News: Germany, Belmont Rocks, Rent, Dot Gay, Uganda, Polar Bears

Website devoted to raid on Atlanta Eagle bar launches.

Health care: Pelosi publicly whipping on robust public option?

SPACE: A giant hole found in the Moon, the youngest and most distant galaxy cluster ever recorded, and a stunning map of exploration of our solar system.

News anchor finds himself in a remake of The Birds.

Boston gays to protest Obama this weekend.

PFOX urges libraries to carry books about the "ex-gay" movement.

Jack Mackenroth slams Oprah over HIV show.

Utah Catholic high school defends production of Rent: "Sister Catherine Kamphaus, superintendent of schools in the Salt Lake City diocese, said she read the script at the request of Bishop John Wester, and she watched a dress rehearsal Tuesday. 'There is absolutely nothing that would be offensive,' Kamphaus said Thursday. 'It wasn't condoning the gay and lesbian lifestyle.' Rather, she said, the play shows friends forming a loving and caring community while facing AIDS and other challenges."

Homophobic Daily Mail writer Jan Moir was thrilled to be in spotlight over Gately death.

San Diego gay man says attack in Hillcrest area was hate crime.

Producers shaft the hot dude on Melrose Place.

Time capsule: Chicago's Belmont Rocks.

Tom Cruise: American Psycho.

Report: International transgender community at higher risk in counterterrorism operations. "The report, by noted International Law Professor Martin Sheinin, concludes that because security personnel regularly seek out men 'dressed as women' as potential terrorists, soldiers often target all men in female clothing — including those who do so as part of their gender identity. This is particularly the case in Middle Eastern/Islamic nations — or against Middle Eastern/Islamic people.' Enhanced immigration controls that focus attention on male bombers who may be dressing as females to avoid scrutiny make transgender persons susceptible to increased harassment and suspicion,' the report says."

Coalition releases statement condemning anti-gay bill in Uganda.

UK's first gay tourism office opens in London's Soho district.

Obama administration sets aside 200,000 acres in Alaska for Polar Bears.

Model Paul Sculfor shoots gay scene in Madrid.

The Dot Gay Alliance has competition from a straight German man in Riga, Latvia: "While both groups have left open the possibility of cooperating, they haven’t yet joined forces. Both groups say they plan on starting the application process with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, to create top-level domains, akin to .com, .edu, .org and .net."

German high court backs pensions for gay married couples: "A failure to give gay partners the same benefits infringes the basic right to equal treatment, the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said. The decision nullified an earlier ruling from the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) regarding a Hamburg man who has been a public servant since 1991 with a supplementary pension. The public-sector pension company VBL – the largest such company in the nation – refused to give the man married status, despite the fact that he’d been living in a registered civil union for eight years. This meant that his retirement benefits would be €74 less each month, and his partner would receive no surviving dependants’ pension in the event of his death."

Polar Bear Cub Goes Bear-Back

This is apparently the first photographic evidence of a phenomenon — baby Polar Bears riding on their mother's backs — that was heretofore undocumented.

It's also damn cute.

The Telegraph reports: "Now in a paper in the journal Polar Biology Dr Aars has explained why the cubs might ride on the back of the mother. He said that although young bears can swim they have not yet built up much insulating fat and may be at risk of getting too cold. 'This could be potentially important because it means that the cubs get exposed to less water. If they are in the water they would have to swim and very small cubs are very badly insulated in water,' he said."

Woman Attacked by Polar Bear after Jumping into Tank at Berlin Zoo

Apparently Knut, the celebrity and former cub with whom the polar bear above shares his tank, has deceived some into believing that the animals are nothing but plush toys.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #434

OBAMA'S ELF: Sing it, baby.

SYDNEY MARDI GRAS: Mardi Gras Fair Day kicks off the annual festival.

ALL MY CHILDREN: Reese and Bianca in daytime TV's first same-sex wedding.

SKATING ON THIN ICE: Polar bears, from a recent episode of Nature.

Polar Scare

Food appears to be getting scarce in Barrow, Alaska:

"The target, a surveyor, was returning to his car in the remote town of Barrow, Alaska, when he saw the great white beast. With no time to unlock the door of his vehicle and climb inside, he tried to duck out of sight. But the hungry bear was not giving up, and a terrifying chase began. First, the beast stood up on its furry haunches and eyed its prey. Then it loped around the car, and even climbed over the bonnet to try to reach him. After a few laps of the car the bear almost caught up, managing to land a few heavy swipes on his prey. The man eventually managed to take refuge in a neighbouring truck which was unlocked. His back and head were covered in more than 100 deep scratches where the massive claws had managed to rip through his thick winter clothes and padded coat. Barrow is the northernmost town of the United States, 340 miles north of the Arctic Circle."

More shots here.

That bear was lucky it wasn't in Iceland.

Recently
Debby, World's Oldest Living Polar Bear, Dies [tr]

Debby, World's Oldest Living Polar Bear, Dies

Debby, a 41-year-old polar bear at the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba was euthanized yesterday due to a degrading kidney condition. Debby was orphaned as a cub and brought to the zoo in 1967.

The Zoo released a statement about Debby, who was considered the world's oldest living polar bear: "It is with great sadness that Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park Zoo must advise that Debby the polar bear -- one of the world's most-famous and loved bears -- was euthanized on Monday."

Zoo coordinator Gordon Glover said Debby was "without a doubt the most famous animal in (the zoo's) 104-year history."

News reports, AFTER THE JUMP...

Previously
Iceland Shoots Second Lost, Starving Polar Bear in a Month [tr]