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."

U.S. Poised to Lift HIV Travel and Immigration Ban, Finally

It has been more than a year since the U.S. approved the Lantos/Hyde U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act (S 2731) which contained a provision lifting a ban on travel and immigration to the U.S. by those who are HIV-positive.

Now, it appears the government is finally ready to follow through on that provision, the Miami Herald reports:

"Yesterday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a memo which instructs USCIS officers to place a hold on any green card applications which would otherwise be denied simply due to the applicant’s HIV status.  The hold is pending release of the final HHS rule change which will completely eliminate the ban. The memo signals that the administration is very close to final repeal of the ban, and is now instructing agencies to be ready for the change.  USCIS is clearly expecting guidance from HHS very soon, and has decided to hold applications by HIV-positive applicants rather than deny them, as the new rule will no longer prohibit their entry into the country."

The memo can be viewed here.

Is This the Future of Commercial Air Travel?

A new video, produced by the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), features a concept next-generation commercial jet aircraft:

"NASA and its fellow members of the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) are creating NextGen by the year 2025 ('MMXXV') to manage increasing air traffic safely and efficiently while reducing its impact on the environment. This JPDO video shows a future aircraft with its wings blended into its body moving cleanly through the sky. It also shows future options for directing air traffic into and out of airports that are more customized to aircraft trajectories."

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Lebanon: Gay Oasis in the Middle East?

For those of you who have been to both, is Beirut "the Provincetown of the Middle East" as the NYT proclaims?

"While homosexual activity (technically, sexual relations that officials deem “unnatural”) is illegal in Lebanon, as in most of the Arab world, Beirut’s vitality as a Mediterranean capital of night life has fueled a flourishing gay scene — albeit one where men can be nervous about public displays of affection and where security guards at clubs can intercede if the good times turn too frisky on the dance floor. But even more than the partying, Beirut represents a different Middle East for some gay and lesbian Arabs: the only place in the region where they can openly enjoy a social life denied them at home."

In February, a series of gay rights rallies, the first-ever in Lebanon, began in Beirut. Watch footage from them, AFTER THE JUMP...

Coming Soon to a Passport Near You

The future of passports: flexible OLED displays. Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

NYC Launches Gay Travel Campaign Around Stonewall Anniversary

Openly gay New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn and NYC & Co today launched the city's first-ever gay-specific multi-media tourism campaign as part of a yearlong initiative recognizing the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. Rainbow Pilgrimage, as the campaign is dubbed, "will emphasize a visit to the destination as a 'rite of passage' for the gay and lesbian traveler" and is accompanied by a microsite intended to facilitate travel to the city.