea says coming out has had minimal career impact: "You really have to be comfortable with yourself before you make that step. Everybody has an opinion. People say, 'You should have been up front about it', but you need to be comfortable. You don't want to get to 30 or 40 and be dealing with your sexuality. I wanted to do it my way. I didn't want my label or management to be a part of it, I wanted to write my own statement and express what I've gone through and dealt with."

Beyoncé and "Single Ladies" YouTube superstar Shane Mercadocome face-to-face at premiere of Cadillac Records.

Kentucky police officer convicted of murder of gay student who was his lover.

Former gay prostitute turned Christian extremist Bill Whatcott terrorizing Edmonton, Alberta residents with gay hate and anti-abortion flyers.

Roman Catholic priests told not to offend gays with "heterosexist" language.

Lance Bass on the move?

Kalamazoo, Michigan approves gay rights ordinance: "The city of Kalamazoo has stepped beyond existing state and federal laws, making it illegal to use sexual orientation to discriminate in housing, public accommodations and employment. The Kalamazoo City Commission voted 7-0 Monday night to adopt an expanded anti-discrimination ordinance that makes it a municipal civil infraction to discriminate against gays, lesbians and transgender citizens."

Graham Norton to join West End La Cage Aux Folles revival.

Nicolas Sarkozy doesn't have many new ideas, apparently.

David Gregory to host Meet the Press.

Thatcham, UK man warned he may go to prison for harassing his gay neighbors: "Philip Prior, aged 44, of Malthouse Close, was found guilty of harassing his neighbours Stephen Guy and Glynn Morton. Reading Magistrates’ Court heard how Mr Prior shouted homophobic comments, sang anti-gay songs and pinned gay pornographic images to the outside of his neighbours’ home. Mr Prior denied the offence claiming that any song he had sung was for his entertainment only. The court heard on Wednesday of last week how Mr Prior regularly changed the words in song lyrics to make them sound anti-gay, which he would sing loudly in his garden. Giving evidence, Mr Guy said he and his partner were subject to regular taunts from the defendant. The taunts grew so bad that the couple started making notes of the dates, times and details of all the comments."

Gay UK man kills lover on houseboat, stages cover up, court hears.

Report: Patrick Swayze's health failing. Swayze responds.

One of Gossip Girl's allegedly gay duo spotted swapping spit with female co-star.

Brad Pitt rebuilds New Orleans.

Producer Jon Peters slapped with male sexual harassment suit: " In a lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court, Brian Quintana - a co-producer with Peters on the upcoming 'Superman: Man of Steel' - alleges that Peters subjected him to 'continuous and pervasive sexual harassment.' The suit states there were 'multiple instances where he was physically, sexually harassed by Peters, including being groped by male individuals at Peters' behest.' Peters would 'wrestle and rough up [Quintana] in a sexual manner... fondle himself in front of [Quintana]...often place his hand on [Quintana's] leg in a sexual manner,' as well as 'touch' his buttocks, the suit alleges. In addition, according to the suit, Peters demanded that Quintana 'drive male individuals onto the set for the purposes of granting sexual favors for members of the cast and crew [and] cover up allegations that . . . Peters engaged in sexually inappropriate acts in front of children.'" (via boy culture)

Researcher: "Undesirable" gay men engage in riskier behavior.

California priest instructs parishioners to go to confession if they voted for 'pro-abortion' Obama.

Governor Sarah Palin Prank Called by Fake French President

Montreal comedy duo Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel prank-called Governor Sarah Palin yesterday pretending to be French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Not only did Palin's aide hand off the call but Palin stayed on the phone conversing for six minutes before the duo revealed to her that she had been fooled.

When fake Sarkozy told her he hoped she would be president one day, Palin replied: "Haha, maybe in eight years."

Palin also responded to a compliment on heer hunting abilities: "Oh, very good, we should go hunting together. I think we could have a lot of fun together as we're getting work done. We could kill two birds with one stone that way."

While the fake Sarkozy asks her if she's married to Joe the Plumber and tells her that "We have the equivalent of Joe the Plumber in France. It's called Marcel, the guy with bread under his armpit," Palin does not pick up on the joke.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs remarked on the call, saying, "I'm glad we check out our calls before we hand the phone to Barack Obama."

Listen to the call, AFTER THE JUMP...

Nicolas Sarkozy Gets on the Shirtless President Vanity Train

Was the thought of having his love handles exposed the reason why French President Nicolas Sarkozy attacked paparazzi while on vacation at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire earlier this month?

On August 9, Paris Match published a photo of French President Nicolas Sarkozy canoeing at the lake (top), but absent were the poignees d'amour that were showing in the same photo (bottom) published by other French media outlets days earlier.

Immediately there were accusations that a directive to photoshop the love handles had come from Sarkozy's office, but Paris Match denies it:

"The only line we work on is the political and diplomatic one. We are rather bad at Photoshop here...the position of the boat exaggerated this protuberance.(But) In lightening the shadows, the correction was exaggerated."

Our take: Sarkozy got wind of those dripping-with-machismo shirtless photos of Putin and realized he couldn't be shown up at the next G8 summit.

Is this the new way to flex power on the international stage? With all these world leaders ripping their clothes off, let's hope Bush doesn't get any ideas.

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(image source)