News: Sarah Palin, Penguins, Ralph Reed, Cleveland, Kidneys, MP3s

Palin hints at independent conservative movement, to remain on national scene. Also, Son Track not a Republican.

Gay SF Zoo penguin pulls an Anne Heche.

Real Housewives of New York holding out for six figures. Kelly Bensimon to return.

Ralph Reed aims to rejuvenate Christian Coalition: “Even though I’ve been doing other things, this is kind of like Steve Jobs returning to Apple.You have to reinvent it. It’s the political analog to the iPod and the iPhone. It would be cool. It would be transformative. It would transform our politics and bring younger people to our ranks. All of those are critical imperatives.”

Barney Frank cool in the pool.

Ryan Reynolds to star as Green Lantern in feature film.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference threatens to fire Los Angeles leader over support for same-sex marriage: "The Rev. Eric P. Lee, president of the local SCLC chapter for two years, became an outspoken advocate of same-sex marriage during the recent campaign against Proposition 8, an amendment to the state Constitution that banned such unions. The SCLC national board notified Lee on May 27 that he would have to attend a hearing at its Atlanta headquarters on June 4 to explain his stance on same-sex marriage. If he did not show up, they said, they would suspend and fire him."

F*CK!: Swearing helps reduce pain.

Lateisha Green murder trial set to begin in Syracuse. New York to use hate crimes law.

Music industry sees collapse in illegal file-sharing: "The survey of 1,000 fans also shows that many14 to 18 year olds are now streaming music regularly online using services such as YouTube and Spotify. At the same time less than a third of teenagers are now illegally downloading music, the survey suggests."

Male model fix: Chris Cuba.

Brad Pitt and Anglelina Jolie house-hunting at swank NYC upper east side "fortress".

Robert Pattinson offers a flash of the pubes.

Mental: Comedian Eddie Sarfaty coming to NYC.

Levi Johnston: Palin quit for the money.

Margaret Cho returns to TV in Drop Dead Diva: Cho plays the sidekick to a recently deceased model trapped in an overweight brainiac's body. "I thought that it was a really interesting idea, because I think that a certain kind of beauty is valued more than other kinds, and that's a really harmful thing. To take a script that questions that beauty ideal and challenges it is very important. It's really close to what I do in stand-up, talking about body issues and beauty in an intelligent, funny and provocative way."

Cleveland keen on capturing 2014 Gay Games.

Wanted: living kidney donors.

Anchor mocks Mariah Carey's performance of "I'll Be There" at Jackson funeral. The Westboro Baptist Chuch performs "Beat It".

Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller Didn't Make Up the Gay Penguin Story

Never mind they get the story wrong (the gay penguins hatched a chick — it was in 2005 that the same zoo imported female penguins to see if its gay male pairs would go straight), what's more important to O'Reilly and Miller is that the story gives them a chance to hoot at one another over lame "tight T-shirt" and "pre-colored egg" jokes. And don't forget the pre-op transsexuals. Always good for a laugh.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Gay Penguins Hatch, Adopt Chick in Germany

If you've been reading the site since 2005 you may remember that the Bremerhaven Zoo in Germany had three pairs of gay penguins it tried to make straight by importing females from Sweden. It didn't work.

One of those pairs recently took foster care of an egg for 35 days, and hatched it:

"The world-famous gay penguins ‘Z’ and ‘Vielpunkt’ have now become proud parents after hatching the egg and adopting the baby chick. Vet Joachim Schöne said: 'Another couple threw the egg out of their batch. We picked it up and put it in the nest of the gay penguins. On April 25 the chick was born and is now being watched by one of its new dads around the clock.' It is still unclear whether the chick is male of female - Schöne added that it will only become clear when the feathers are looked at in a lab. The baby penguin cannot even eat by itself yet. 'The fathers are feeding their young one with fish mash at the moment,' the vet said."

Birth of the Bionic Penguin

But do they have the desire to parent? Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

The Gayest Painting of Our Time?

In my online travels I ran across this kitschy take on Noah's Ark yesterday on Flickr and was momentarily stunned by the gayness of it all. 'Noah's Gay Wedding Cruise', which artist Paul Richmond created for a gallery show called “Sweet & Low: Optimism in a Pessimistic Age” at Gallery Arcane in San Francisco, features an iconic cast of characters — Ellen & Portia, Rosie and Kelli, Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar, Bert and Ernie, Elton John and David Furnish as well as penguins and assorted other homo fauna.

However, I was much more amused by the range of drowning sinners bobbing about in the flood: a sopped Ann Coulter, Larry Craig clinging to a toilet, Sally Kern, Fred Phelps, and Kenneth Starr. That's Pat Boone's guitar. A 'Yes on 8' supporter.

As art it's not really up my alley, but I could certainly appreciate the message.

News: Iceland, T.R. Knight, PETA, Penguins, Karl Rove, Octuplets

Portland Mayor Sam Adams back to work: "'Good morning, everybody,' he said to the reporters who rushed to meet him at the doors. 'Happy to be back,' he said. 'Ready to get to work.' He didn't miss a beat, didn't stop to chat. When a reporter tried to ask him about the most recent news reports, he didn't bite. 'I'm happy to answer questions about city business,' he said. Then he slipped into the City Council chamber, where he spent the next two hours discussing a bridge project."

T.R. Knight and boyfriend Mark Cornelsen enjoy the gayest place on Earth.

NBC bans PETA 'vegetable porn' commercial from Super Bowl - WATCH it.

Married same-sex New York couples offered guidelines: "The five-page document, issued on January 26 by Lambda Legal, the Empire State Pride Agenda, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the American Civil Liberties Union, outlines a dozen-and-a-half areas -- some broad-reaching, others more narrowly tailored -- in which the state's policy of recognizing marriages by same-sex couples who legally wed in other jurisdictions have implications for their day-to-day life here in New York." Get the doc HERE.

Ryan Reynolds minds his muscles.

Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir to become Iceland's, world's first openly lesbian prime minister?

House Judiciary Chair Conyers issues subpoena to Karl Rove: "I have said many times that I will carry this investigation forward to its conclusion, whether in Congress or in court, and today's action is an important step along the way. Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it. After two years of stonewalling, it's time for him to talk."

Know your ABCs: The gay alphabet!

Students across U.S. don T-shirts for 'Equality on Campus Day'.

High-ranking French official comes out: "Roger Karoutchi, France’s Secretary of State for Parliamentary Relations and a close friend of President Nicholas Sarkozy, has revealed he is gay. The former MEP and senator made the claim in an interview conducted in advance of the release of his autobiography."

Openly gay attorney Michael Pollok running for Kirsten Gillibrand's seat.

Necessary? Chinese zoo gives gay penguins a wedding. These are the same penguins who last month were segregated for stealing eggs and trying to raise a child.

Octuplets born in California.

Does it really matter if True Beauty contestant Joel Rush is pretty on the inside?

Georgia man fights court order on visits with kids: "[Judge] Edwards ordered that neither of the parents could have 'overnight company with a member of the opposite sex, or with any person deemed to be a paramour, unrelated by blood or marriage, in the presence of a child.' One sentence later Edwards wrote: 'Additionally, defendant is prohibited from exposing the children to his homosexual partners and friends.' In his appeal, Mongerson’s attorneys write that such an order was an abuse of the court’s discretion. 'There was no evidence presented that and the court made no finding that exposing the parties’ children to any of Appellant’s homosexual friends would adversely affect the best interests of the children,' according to the appeal. 'Therefore, such a prohibition on appellant’s homosexual friends is an abuse of discretion.'"