News: Aaron Harvey, Sundance, Brad Pitt, Home Depot, Cleve Jones

Former Memphis police officer pleads not guilty to civil rights charges in the videotaped beating of transgender woman Duanna Johnson while she was in custody: "Johnson, a biological male who lived as a woman, was being booked on a prostitution charge when the incident happened. A videotape of the beating was broadcast on Memphis TV stations and online in June, leading to McRae's firing. His former partner, James Swain, 25, was also fired." Today is the National Transgender Day of Remembrance.

It's what being single does to a girl.

Guy Ritchie won't take a cent.

Two men plead not guilty to gay bashing murder of Liverpool teen Michael Causer.

Obama taps Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security secretary. Politico: "Napolitano is a border governor who will now be responsible for immigration policy and border security, which are part of Homeland Security’s myriad functions. Napolitano brings law and order experience from her stint as the Grand Canyon State’s first female attorney general. One of the nation’s most prominent female elected officials, she made frequent appearances on behalf of Barack Obama during the campaign. She was reelected to a second four-year term in 2006."

Brad Pitt comes face-to-Skype with a Bradaloonie.

The truth about Phyliss Burgess, the old lady who had her cross stomped at the Palm Springs 'No on 8' rally.

Detroit sports radio personality loses football bet, comes to work in drag.

An interview with Aaron Harvey, whose work was the inspiration for the now well-known Shepard Fairey "Defend Equality" image: "I landed on a design that was certainly not new, but was new this go around -- a raised fist of solidarity, with a twist: this fist also had a wedding band on it. The color scheme was also deliberate. The official "No on 8" campaign was using a green check in their campaign which I felt was a visual oxymoron. I knew red needed to be part of the design. When I showed it to friends and colleagues some of them said 'Oooh that's kind of angry, how are you going to persuade people sitting on the fence with that?' Well, for me, it wasn't about persuading the other side. It was about my side, and getting my side to realize there was something they needed to get up and defend!"

Pete Wentz on having his man part manscaping revealed to the world: "Honestly, I felt slightly overgrown in those pictures. If I had taken them for public consumption, I would have done it differently—groomed a little closer, better lighting."

Huckabee: Prop 8 did not ban same-sex marriage, it affirmed traditional marriage.

Campaign to move Sundance Film Festival out of Utah launches website.

New York's Triborough bridge renamed for Robert F. Kennedy.

Wentworth Miller to be out of work soon?

Time Out New York interviews activist Cleve Jones: "I think there are lots of Harveys out there, but the movement has changed. The charismatic individual leaders who were able to get things done by the sheer force of their personalities—we don’t see them anymore. In Harvey’s day, we didn’t have infrastructure. We just had individuals with big ideas and big mouths. When Harvey ran for office, we had to raise $30,000 to get him elected, and that was a challenge. Today there are hundreds of gay organizations around the country that routinely raise and spend millions a year. We didn’t have community centers, churches and youth groups, and of course, we didn’t have HIV/AIDS. I think people like Harvey and myself are really anachronisms. Probably the last leader of that style was Larry Kramer."

Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus on electing Republicans: "If a retailer has not gotten involved with this, if he has not spent money on this election, if he has not sent money to Norm Coleman and these other guys, [then those retailers] should be shot; should be thrown out of their goddamn jobs."

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Zac Efron and Elijah Kelley Make a Dapper Pair

Hairspray's Elijah Kelley helps co-star Zac Efron out with his tie at the after party for the 19th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Not sure how Efron returned the favor, but perhaps he gave Kelley some kissing advice:

"Go easy and take your time. Be respectful of the other person and don't just get on in there and grope all over the place. My favorite kisses happen when I've taken it nice and slow. Don't try to swallow the person you're kissing by opening your mouth so wide! I've never experienced a washing-machine kiss, but I've heard about them. When girls rotate their tongues around your mouth like a washing machine, that's not a good idea."

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Hairspray: a Review [tr]

(image source)

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Gary Cloutier Declared "Unofficial Winner" in Vallejo Mayoral Race

Openly gay Vallejo, California Councilman Gary Cloutier was declared the "unofficial winner" in the city's tight mayoral race on Tuesday, just hours after he apologized for an embarrassing weekend public intoxication arrest in Palm Springs.

The Vallejo Times-Herald reports, "The 45-year-old Cloutier, who has served on the council since 1999, was arrested early Sunday after officers found him sitting alone in the driver's seat of a friend's Cadillac in Palm Springs. Police said he was clearly intoxicated, and was pulling out of his parking spot when stopped. He was not, however, charged with an attempted DUI. Cloutier said [yesterday] morning he made a mistake 'I deeply regret' and also said, 'I accept full responsibility for my actions and make no excuses.' He said he will work hard to restore confidence that his friends and colleagues may have lost in him. He said 'thank you' and wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving."

Two hours later, election officials declared Cloutier the winner in his neck-and-neck race against Osby Davis, according to the SF Chronicle: "Gary Cloutier beat former Solano County Supervisor Osby Davis by a hair-thin 5,722 to 5,718 votes, according to final results from the Nov. 6 election. Solano County Assistant Registrar of Voters Lindsey McWilliams said he expects to certify the results as final on Monday. The mayor's race had been a virtual dead heat since election day, when Cloutier and Davis were tied in their bids to lead the Bay Area's ninth-largest city."

Davis would have been Vallejo's first black mayor. Cloutier now appears to be the city's first gay mayor. Davis says he will ask for a recount.

Previously
Gay Vallejo Mayoral Candidate Arrested for Public Intoxication [tr]
Vallejo, California Mayoral Candidates Battle to Be a First for City [tr]
(image sf chronicle)

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News: Pete Wentz, Right Whales, Patty Hearst, Lithuania

Lawyers representing eight same-sex couples in Connecticut who say their civil unions aren't enough and they want gay marriage begin presenting oral arguments at the state Supreme Court today. Lawyer: "A law that says every right, every benefit and every legal aspect of marriage is given to same-sex couples shows that this is nothing more than a legislative policy decision of a special legal institution. The legislature already determined a fundamental sameness between couples. Constitutional law has discarded long ago any notion that a separate institution for a minority can ever be equal."

Endangered right whales seen in record numbers off the coast of Provincetown: “We’ve identified at least 120 whales. That’s out of a (worldwide) population of around 400.”

Lithuanian bus company removes gay tolerance ads after drivers refuse to drive buses carrying them: "Algirdas Krivickas, director of the trolley bus company in the western town of Kaunas, said employees had expressed strong emotions over the adverts which read: 'A gay can serve in the police' and 'A lesbian can work at school'. Drivers had refused to take out the trolley bus bearing the adverts. They had now been removed. 'Some said they feared the trolley bus could be vandalised, some said they do not want friends to laugh at them,' Krivickas said."

Christopher and Anne Rice hold Palm Springs benefit for Lambda Literary Foundation: "We hope to partner with local bookstores, libraries and colleges, holding symposiums and bringing prominent LGBT authors to the desert. It will be good for the Palm Springs area to be recognized as a cultural center for LGBT authors."

Signed in blood: Pete Wentz presents his original artwork.

Barack Obama roars in Kansas City: "The day that this president steps down, the entire world will breath a sigh of relief. After half a trillion dollars spent and after 3,400 lives lost of our bravest young men and women, thousands more wounded, legs severed, nerves shattered, it is time for us to bring this war to a close."

Serbia takes Eurovision Song Contest title as Ukranian drag queen Verka Serdyuchka take second. A blow-by-blow analysis from Rex Wockner.

Russian activists announce St. Petersburg gay pride parade at end of May.

Patty Hearst denies she's been offering advice to future jailbird Paris Hilton: "I must say that my heart goes out to the inmates of the Century Regional Detention Center. Forty-five days with Paris Hilton and the attendant publicity seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me. Perhaps THEY should be petitioning the Governor for relief?"

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley says that the proposed amendment to ban gay marriage in that state may be unconstitutional and says she will support those challenging it: "She quoted a joint court opinion by Justices John Greaney and Roderick Ireland saying the 2003 SJC decision that legalized same-sex marriage 'may be irreversible because of its holding that no rational basis exist, or can be advanced, to support the definition of marriage' as only between a man and a woman. The opinion also noted that the amendment would discriminate against same-sex couples by removing rights they already had been granted."

Bad lieutenant: Canadian police officer admits downloading an image that said "I love gay porn" onto the computer of a house she was searching.

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News: Tim Gunn, Manorexia, Ian Ziering, Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84.

The NYT takes a look at how Project Runway's "headmaster of fashion" Tim Gunn came to sit atop the sartorial heap: "He had been an unhappy child, introverted, a stutterer, spending sunny days in his room reading books, practicing the piano, playing with Legos, idolizing mad King Ludwig II, who spent his spare time designing castles. He was the last one chosen during mandatory team sports — a disappointment to his tight-lipped father, George William Gunn, an assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who served as the ghostwriter of J. Edgar Hoover. (His mother, Nancy, helped establish the library of the Central Intelligence Agency. His great-grandfather Harry Wardman was a builder of row houses and hotels in Washington.) 'I was the one they called the horrible slurs that ended up being prophetic,' Mr. Gunn said. 'Little did I know.'"

Cathedral City, California, adjacent to Palm Springs, approves resolution urging the FDA to review its policy banning gay men from giving blood.

Black Gay Men's Advisory Group wins UK award for Stop Murder Music campaign, condemning homophobia by Reggae artists.

James Franco has a hot Complex.

Big Brother Brazil winner Diego fancies himself a male pin-up.

Dancing with the Stars' Ian Ziering considering showcasing it all to Playgirl for $100K...

New pastor at Methodist church that rejected gay parishioner welcomes him back: "The Reverend Barry Burkholder, the new leader of South Hill United Methodist Church, told the congregation to accept the unidentified man's transfer from a Baptist church. The former pastor, the Reverend Edward Johnson, said in 2005 that he could not accept the man as a member because he would neither repent nor seek to change. Johnson has since been appointed pastor at another Virginia church."

Gay media and entertainment professionals to network at second annual Q-Me Con in Los Angeles this weekend.

STUDY: Gay men prone to eating disorders than straight men. " Researchers surveyed 516 New York City residents; 126 were straight men and the rest were gay or bisexual men and women. The results showed that more than 15 percent of gay or bisexual men had at some time suffered anorexia, bulimia or binge-eating disorder, or at least certain symptoms of those disorders -- a problem known as a 'subclinical' eating disorder. That compared with less than 5 percent of heterosexual men, the researchers report in the International Journal of Eating Disorders."

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News: Amazon Swimmer, Palm Springs, Genetics, Tax Time

Gay families hit unfairly again at tax time because of Federal Defense of Marriage Act: "Each tax season, same-sex couples sit at their dining room tables and are forced to live a legal lie by checking single despite their decades together - arbitrarily dividing up their joint households income, expenses, and dependents. Even in states with domestic partnerships or civil unions, we still have to check single on our tax forms because our federal government doesn't consider us a family."

This may be as close to your ass as David Beckham's ever going to get.

Unhostile takeover: the rise of guerilla gay bars.

Former gay Big Brother Australia contestant David Graham dancing by on Dancing with the Stars, thanks to the "gay vote".

Palm Springs committee unanimously approves Rainbow Vision gay and lesbian retirement community...

NYT on sexual genetics: "Desire between the sexes is not a matter of choice. Straight men, it seems, have neural circuits that prompt them to seek out women; gay men have those prompting them to seek other men....Sexual orientation, at least for men, seems to be settled before birth. 'I think most of the scientists working on these questions are convinced that the antecedents of sexual orientation in males are happening early in life, probably before birth,' Dr. Breedlove said, 'whereas for females, some are probably born to become gay, but clearly some get there quite late in life.'"

52-year-old Slovenian man swims the Amazon river, covering 3,274 miles in 65 days, battling piranhas, sharks, crocodiles, and pirates. Here he receives aid from Brazilian medics at the end of his record-breaking swim. Here's a swim diary...

And the cat came back, the very next day... Traveling cat rides the bus every day for fish and chips.

Hillary Clinton becomes third Dem candidate, following Obama and Edwards, to pull out of FOX/Congressional Black Caucus debate.

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Lance Bass Hits Palm Springs for the White Party

A tipster sent us a few photos from the 18th White Party in Palm Springs over the weekend, where, free from the glass closet, Lance Bass reveled alongside 30,000 others.

Others, however, chose to keep their identities a well-guarded secret.

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Burglary-Hate Crime in Palm Springs

Just a week after Palm Springs Mayor Ron Oden shot down a subcommittee that had hoped to brand California desert town Palm Springs a "Hate-free community", a gay couple who moved to the town only a month ago experienced some hate first-hand.

On Tuesday, James Perre's and Dan Desiato's Palm Springs apartment was trashed by burglars who tore apart personal items, scrawled threatening anti-gay phrases on the wall, and made away with about $9,000 worth of possessions.

The couple told NewsChannel 3: "Our life meant nothing to someone. It's the only thing we have. For hatred. It's apparent from the graffiti, it's apparent from the personal items that are torn up. We hate you because you're not like us. We sold everything when we moved from the East Coast to move to Palm Springs and they've ruined everything that was of value to us. Someone basically, once again, says we're worth nothing because it goes against what they believe. And we have to suffer with memories gone and thing that can't be replaced."

Police are offering a $1,000 reward to anyone with information on the criminals.

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News: Borat Frat Boys, Palm Springs, Heroes Closet Case, Nigeria

Nigeria may pass legislation banning any form of association between gay people, including dining together at a restaurant: "Other activities prohibited under the proposed law include belonging to gay clubs or reading books, watching films or accessing Internet sites that 'promote' homosexuality." Opposition is scant because of fear of reprisal from the government and religious groups.

Just who is the hottest Brazilian of 2006?

New York Film Critics name United 93 best picture...

Palm Springs considers branding itself a "hate-free" city: "'Not in Our Town' is the name of a campaign the commission hopes will help the public learn to support people who are gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual; of another race or ethnicity; of another religion or gender; or have a physical or mental disability."

Andy Roddick: card shark.

South Australian police create gay liaison positions within force: "SAPOL's acting director of Human Resources, John Bruhn, says the initiative is directed at better policing of gay hate crimes. 'Those sort of crimes are generally under reported and that's one of the key drivers in us setting up this network,' he said. 'So we can do better at helping and supporting the gay community in dealing with those things.'"

Same-sex shenanigans from the Toronto set of Hairspray: "a certain young male Hairspray star has left one local lad heartbroken. Sources say the two met midway through production and ended up spending many quiet nights together in the actor’s Minto Yorkville suite. Promises to stay in touch were reportedly made but since filming ended the teen star hasn’t called or e-mailed his Canuck lover."

Did NBC send its gay character Zach from Heroes back into the closet? "Two scenarios seem the mostly likely: for unknown reasons, NBC suddenly shied away from the idea of a gay character. Or Dekker's management wanted Zach to be straight."

Civil Partnerships prepare to celebrate first anniversary in Britain: "Civil partnerships have quickly and seamlessly become a feature of British national life. The statistics are compelling: more than 15,500 couples registered civil partnerships in the period from last December to September this year, suggesting that government predictions of 22,000 partnerships by 2010 are a huge underestimate. But perhaps more significant is that among the 15,500 pledging their union were a cabinet member - Ben Bradshaw, the Fisheries minister - and among those planning to tie the knot are Adam and Ian from The Archers, which, lest we forget, is 'an everyday story of country folk'."

Judge rejects request from "duped" frat boys to remove scene and halt sale of Borat DVD.

Matthew McConaughey's leisure suit chic.

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Mr. Gay International is Crowned in the Desert

The second international Mr. Gay competition was held over the weekend in Palm Springs, California and Nathan Shaked of Israel was awarded the title, Mr. Gay 2007. Grant Ermis of the U.S. and Joep Mesman from the Netherlands were first and second runner up, respectively.

Said the pageant's producer Don Spradlin: "Competitions such as these have been popular in Europe for years and we're thrilled to now have a U.S. based component looking for the 'boy next door' to represent the broader gay community. The winner will serve as a spokesman to raise the visibility of gay men, confront homophobia, and create a positive role model in his travels around the world."

So there you have it. Full pageant equality.

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News: Dieux du Stade, Gay Bishop Dissed, DJ Tiesto, Palm Springs

Palm Springs' gays "unified in outrage" over openly gay Mayor Ron Oden's courteous welcome of Focus on the Family's "Love Won Out" conference for ex-gays to the area. Oden, a minister, says he was only being Christian: "I do not agree with Focus on the Family... yet, I believe that I should show them common or Christian courtesy."

Ready for more French rugby? Dieux du Stade 2007 is on its way and features one of our recent faves, Geoffroy Messina. Order HERE.

Latvian Parliament passes amendments to labor law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. Move brings Latvia in line with EU directive.

Openly gay HGTV Design Star winner David Bromstad will develop a "color show" for the 13-episode series he won, says he's unlike his onscreen persona: "I’m a weirdo. I’m a very quiet person when I’m not working. All i really do is go to the beach; I stay home, I don’t go out. I’m kind of a homebody. But when I’m around people, I think I just thrive around people, they give me so much energy."

Sean Penn's advice to his daughter's dates: "I tell them that whatever they do to my daughter that night, they better be prepared to come home and do it to me too."

DJ Tiësto hospitalized in the Netherlands for heart condition.

Gay man passed over in election of new Episcopal bishop: "It marked the second time in five months that a diocese of the U.S. Episcopal church has considered a gay person for bishop. In an election in May the Diocese of California, headquartered in San Francisco, also passed over a candidate who was gay. The 2.4 million-member U.S. church has been in turmoil since the 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, believed to be the first openly gay bishop in more than 450 years of Anglican history. Gay activists in the Newark Diocese said before the vote that choosing their new bishop was about picking the right person for the job, and not not about sexual identity.

REVIEW: Rupert Everett memoir "a splendid book, a monument to a series of demi-mondes and fleeting bittersweet moments. Definitely several cuts above the conventional showbusiness memoir, laced with quirky insights and dazzling phrases, it reads like a lurid dream, recalled in deliciously acute detail - in short, a heady triumph of observation and reverie."

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