Gay Pride: Shanghai, Salt Lake City, Zurich, Buffalo, Asbury Park

Gay Pride celebrations got underway in a huge number of cities around the world this weekend. Here is a round-up of a few of them.

SHANGHAI, CHINA: Shanghaiist: "ShanghaiPRIDE commenced with a bang and, thankfully, not a bust. Mainland China's 1st Gay Pride event kicked-off yesterday with over 200 people cramming into Vargas Grill. Attendees of the inaugural event were a mix of gay, straight, local Chinese, expats, and a lovely drag queen named Anita. With standing room only, the film portion of the evening opened with Gays.com's impressive IDAHO video and the short film Autopsy from Singapore. Next up was Queer China, a feature documentary from veteran filmmaker Cui Zi'en. The film is a fascinating overview of LGBT issues in China over the past 80 years. The culmination of the movie was a submission of a Same-sex Marriage Bill to the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress, which, unfortunately, failed." Organizers avoided parade: "There will not be a parade. The organisers took legal advice which suggested that might get them into trouble with the authorities."

QUEENS, NYC: "Thousands of New Yorkers attended the 17th annual Queens Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Pride Parade on Sunday in Queens, NYC. Organizers hoped that the large turnout would help to sway reluctant New York Senators to support a vote in the senate on marriage equality (there are sadly very few days left before this legislative session ends)."

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: "Cleve Jones said the march planned for Oct. 11 will coincide with National Coming Out Day and launch a new chapter in the gay rights movement. He made the announcement during a rally at the annual Utah Pride Festival. 'We seek nothing more and nothing less than equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states,' Jones said. He stirred up a crowd of thousands just blocks from the Salt Lake City headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, part of a conservative coalition that worked last fall to pass California's Proposition 8, which overturned a court ruling legalizing gay marriage. I've got a message for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,' Jones shouted. 'I've got two words from California ... I've got two words for the prophet ... Thank you. Thank you for uniting us. Thank you for galvanizing us.'"

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND: " Around 50,000 people turned out for the European gay and lesbian parade Europride's annual festival in the Swiss city of Zurich on Saturday, organiser Michael Rueegg said. The festival, which was held for the first time in London in 1993, takes place in a different European city every year, attracting participants from all over the continent. This year's Europride coincides with the 40th anniversary of the first gay rights movements in the United States. Zurich, Switzerland's biggest city, is festooned with the movement's traditional rainbow colours for the occasion, under the impetus of its recently elected Socialist Party mayor, Corine Mauch, who is openly lesbian. Ruegg said a 'mixed crowd' turned up at the parade, and not just homosexuals."

YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO: "Youngstown's gay community held its first ever Pride Festival Saturday afternoon.  It took place on Phelps Street downtown.  Music, food, and live entertainment were all part of the festivities. Pride Youngstown organized the Festival.  They say that gay pride events take place all over the country and an event in Youngstown was long overdue."

BUFFALO, NY: "[Mayor Byron] W. Brown joined gay leaders in raising the Gay Pride flag in front of City Hall. But it was a celebration with an undercurrent of tension. While gay leaders praised Brown for his presence and his support of the Gay Pride weekend, activists admitted that they wish the mayor could go a little further — and support marriage equality. 'I’ve been a longtime supporter of civil unions, and that continues to be my position,' Brown said before the flag-raising ceremony. Brown also emphasized that he’s supported various measures to prevent discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation and other factors. But he hasn’t supported same-sex marriage. 'This is where I am,' Brown said. 'I haven’t wavered from [that position] for a long time. This [civil unions] is what I’ve supported when it wasn’t popular to support it.'"

ASBURY PARK, NJ: "The festival included 170 vendors, live musical performances throughout the day, an outdoor display of the Names Project Foundation AIDS memorial quilt and a speech by Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who came to support the gay community. Couples, families and children sat along the avenue to take in the celebration and support the participants. Betty Wolny of Ocean Grove could not help but clap as the floats and people walked by her chair. 'My heart, my love, my pride and my compassion for the gay community,' she said, is what brought her out to watch the parade.""

NEW PALTZ, NEW YORK: "The theme of this year's march was 'Love=Love,' going hand-in-hand with recent same-sex marriage debates in the New York state Legislature. Handmade floats, cars decked out in rainbow ribbons and balloons and throngs of singing and dancing marchers celebrated their way from New Paltz Middle School to Hasbrouck Park."

News: Leo Abse, Gorilla, Daniel Radcliffe, Semi-Colons, Hazing

Can orange juice counteract prescription medications?

Here we go: the marketing onslaught begins.

LeRoi Moore, Saxaphonist for Dave Matthews Band dead due to complications from an ATV accident.

Semi-colons are apparently gay.

Vanity Fair tracks down long lost half-brother of Obama? "According to Italy's Vanity Fair his two metre by three metre shack is decorated with football posters of the Italian football giants AC Milan and Inter, as well as a calendar showing exotic beaches of the world. Vanity Fair also noted that he had a front page newspaper picture of his famous brother - born of the same father as him, Barack Hussein Obama, but to a different mother, named only as Jael. He told the magazine: 'I live like a recluse, no-one knows I exist.'"

Is Katy Perry's mom homophobic? Her daughter clears the air with a fart.

Eye on gay Shanghai!

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones hospitalized after being found unconscious behind the wheel of a moving car.

Won't let go: Zoo gorilla in Germany mourns death of baby.

Sydney councillor lambasts announcement that Oxford Street is to be declared a "homophobia-free zone": “To borrow from Woody Allen, ‘the best response to Neo-Nazis is a baseball bat’. The best response to homophobia and gay bashing is more and tougher high-visibility policing applying an aggressive zero tolerance policy. That is why I have called for Council to finance a community policing centre in the middle of the strip and not the failed ACON safe space on the edge. The last thing we need is ‘homophobia free zone’ signs along Oxford Street. It will not prevent one bashing and may even attract violence.”

UK Gay rights champion Leo Abse dies at 91: "The flamboyant and controversial politician died at Charing Cross Hospital in Central London last night after a short illness, a family friend announced today. During 30 years as Labour MP for Pontypool, later renamed Torfaen, he passed more Private Members’ Bills than any other backbencher. His most famous, the Sexual Offences (homosexual reform) Bill, dicriminalising sex acts between consenting men over the age of 21, became law in 1967."

Daniel Radcliffe arrives in the Big Apple for Broadway debut.

UK man gets 18 months in prison for hate letter to gay couple, one of whom later hanged himself.

Obama smear book author Jerome Corsi tailed by sour investment deal that lost more than $1 million for a group of investors.

Michael Phelps' dad has not even congratulated his son yet.

Varsity high school football team in New Mexico under investigation for broomstick sodomy hazing of up to eight freshmen players at training camp. Charges include assault, battery, false imprisonment and molestation or rape.

News: Shanghai, Cynthia Nixon, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Prince William

Australian Capitol Territory holds first same-sex civil partnership ceremony.

Bachelor Summit: Matt Grant towers over Andy Baldwin.

Cynthia Nixon stands by her girlfriend's clothing demands.

Military sociologist Charles Moskos, who helped establish 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', dies in California: "Dr. Moskos' research examined the modern military experience in unprecedented detail, gleaned in part from his ease with the rank-and-file soldiers. 'He truly had an impact on the military,' said Gen. Wesley Clark in a statement. 'He gave many of us the reassurance that someone out there knew us, cared about us and could help see our best interests as a nation and a military were looked after.'" More from SLDN.

Prince William sets sail in the Caribbean.

From the stacks: Grandfather was queer.

Brad Pitt to design green hotel (with team of consultants) in Dubai: "Whilst acting is my career, architecture is my passion. Selecting this development as my first major construction project has been a simple decision. It will underpin not only my values for environmentally-friendly architecture, but also embrace my career in entertainment."

Live Cool: Shanghai gets new gay nightclub.

McCain schedules appearance with country singer John Rich, who once said: "I think if you legalize [gay marriage], you've got to legalize some other things that are pretty unsavory. You can call me a radical, but how can you tell an aunt that she can't marry her nephew if they are really in love and sharing the bills? How can you tell them they can't get married, but something else that's unnatural can happen?" Rich later apologized after public outcry.

Shakespeare's grave getting a makeover.

Queer Quinn : New York news anchor in Freudian slip.

Under Armour issues statement denying relationship with Al Reynolds, Jr. after photo surfaces: "I wanted to clarify what has been reported. Al Reynolds is not a spokesperson for Under Armour, nor is there any business relationship of any kind between the Under Armour brand and Al Reynolds."

Nancy Pelosi endorses gay San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno in bid for state senate.

11-year-old trailer once used as canvas for a young Banksy, now may fetch £500,000: "Called Fragile Silence, it shows commandos landing stereo equipment on a beach. The trailer’s owners, Maeve Neal and Nathan Welland, say Banksy has authenticated the work, which he completed before they drove the truck to the Glastonbury Festival in 1998. And instead of them paying him, he gave them two free festival tickets for providing the ‘canvas.’ At the time Banksy, whose real name has never been confirmed, was little known."

Gay Colorado congressional hopeful Jared Polis contributes $2.1 million of his own funds into his campaign.

Fashion world remembers Yves Saint Laurent. Simon Doonan, of Barneys New York: “I have a permanent shrine to Yves in my house: a pair of couture croc thigh boots. His highwayman looks, his Cossacks, his lesbian tuxedos, his sexy safaris, his djellabas, his Spanish cigarette girls, his tartan flings. There is no end to his influence and fabulousness.”

Terra Cotta Tennis Warriors Unveiled in Shanghai: Federer, Nadal, Davydenko, Djokovic, Roddick, Ferrer, Gonzalez, Gasquet

Novak Djokovic

In September I posted about the upcoming Shanghai ATP Tennis Masters tournament and the Chinese warrior statues that were being created by French sculptor Laury Dizengremel in the likenesses of the tourney's "elite eight". The warriors, of course, are meant to resemble the terra cotta army buried with the Emperor of Qin in 210-209 BC.

Well, the tournament got underway yesterday and the sculptures were unveiled. Here they are in all their glory. I can't say that the likenesses are necessarily spot-on (Novak Djokovic comes out looking a bit like Lance Bass) but the player portraits are hot. I've taken some close-ups of the Quentin Shih photograph for your perusal.

Andy Roddick, who reportedly asked for an alteration, as the baseball cap that's part of his public image wasn't included in the first go-round.

The rest, after the jump...

Tennis' Top Eight Men Immortalized in Terracotta

The top men's tennis players in the world will meet soon in November in Shanghai to face off in the ATP Tennis Masters tournament. For that occasion, Laury Dizengremel has been commissioned to sculpt the top eight players as terracotta warriors in the mold of the thousands of soldiers in the terracotta army buried with the Emperor of Qin in 210-209 BC.

Below, a video of the process...featuring Federer, as well as Nadal and Djokovic.

Who Says Federer Has a Problem With Clay? [abcnews]
(video via kenneth)

News: Mark Foley, Condoms, Jake Gyllenhaal, Shanghai

Rumors flying on Capitol Hill that the Mark Foley report may be released imminently. UPDDATE: CNN is reporting the house Ethics Committee will hold a 2pm news conference.

The Associated Foreign Press deals a blow to male Indian self esteem: "Indian men's penises do not match international sizes and most condoms on sale in the country are too big, according to a medical study."

Shanghai gets a new gay bar, Pinkhome.

Rob Lowe devastated he coulda been McDreamy.

Rumors that Tim Gunn may not be appearing on next season's Project Runway appear to be false. Producer: "As we have in past seasons, we will find a way to work around everyone’s schedules, and are confident the team will be back." Project Runway would certainly not be the same without Tim Gunn.

The latest homophobic cartoon from the New York Post's Sean Delonas.

Brandon Voss named new editor-in-chief of New York publ. HX.

Jake Gyllenhaal dines out at Orso wearing special garment which appears to become partially see-through when flashbulbs go off. Tease.

Bette Midler blasts Britney for failing to wear panties.

Tom Ford, who always goes commando, is teaming up with Ermenegildo Zegna to introduce a new menswear line and shop in New York City next year. Ford: "Men are becoming more feminine. They enjoy shopping, they take more time over the way they look, they travel and they shop around, they finally are taking better care of themselves. Men are not only there to buy cars and art, they've realized there is also fashion."