News: Susan Boyle, Iraq, Michael Phelps, Carrie Prejean, Sun

Sun dimmest it's been for 100 years...

Confirmed: Miss California Carrie Prejean dating Michael Phelps.

Boyle banishes bushy brows.

More on the executions of gay Iraqis: "According to [Congressman Jared] Polis, the 'egregious human rights violations' are 'being carried out by Iraqi government officials from the Ministry of the Interior.' ...'While I do not know if these executions are being sanctioned at the highest levels of the Iraqi government, it is nonetheless disturbing that government officials and state-funded security forces are involved in the torturing and execution of LGBT Iraqis,' Polis wrote to Patricia Butenis, the chargé d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq."

Just Jared interviews Rosie O'Donnell. On her 2004 marriage to Kelli: "I wanted to be included in the list of people that raised their hands. I didn’t want it to be something that I had an opportunity to participate in but was afraid to, so we went and did that. We don’t actually celebrate that as our anniversary, and that marriage was annulled, because the first few were, but people did write us to say 'Happy Anniversary!' which is how we remember, but our anniversary is in December…for sort of when we knew that we would be together…forever."

Project Runway date announced...

Male rocker Marilyn opens up about relationship with Gavin Rossdale.

Dallas company pulls homophobic prom ad.

Victory Fund announces 12 new endorsements, largely in municipal races across the country.

Former Miss Delaware sides with Carrie Prejean.

Arizona student can wear rainbow wristband, after demands from ACLU: "Eighth grader Chris Quintanilla wore a rainbow wristband with the words "Rainbows are gay" to Parkridge Elementary School in March. Natali Quintanilla, the boy's mother, said the principal called her and told her he would not allow Chris to wear the wristband.Quintanilla contacted the ACLU following the incident; the union wrote a letter to the district demanding it rescind its ban on the wristband, saying the ban was a First Amendment violation."

Alabama lawmaker Jay Love drafts resolution in support of Miss California: "Love said there are those 'tell­ing people what they can believe and what they can say,' which he said is wrong. He said she is being punished for saying marriage is between a man and a woman. 'I don't believe that's right,' Love said."

Delhi teach fired for being gay, teaching students about homophobia.

ABC News: Silence deafening in culture wars. "While social conservatives remain a major part of the GOP, they are losing influence inside and outside the party, said Rich Galen, a Republican strategist."

Worst Catholic logo ever?

Jesus Luz: new post-Madonna photos.

Gay couple attacked by curry vendor at Sydney Royal Easter Show: "Richard said that when the couple went to try one of the sauces offered for public taste testing, they were told by a female worker at the stall: 'No, it’s only for mums and dads. It’s only for people who have families.' When the couple asked why they were being discriminated against, the worker replied: 'I can discriminate against who I want – it’s my product. Now get lost.' The couple were subsequently offered the product by another employee at the stall, but after trying it, the employee who had ordered them to leave threw a pot of curry at them, narrowly missing Richard. She then went to throw a glass jar at the couple before they retreated."

News: Project Runway, Panther, Hugh Jackman, Twitter, Maine

April 15: Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party planned.

The fate of Project Runway has been decided.

Maine's same-sex marriage hearings approach: "With just over three weeks to go before a hearing on a gay marriage bill in the Maine Legislature, both proponents and those opposed to the measure are urging people to contact their local legislator."

AfterElton catches up with the Top 15 most popular gay reality TV stars.

Ugandan Catholic priest accused of being a homosexual defended: "Father Francis Ssemuddu, the head of St. Matia Mulumba parish in Old Kampala, said the accusations 'were untrue'. Ssemuddu said the church was clear about aberrant sexual practices and how to guide offenders get out of 'the abnormal behaviour'."

Beau Breedlove to sign copies of his porn magazine at Portland 'adults only' store.

UK rugby team fined for homophobic jokes in match program.

Kevin Federline has ballooned.

Black panther roaming New York's Hudson Valley?

Margaret Cho sings a NSFW ditty at the GayVN awards.

Obama brokers compromise between French and Chinese at G20 Summit: "During an afternoon session of the G-20, Obama took aside French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese President Hu Jintao, first separately and then together, to secure tax haven language in the G-20 communiqué, according to a senior administration official who recounted the scene to reporters and cast it as pivotal to reaching an agreement on the larger, nine-page document."

Gay bar opens in Huntington Beach, California.

When you're really f-ing proud.

Yesterday I posted that a DVD-quality print of S-Men: Wolverine had leaked. Now come these juicy nude caps of Hugh Jackman (possibly NSFW).

Hayden Christensen: Who knew you had to get so athletic just to shoot a fragrance campaign?

PFLAG's Steve Ralls goes after Elaine Donnelly over her attacks on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell: "Yet, while it's easy to use her rhetoric as fodder for news media comedy, the furor she spews is also based on outrageous bigotry that is not just inherently anti-woman and anti-gay. It's anti-military, too. Which is why it's all the more perplexing why some of those who have worn our country's uniform have also signed on to her campaign of disregard and disrespect for our country's troops . . . and given her more fuel to fire up her campaign of irrational fears."

Australian study: Using Twitter and Facebook at work increases productivity by 9%.

Mack and Cheese: Project Runway Contestant Rocks 90's Fashion

  

Former Project Runway contestant Jack Mackenroth posted some shots from a 1993 Genre magazine article for which he had modeled. Genre, it was reported late on Friday, has suspended publication.

Jack writes: "Oh the horror!! The photos are so quintessentially 90’s. My hair is a human atrocity. And the clothes. GOD. Oh well. Not a good fashion moment for me or the world but I still look pretty good now considering that was 16 years ago. Work the Calvin Klein linen honey!"

He adds: "It is interesting to think that I was already HIV positive back then. I was looking through the rest of the issue and there was a page on AIDS treatment at the time. It’s scary because there was really nothing available. AZT was controversial, D4T was moderately effective and protease inhibitors were not even approved yet. They eventually proved to be a literal lifesaver for many people. We have certainly come a long way in that arena as well. Thank god."

Check out a few more at his blog.

News: Antarctica, Chris Brown, Facebook, Providence, Tim Gunn

NYT on the string of false arrests of gay men in NYC sex shops which prompted protests outside the mayor's house over the weekend: "Some of the arrests have been used by the city as evidence in 'nuisance abatement' lawsuits, a tactic used for many years to try to shut down businesses where unlawful behavior is taking place. The chief police spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said that the police were not singling out gay men but merely responding to complaints about illegal activities."

Tim Gunn: Project Runway show at New York Fashion Week will feature bunch of unknown designers. "I’m not sure anyone WILL be excited!"

Chris Brown says he's sad about beating Rihanna.

Gay rights lobbyists to descend on California capitol Tuesday: "Their goal: win support of lawmakers for a resolution opposing the legality of Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment passed by voters in November that bans same-sex marriage."

Many French straight couples choosing civil unions over marriage: "For every two marriages held now in France, one heterosexual couple chooses the solidarity pact, the Post reported, noting 92 percent of the 140,000 couples choosing to be united by the pact in 2008 were heterosexual."

The souls aboard Continental Flight 3407: 50 varied lives end on a cold, foggy night.

Zac Efron to play Jonny Quest.

HD: Simpsons gets first new main title revamp in 19 years.

538.com's Nate Silver releases predictions for this year's Academy Awards.

Facebook's frightening new terms of service: "Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want."

The Tudors' Henry Cavill's new spot for Dunhill Black.

UK: Teen blames friend for murder of gay Liverpool teen Michael Causer. "Gavin Alker, 19, is alleged to have participated in the assault which left Mr Causer with a lethal brain injury and is charged with murder. But Alker, of Fleetwood Walk, Runcorn, yesterday told Liverpool crown court it was his friend James O’Connor that had carried out two separate attacks on Mr Causer. O’Connor, 19, formerly of Huyton, but now of The Brow, Runcorn, has already admitted murder."

A date with NYC's Banksy, Poster Boy.

Life thriving undersea at north and south poles: "'At least 235 species live in both polar seas despite an 11,000-km (6,835 miles) distance in between,' a decade-long international project to map the world's oceans , Census of Marine Life, has found. Species living at both poles include cold-water worms, crustaceans, sea cucumbers and snail-like pteropods. They make up two percent of the 7,500 Antarctic and 5,500 Arctic animals known to date, out of a global total estimated at up to 250,000."

MSNBC runs outrageous anti-gay DADT editorial.

Scientist stop the aging process in the liver with protein cleanse.

"Ragtag group of queers and allies, trans folks and brass band friends" takes to the streets in Providence to protest gay scene: "We are sick of the majority of queer spaces in our city revolving around consumerism and intoxication. We are sick of 'queer' meaning 'assimilated white gay men' when there are a whole lot of us who don't fit with that identity. We are sick of monogamous relationships being the accepted norm...Despite some aggressive invitations to suck dicks from drunk bargoers, some beer thrown by the queers in the club at the queers who can't afford the 7 dollar cover charge, and being called dummies and threatened with teargas by some pitifully incompetent providence police, (and learning firsthand that they 'don't care about killing people' after threatening to teargas a crowd of kids in a packed staircase), a great time was had by all. There were no arrests."

News: Brian Urlacher, HIV, Sasha Fierce, Napping, Vladimir Luxuria

Christian right launches 'Protect DOMA' site designed to build opposition in minority communities to the repeal of the Defense Of Marriage Act: "All of the photos and quotes on the main page are from black and Latino people, including the notoriously closeted Mexican-American actor Eduardo Verastequi. Funded by the Alliance for Marriage Foundation, the site's list of their board of directors is a who's who of black, Latino, and Asian religious leaders, as well as one Muslim imam. The logo for the Hispanic Evangelicals Coalition is on the main page." Divide and conquer, indeed.

You never know when there's a security camera around.

Obamafy yourself, become a Fairey.

Sasha Fierce does the "Single Ladies" moves for Meredith Vieira...

Obama team denies it will delay repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell": "An Obama transition team spokesperson, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the decision on how to approach repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which prohibits gays from serving openly in the military, would be made after more experts have joined the Obama administration. 'These decisions will not be made before the full national security team is in place,' the spokesperson said. The Washington Times reported last week that two people who have advised Obama’s transition team said the president-elect “will not move for months, and perhaps not until 2010” to repeal the 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' law, which Congress passed in 1993."

Napping boosts 'sophisticated' memory: "Indeed, scientists increasingly are focusing less on sleep duration and more on the quality of sleep, what's called sleep intensity, in studying how sleep helps the brain process memories so they stick. Particularly important is 'slow-wave sleep,' a period of very deep sleep that comes earlier than better-known REM sleep, or dreaming time."

Don't get too close to Valentino. He may rub off on you.

Italian transgender former MP Vladimir Luxuria wins "Celebrity Island" reality show: "The 43-year-old served in parliament for two years as a member of the Refoundation Communist Party before losing his bid for re-election in April. Over the past six weeks Luxuria, whose real name is Wladimiro Guadagno, has been a star on reality TV, trying to survive living on the beaches of Honduras with other celebrity 'survivors'. In the end viewers picked Luxuria as their favourite. 'I admired his capacity to defy the prejudices of his companions,' said Giorgio Gori, the show's producer."

Iran sees rise in sexually-transmitted HIV: "Sexually transmitted HIV infections are on the rise in Iran and the Islamic Republic is setting up telephone hotlines to help fight the problem, a senior official said in comments published on Tuesday. Injecting drug users are the main risk group in Iran, which is on a heroin smuggling route to the West from Afghanistan, but officials are also concerned about the number of people who are infected with the AIDS virus through sexual contacts." Well, Ahmadinejad knows who he can't blame.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki's crimes against humanity.

WHO researcher: HIV could be eliminated within decade "if all people living in countries with high infection rates are regularly tested and treated."

Britney Spears announces first dates on tour....

Brian Urlacher's wife demands the Chicago Bear stop painting their toddler son's toenails and dressing him in pink: "The mother, Tyna Robertson, threatened to block Urlacher from seeing the boy if the beefy linebacker kept up the alleged effeminate antics."

Hate vandalism at Skidmore College in upstate, New York: "An upstate college is investigating a possible hate crime after anti-gay sentiments and other vulgarities were written outside the school's Center for Sex and Gender Relations. Skidmore students say the vandalism is the latest in a series of similar incidents at the private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs."

Former Project Runway finalist Daniel Vosovic has four roommates, and they keep their Lower East Side apartment very clean.

British police officer fired over anti-gay emails: "Norfolk police said Graham Cogman, 49, had been dismissed after a misconduct hearing yesterday. He faced disciplinary action for sending emails to colleagues quoting biblical texts and condemning homosexual sex, police sources said. He forwarded details of a group offering to 'cure' homosexuality, the sources said."

So is he or is he not?

Tim Gunn Wants Marriage Equality to Carry On

One day you're in, the next, you're out. Project Runway's Tim Gunn definitely wants Prop 8 out. Watch his new PSA, AFTER THE JUMP...