Spokane Mayor James West says the 1,800 or so gay-oriented photos, including pornography, were cached by his computer automatically in the process of visiting Gay.com and were not deliberately downloaded.

James McKinnon, responsible for Gary Lee Ober’s 2002 murder in San Francisco, accepted a plea bargain of voluntary manslaughter in the crime and will serve only six years in prison. McKinnon has already served three of those years in county jail. McKinnon said he killed Ober to keep the victim from sexually assaulting him. And despite the fact that he spends time in bars in the Castro and admits an attraction to men, McKinnon told the Bay Area Reporter he’s not a homosexual: “I’m not gay. I’m not bi. I’m a people person. And I love people. I don’t like peepholes. Do you know the difference between a peephole and a people? A peephole, you can see right through them.” Authorities sought a plea bargain in the case because they said it would be too difficult to bring to trial.

Brutal Alabama beating inspires new push to add sexual orientation to the state’s hate crime laws. It was at least the fifth anti-gay crime to be reported in Alabama within a year, said Equality Alabama. Mark Potok, an expert tracking hate crimes, said, “Homosexuals are twice as likely as the next most victimized class, which are African-Americans. They are four times as likely (to be victimized) than Jews or Hispanics.”

As if we needed another reason to love writer/director Bill Condon. Currently casting the movie adaptation of Dreamgirls, Condon plucked American Idol castoff Jennifer Hudson from obscurity rather than go with the more high-profile Idol candidate, Fantasia Barrino. Hudson was robbed in her ascent on the reality show and I’m glad she’ll get the chance to play the role of Effie. Condon agrees: “Effie is such a hugely complex role. She is at once exasperating and heartbreaking. Jennifer emerged as the person who captured both sides.” Maybe they can work a rendition of “Circle of Life” into the show somehow.