Watch: Matt Damon Plays Beefy Rugby Player in Invictus

Rugby fans might want to be on the look-out for Clint Eastwood's Invictus, which tells the story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) and the captain of South Africa's rugby team Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) became allies to help unite the nation in the run-up to the 1995 World Cup.

Here's Damon's brief Dieux du Stade moment from the trailer.

Watch the trailer, AFTER THE JUMP...

 

News: Serbia, Caster Semenya, China, Tim Hardaway, Cleveland

Obama appoints law professor, ENDA expert, and former legislative counsel to the AIDS Project of the ACLU Chai R. Feldblum as Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Hamburglar chic at Marc Jacobs show.

Orbitz, Bertolli, Cadillac, Subaru, Lifelube, Allstate, Coors Light among nominees for GLAAD  Media Awards in Advertising.

David Beckham looks like a fool trying to golf.

Amnesty International: Serbian gay rights activists under attack. Serbian authorities expect Gay Pride clashes...

Teen sentenced to up to 9 months in juvenile detention for gay bashing of Steven Harmon in Portage, Michigan, after pleading guilty to aggravated assault. More on the crime here. "The 16-year-old was also ordered to obtain anger management counseling, victim restitution and write a letter of apology to the victim, Steven Harmon, said Karen Hayter, division leader for assistant prosecuting attorneys in the Family Court division of Kalamazoo County Circuit Court."

South African runner at center of gender debate,Caster Semenya, on suicide watch: "She is like a raped person. She is afraid of herself and does not want anyone near her. If she commits suicide, it will be on all our heads. The best we can do is protect her and look out for her during this trying time."

Gays take a stand (and a seat) in a public park in Guangzhou, China: "When the police descend on People's Park and shoo away the gay men gathered there, the men usually scatter to avoid trouble. But recently, about 50 or so confronted five officers who began a sweep and finally forced a police retreat after a heated but nonviolent standoff."

Straight spouses stung by closeted exes speak up for same-sex marriage: "If gays and lesbians were more accepted, I wouldn't have married a closeted lesbian."

Tim Hardaway foundation to hold Miami benefit for gay suicide hotline The Trevor Project.

Popular gay radio show Fernando & Greg booted from the air in San Francisco...

Jake Gyllenhaal takes in the Del Potro knockdown at the U.S. Open.

Penn Badgley on Gossip Girl cast: "In certain circles we're treated like royalty. We're treated like the Kennedys."

Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland City Council lift city's Gay Games bid to the tune of $700,000: "The money would help defray the costs of holding the games here and would not be spent unless Cleveland is the winning bidder. The city is one of three finalists for the 2014 Gay Olympics. Boston and Washington D.C. are the other contenders."

Former Bush speechwriter reveals how Bush dissed everyone in Washington.

Report cards issued to pharmaceutical companies with HIV drugs on the market.

Finish line: "on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 113 riders and a team of 50 volunteer crew members of Braking the Cycle ended their three-day cycling journey from Boston to New York, at the footsteps of the LGBT Community Center...Together, this small group of dedicated individuals raised $274,682 (Net) for the HIV/AIDS services of the Center."

Peoria, Illinois holds first Gay Pride event.

California Bar Association annual meeting split by protest over Prop 8 supporter Doug Manchester's Grand Hyatt in San Diego: "Most nights there is a noisy picket line in front of the hotel. Whether the State Bar should or could move its annual meeting was a great controversy in legal circles earlier this year. In the end, the State Bar decided that it was not prudent or possible to move their convention. However, the now truly independent Conference of Delegates found itself not bound by the State Bar decision. The Conference of Delegates moved more than a mile away to the new Hilton Bayfront, near Petco Park. Attorneys or judges who want to attend both are left to chose between their walking shoes or taking a pedicab or taxi."

700+ Posters for South Africa Gay Film Fest Systematically Removed from Streets by Homophobic Vandals

More than 700 posters (pictured)for the Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Cape Town, South Africa, have been systematically removed from lamp posts and posting boards, organizers report:

"Launched in 1994 to celebrate the constitution prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, the festival is on at the Nu Metro V&A waterfront until Sunday. Alerted by a Sea Point resident, Murphy had driven around the city and had “seen empty places where my posters have been”. She said she suspects the 'two-day systematic removal of the 700 posters' had been carried out by fundamentalist religious or right-wing groups. Murphy said she hoped to see the vandals 'in the court of law, with them doing community service at a gay and lesbian project'. She said the organisers had been advised to lodge a complaint so that they could receive permission to view CCTV footage of where many of the posters had been. The office of the executive mayor of Cape Town approved and paid R32 000 for the posters, Murphy said: 'It’s their money that’s been wasted and I can’t imagine them being too happy. I’ll be in their office tomorrow discussing the matter.' She believed the festival had helped to promote tolerance. 'I kept thinking that there was an end to my work and that people have come to tolerate gays and lesbians. I don’t know why there has been this upsurge (in homophobia) all of a sudden. I think it’s because we’re an easy target. When there’s fear in the world its easier to go after a minority group.' Murphy said there had been many messages praising the poster design as well as queries as to where the posters had gone."

The festival is currently underway and continues at the V&A Waterfront and Nu Metro until September 20.

News: Caster Semenya, Asbury Park, Alan Cumming, Tyra Banks

NY Sex offender who beat gay man to death gets 20 years for manslaughter.

Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition winners announced.

If looks could kill: Cynthia McFadden is not afraid to go there with Tyra Banks.

REPORT: South African runner Caster Semenya has no womb or ovaries. "Tests conducted during the world athletics championships in Berlin last month, where Semenya's gender became the subject of heated debate following her victory in the 800m, revealed evidence [of] both male and female sexual characteristics."

The NYT visits a revived Asbury Park, NJ: "As is often the case in a town in a process of renewal, gay men and lesbians have a significant presence and deserve considerable credit for the current reawakening."

Madonna to introduce Janet at VMA's?

Federal regulators side with gay adoptive father in Florida over subsidy to foster parents.

WATCH: Whitney Houston's video for "I Look to You".

Alan Cumming to release album: "The album title comes from the naturalization test I took to become a citizen of the U S of A. In the test, there is a bit where the man says a sentence and you have to write it down to prove your prowess in English. My sentence was ‘I bought a blue car today,’ which initially I thought was really sweet and childlike, but on closer examination I realized that it’s all about consumerism and gas guzzling, which rather brilliantly encapsulates America’s financial and energy crises in one fell swoop. [The album is] made up of songs and stories about my ten years living in the states culminating in my becoming a citizen."

Interview with Sacramento man who is trying to get a voter's initiative on the ballot in California that would ban divorce.
 

Vampire gives blood.

Sotomayor questions "corporate personhood".

Actor Michael Fassbender covers fall issue of NYT T Men's Fashion mag.

Kids grow up so fast.

Guilt-free download of Mika's new song "Blame It On The Girls".

Fort Worth gay bar Stampede heavily damaged in fire: "Then, just before 2 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10, a fire broke out in a storage area at Stampede and quickly spread to the rest of the building, causing $60,000 worth of damage. The cause of the fire was believed to be electrical, and authorities don’t suspect any foul play."

Ian McKellen to receive lifetime achievement award at San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.

Barry Manilow and Phil Spector: separated at birth?

ACLU wants Survivor winner Richard Hatch freed from jail: "Lawyers for the ACLU of Massachusetts on Wednesday sought the “Survivor” winner’s release from the Barnstable County jail in Bourne. Hatch was taken into custody Aug. 18 at his sister’s Newport home after giving TV interviews that the federal Bureau of Prisons said it had not approved. He was serving home confinement for failing to pay income taxes on his $1 million prize for winning the first season of the show. He was convicted in Providence in 2006...The ACLU said Hatch has a right to criticize the government."

News: Gerard Butler, Gay Adoption, Dominick Dunne, Anchorage

Florida ban on gay adoption goes before appeals court.

Summer of loss: Writer Dominick Dunne, songwriter Ellie Greenwich die.

Trial resumes for killers of South African lesbian football star Eudy Simelane, targeted with "corrective rape" and stabbed to death because of her sexuality: "Men are unemployed and feel traditional male preserves — such as football or drinking in a bar — are under attack. That was Eudy’s crime. An aggravating factor was that she did not look like a typical female. People are just getting killed here because they are different, like HIV-positive people have been killed in the past. What is important is to get a verdict which includes murder."

Gerard Butler and his pug Lolita in doggie dust-up.

Dueling dot-coms battle for .gay domain address.

State senator Ed Murray mulling write-in campaign in Seattle mayoral race.

Lesbian Houston City Controller Annise Parker is among top contenders in mayoral race: "She’s the most experienced, most well-known candidate in the race, but the anti-gay far right knows this too, so we fully expect them to use her sexual orientation to divide and distract the voters. We’re preparing for that."

Ed Westwick hangs out with his Gossip Girl gay kiss recipient Neal Bledsoe.

Tom Ford's London home on the market.

Advocate interviews gay men who created Miley Cyrus 'Party in the USA' Fire Island video.

New Jersey Catholic bishops launch campaign against marriage equality.

Celestia is back and crazier than ever.

Kylie Minogue talks about first North American tour with Black Book magazine.

Freelance writer goes undercover at "ex-gay" seminar.

Russian lesbians protest postponement of court hearing over marriage challenge with a kiss: "Ms Fedotova-Fet and Ms Shipitko applied to marry at a Moscow registry office in May, but were refused on the grounds that same-sex marriage is illegal in Russia. The couple argue that Russian law does not forbid such a union. A court ruled the refusal was legal and their complaint would be heard today."

First online gay rights and support group formed in the Maldives. Official site.

Afton, Minnesota home targeted with anti-gay graffiti.

Gay High Line founder Robert Hammond rewarded handsomely by board of directors.

In Anchorage, it looks unlikely that the Assembly will move to override the veto of a gay rights ordinance by Mayor Dan Sullivan: "The first opportunity for the Anchorage Assembly to override Mayor Dan Sullivan’s veto of an ordinance banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation went by Tuesday night without action."

Gay Justice Appointed to South Africa's Highest Court

Edwin Cameron, a justice on South Africa's Supreme Court, has been appointed by South African President Mothlanthe to the Constitutional Court, the nation's highest court. Cameron has been particularly vocal on the subject of HIV/AIDS: "Praised by Nelson Mandela as 'one of South Africa's new heroes', Judge Cameron was the first judge to disclose that he was HIV-positive."

Hunter of Justice writes: "A former Rhodes Scholar who became a human rights lawyer, Judge Cameron is the co-author of several books, including Witness to AIDS, a memoir on his experiences as a person living with AIDS, and Defiant Desire: Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa. During his time on the Court of Appeal, he has been a leader in developing that nation's civil rights and liberties jurisprudence. Last summer, Judge Cameron addressed the International AIDS Conference in Mexico, arguing that homosexual sexual conduct should be decriminalized throughout the world, as a necessary step in fighting AIDS. (video here) He is the co-author (with Scott Burris - Temple Law) of a scholarly paper elaborating that argument."

According to the blog, Cameron is the first openly gay man or woman appointed to a nation's highest court.