Planet Homo

Is this really news?

Swedish scientists have suggested that brains of gay people may share similar physical attributes to those of the opposite sex. Previous research has found differences between men and women in the extent to which they employ the brain’s hemispheres in verbal tasks, while other studies have suggested that gay people people may exhibit the tendencies of the opposite sex in brain behavior unrelated to sexual activity. In this study, Ivanka Savic and Per Lindström, of the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, say they believe the brains of heterosexual men and lesbians are slightly asymmetric, with the right hemisphere larger than the left. However, the brains of gay men and straight women were found to be symmetrical. The study, which analysed the brains of 90 subjects through MRI and PET scans, also found that in connectivity of the amygdala (which is used for emotional learning), lesbians resemble straight men, and gay men resemble straight women. The authors suggested that one reason for the connectivity pattern in straight men and lesbians could be that the amygdala is wired for a greater fight-or-flight response. Last year, another study found that the brains of gay men and women have structural and functional differences from those of their straight counterparts. The Wellcome Trust Centre for neuro-imaging at University College London used MRI scans to look into the brains of 80 men and women, including 16 gays and 15 lesbians. They found that lesbians have a "male-like" proportion and distribution of grey matter in their brain when compared with heterosexual women.

What's Next?

It comes down to this: TMZ is back to reporting about Larry King outraged over a panhandler's second request, the whereabouts of Michael Jackson's body are still unknown and in the aftermath of yesterday's news hoopla, today is a slow, slow news day. So we wait, because that is what we now do. We wait for the next big story (NBS) and in the meantime, we have Facebook, where anybody can become a star, of sorts.
Facebook has done wonders in bringing people together. Friends, long thought missing in action resurface, family members are discovered and new friends are added on a daily basis. All the while, people feel the need to comment on their every action and thought as though they were of some universal importance. People announce where and who they are having dinner with (almost as if inviting the rest of along) and where. In an age of celebrity, the Internet has afforded all of us a sense of celebrity: the smallest detail of our daily lives is revealed. This used to be called journaling, but it has moved way beyond that for even among the most Thomas Wolfeian among us, the details are staggering. A soured economy could be to blame—people have a lot of time on their hands. On certain socio-political blogs, it is not uncommon to find the same people commenting day in and day out. They are professional commentors, people who on a daily basis comment on every story. These "discussions" usually end in a bitchy crossfire of accusations and threats directed towards someone in particular, because if the truth be told, no one wants to muddle through a series of comments where the reality is NO ONE IS LISTENING.

Facebook may be killing the blogs
We used to wake and read the newspaper, watch the morning news and then move to our computers to read our favorite blog. Nowadays, we wake to FB because if anything of any importance is happening, people will surely be remarking about it. Instead, for the most part, we find out what our friends are eating for breakfast, what their day look likes and "what is on their mind". It's almost like living together.
This too will grow tired in time, and a new kind of stimulation will be required. It's most likely form will be video. That's right, instead of just being able to comment on your life, you will be able to reveal it, visually. We won't just read about your walk with the dog in the park, we will be able to experience it. Every leg lifting moment will be recorded via your cell phone as the gentle sounds of the park can be heard in the background. People will become in essence, broadcasters. Marketing companies will shortly take notice and the more popular of the broadcasts will have commercials. The economy and the Internet in particular will restore itself to pre-Obama greed levels and America and the world will experience a blush of good times.
It is bound to happen. Technology abhors stagnation, it doesn't sell. And with any new thing, its novelty wears off in timetime. We will be seeing you, soon enough.

Notes on a Funeral

The funeral of Michael Jackson. Watching it from numerous points of view, it was interesting to follow some thoughts on Facebook, as Brooke, Magic, Smokey, Jermaine and the child scored points while Al Sharpton seemed to annoy everyone. Perhaps it was the hour, it was morning and everything seemed oddly out of place. Mariah Carey sang what felt like a raw voice. One half expected commercials. Salon did a great job in having Mary Elizabeth Williams write a minute-by-minute account of the show:

2:35 p.m. John Mayer does Lite FM guitar version of "Human Nature." Eyes closed.

Jackson rolls over in coffin.

2:30 p.m. Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan offer a dignified reminder of Jackson’s charity work, and assure his children they’ll always have family.

As they depart the stage, let us take a moment to note that we will likely not see another lineup of grieving brothers in sunglasses and single, sparkly gloves in our time.

Unless it catches on.

Read it all here.

Gay Comic Kiss

X-Factor's 45th issue shows characters Rictor and the previously-possessed Shatterstar sharing a kiss after years of sexual tension and ambiguity.

The title was written by Peter David, who won a GLAAD award in 1999 for his work on Supergirl and Madrox, both of which explored gay and bisexual issues.

Writing on his blog, David thanked readers who praised his courage for introducing same-sex romance in his work.

He said: "Thank you. And no, it’s not a fake out. A number of people seem to be concerned that Star is still under Cortex’s control. Or that Rictor is going to freak out the next panel and say, 'Dude, what the hell?'
.
"That would be cheap. I don’t do cheap. Okay, sometimes I do, but not this time. I’m not interested in having people say, 'Peter David introduced this and then chickened out'."

The Email of Rejection

It's this or pay $25,000 and pray they don't really ask for an ID. Michael Jackson Memorial tickets are the hottest ticket in town. With over a million and a half people entering the contest, it could be argued that many will most likely not arrive in Los Angeles on time. And with the scalpers currently asking ridiculous prices, it should  noted that identification is required, so those tickets many end up being bogus. It will end up a circus, but indeed, a once in a lifetime circus. So far, Mariah Carey and Debbie Rowe are the two people confirmed to be present.

Important Holiday Information

Final Rehearsal

India Court Rules on Gay Sex

The Delhi High Court today ruled that a ban on gay sex between adults violates India's constitution.

Section 377 was enacted in 1860 under the British Raj, in line with the anti-sodomy laws in England at the time.

It punishes anyone who "voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" by imprisonment and criminalises a whole range of sexual acts from mutual masturbation, to fellatio and anal sex.

Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidahr said the ban violated fundamental human rights.

The ruling said: "In the Indian Constitution, the right to live with dignity and the right of privacy both are recognised as dimensions of Article 21. Section 377 IPC denies a person's dignity and criminalises his or her core identity solely on account of his or her sexuality and thus violates Article 21 of the Constitution. As it stands, Section 377 IPC denies a gay person a right to full personhood which is implicit in notion of life under Article 21 of the Constitution."

The decision was made in response to a case filed by Naz Foundation India. The ruling can still be opposed by the government.

The health ministry has called for the ban to be scrapped, saying it hampered efforts to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country. However, the home ministry opposed the move, saying that gay sex is the product of "a perverse mind".

Human Rights Watch has welcomed the decision. LGBT director Scott Long said: "This legal remnant of British colonialism has been used to deprive people of their basic rights for too long. This long-awaited decision testifies to the reach of democracy and rights in India."

SOURCE

Notes on a Private Moment of a Public Death

  Michael Jackson dead at fifty. There are so many shocks contained in that statement: when did he become fifty? With no disrespect Jerry Lee Lewis is 73, Little Richard is reportedly 76, Eric Clapton is a surprising 64, Brian Wilson is 67. It is largely the improbability of the event that is the most shocking. As the circus winds its way up to Neverland or the Staple Center, the story itself is on the verge of exhaustion. Air travel is a great time to reflect and listen and I did coming back from Mexico City.

It must be noted that as to question of where were you when you heard the news of Michael Jackson’s death, it is a strange story. In the sub-tropical jungle of Alta Vista in Mexico, a location known as a highly spiritual junction with ancient petroglyph markings, a guide who spoke very little English broke the news as we headed down an extremely long road.  For over two hours the question lurked in every step: was this real? Only upon arrival in the Puerto Vallarta, did verification come from a somewhat lackadaisical hotel manager.

Celebrity deaths affect us in different ways. Farah Fawcett, who died the same day, did not provoke the same disbelief and sadness, perhaps because we were much better prepared for her departure. Jackson’s death seeped into dreams and it has taken days to accept. There was and is, something astonishing about his death. Where were the psychics? (LeToya Jackson claims to be psychic.)

Michael Jackson had a fierce, gifted energy, and though I cannot claim to own any CDs (ironically, I do now) I was in many ways a fan. It began for me on that night in 1982, when on television, live from the Apollo Theatre Michael took the stage and the world by storm. It was as if he had come out of nowhere at least for me. I was never a fan of the Jackson Five, the music, the songs, even Michael voice just  seemed adolescent. And it was. That night at the Apollo was Michael’s coming out party; he made the transition from boy to star in three short minutes. And it remained that way: we always had to watch, no matter what, Michael was a star, in so many ways. He was compelling as public figure: a changing face and image, court battles, peculiar marriages and always, his stage presence. There was only one Michael Jackson.

Musically, Michael’s music was driving, kinetic and relentlessly rhythm driven. His songs were operatic moments. What I always remember about listening to Michael Jackson was that his sound was the best in the world: the best producer, musicians, engineers and songwriters that money could buy. The production values were and still are are, simply the best. And then there was the voice,  His singing voice was the polar opposite of his speaking voice. The speaking voice was always demure, shy, slightly feminine and predictably young. The singing voice was defiant,  aggressive and confident. For some curious reason, I t was hard to believe Michael Jackson in interviews. His speaking voice seemed disingenuous. But the singing voice, even if if it was singing about a loving a girl or saving the world, somehow, you believed every second of it.

As a songwriter, it was difficult to understand his process He was not known to play piano or guitar, although he was rumored to play bongos as a child. And yet he managed some of the greatest pop songs ever written, though unlike most pop songs, they are not particularly karaoke-kind. His songs were ultimately written for his unique voice and talent, even when he wasn’t the songwriter. The other factor, which mentioned is usually mentioned in a casual way is the Michael’s producer on his major hits was the legendary Quincy Jones. Without Quincy, one can seriously doubt we would have been so moved by his music.

 Michael Jackson was in the end, that thing that celebrity becomes—­aloof, eccentric and unwilling to see the rules that most of us play by. His sexuality, which has been discussed very little in the press, should have been something detected in his music. Maybe it was. “Remember the Time” is an urgent, passionate song. It is laced with numerous “girl” as are almost all Jackson songs. But biographical? One wonders.

That Jackson was a kind of pederast is not in doubt. To what extent, we may never know. What is certain is that in his lyrics, one never suspects adult love. It was part of his persona, one that he created, of never growing up. What has escaped the public’s attention in this tragedy is Michael Jackson’s responsibility in creating it. Diprivan? His superstar appetite wouldn’t allow for a normal sleeping pill?

I am going to confess that I cried at times, and I’m not sure why. Walking through the parks in Mexico City, people would have televisions playing his videos, with small groups huddled watching. It was just sad, completely, painfully sad. For most us, he represented an era, a time, and a sound.  Yet he came and went with a larger message.  A message about celebrity, the unrelenting desire to change one’s appearance (where were these so-called good friends?) because being genuine was never part of his personality in his later years. There has been a chorus recently of  “leave him alone”, which suggests that we end speculation and investigation into his life as we mourn his death. Why should he get off so easily? It wasn’t as first reported, a heart attack. It was a man, apparently deep into drugs most of us have never even heard have. So yes, while we mourn, we should not forget this was not an act of God, no matter what anyone thinks.

HX Magazine Sold

From the Advocate: Putting to rest rumors that long-running New York-based HX Magazine was on its way out, New York Press confirmed with owner-founder Matthew Bank on Tuesday that the magazine had been sold. 

Bank, who built the magazine from a publication he distributed for free into a multimillion-dollar business, released the following statement to New York Press:

"HX Magazine and the website hx.com have been sold. The new owners of HX Magazine will be releasing details and information on their plans for the future of the title shortly. In the meantime, Bank and HX Magazine publisher Gary Lacinski will be assisting them in the transition. HX Magazine issue 931 dated July 10th, which will be released on July 3rd, will be the last one produced by HX Media and its staff.

"We've had an incredible time creating what we feel is the best local gay magazine the world has ever seen," says Bank, "and I am proud that even in this difficult economy we were able to ensure that this magazine that is dear to the hearts of so many readers will be able to continue under capable new ownership."

The terms of the transaction remain confidential.

HX Media LLC still owns and operates the New York Blade newspaper and its Expo division, which produces the HX Gay and Lesbian Travel Expos, HX Gay Life Expo, and HX Gay Erotic Expo. These businesses were not part of the sale.

In addition, it is now reported that Window Media proprietor David Unger has resigned his role with Avalon Equity.

 

From Salon: Gay Men Go to Hell

At a time when legal gay marriage is spreading across the country and when "American Idol's" Adam Lambert's coming out on the cover of Rolling Stone elicits not a gasp but a shrug, it's easy to forget just how shameful and bewildering being gay in America can be. Just last week, a reminder of that came in the form of a jaw-dropping video from a Connecticut church that showed an apparent "gay exorcism" -- a preacher grabbing hold of a teenage boy and trying with every ounce of his fearsome, trembling baritone to shock the gay devil out of the kid.

It's a scene that could almost have been lifted from "God Says No," the first novel by James Hannaham, about a closeted black man trying to navigate the opposing forces of his faith and his desire. Protagonist Gary Gray grows up in the hell-and-brimstone black churches of Charleston, S.C., and marries a sweet Samoan woman from his Christian college in central Florida, but that's not enough to keep him from hungry grope-and-pokes in the Waffle House bathroom with anonymous men, followed by prayer on bended knee. As familiar as this setup might seem from a dozen shame-drenched political press conferences, Hannaham shifts the trajectory in an unpredictable story that zigzags from the Atlanta avant garde theater scene to a religious reparative therapy program called Resurrection Ministries, where men like Gary struggle to purge their sinful desires.

Read the entire review here.

"MIchael was Homosexual..."

 This is to be expected. Days after Michael Jackson's death, the ponderings, investigations and wonderings of every person with a keyboard are beginning. Of note though, is this entry from the Dailymail in London.
Writer Ian Halperin suggests a story about Michael Jackson that is extremely revealing. Entitled, " 'I'm better off dead. I'm done': Michael Jackson's fateful prediction just a week before his death", the story explores Jackson's decline in his final weeks. But there is also this:
It is clear to me that Michael was homosexual and that his taste was for young men, albeit not as young as Jordan Chandler or Gavin Arvizo.

In the course of my investigations, I spoke to two of his gay lovers, one a Hollywood waiter, the other an aspiring actor. The waiter had remained friends, perhaps more, with the singer until his death last week. He had served Jackson at a restaurant, Jackson made his interest plain and the two slept together the following night. According to the waiter, Jackson fell in love.

The actor, who has been given solid but uninspiring film parts, saw Jackson in the middle of 2007. He told me they had spent nearly every night together during their affair – an easy claim to make, you might think. But this lover produced corroboration in the form of photographs of the two of them together, and a witness.

Other witnesses speak of strings of young men visiting his house at all hours, even in the period of his decline. Some stayed overnight.

Read the story in its entirety here.

Stonewall: A History Lesson

The Stonewall Riots

“When did you ever see a fag fight back? Now, times were a-changin´. Tuesday night was the last night for bullshit.
Predominantly, the theme was, ‘this shit has got to stop!’" — Anonymous riot participant, from David Carter’s book, “Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution”

Up until 1 a.m. on June 28, 1969, it had been an ordinary evening at the Stonewall Inn. But a surprise raid — patrons were usually tipped off — changed everything. At first, it was a raid as usual: patrons lined up at the bar, drag queens were separated and liquor was seized.

But then a person or multiple people decided that enough was enough. Theories vary on what the fuse was. All witnesses acknowledge that some extra spark of outrage lit a powder keg of emotion.

As people were being led out of the bar to a police wagon, a scuffle ensued. Patrons did not simply disperse; they stayed in the street shouting at police. Coins were thrown at the cops, a symbolic reaction to the practice of “gayola,” or gay bars paying off the police to prevent raids.

Tension mounted, and homeless gay teens from Christopher Park across the street joined in the melee. Violence against the police intensified and they were forced to barricade themselves inside the Stonewall Inn, waiting for backup.

As the reinforcements arrived and began marching down the street to scatter the protesters, they were suddenly faced with a kick line of drag queens, dancing and singing:

“We are the Stonewall girls,
We wear our hair in curls,
We wear no underwear,
We show our pubic hair,
We wear our dungarees
Above our nelly knees!”

The riot was eventually quashed that evening, but over the next five nights, protests and riots of various sizes occurred in the neighborhood and beyond. As word got out in the press, the crowds grew. The riots ceased after July 3, but the camaraderie that they created evolved into something else, something that lasted.

After Stonewall

"Let it forever be remembered that here — on this spot — men and women stood proud, they stood fast, so that we may be who we are, we may work where we will, live where we choose and love whom our hearts desire.” — M. John Berry, assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior, at a 1999 ceremony honoring the addition of the Stonewall Inn to the National Register of Historic Places.

Before Stonewall, conservative gay rights groups like the Mattachine Society had been trying to win rights and social acceptance by holding quiet, dignified pickets in cities like Philadelphia. The Mattachine’s method of operation was to try to show the world that gays were not different, but its efforts made little progress. In the span of a few nights, angry gays and drag queens made more progress by showing the world the exact opposite. The message they sent was, “We’re not like you, we look like this, and we’re not going to hide any more.” Gay rights advocacy groups learned that they were more likely to gain rights by being out and about, and the era of gay pride marches began.

One year after Stonewall, the Christopher Street Liberation Day March was held — the mother of gay pride marches. Two years hence, marches spread across the nation and into Europe and membership in gay rights groups skyrocketed across western nations.

The first gay march in Michigan happened in 1971. In 1989 — the 20th anniversary of Stonewall — the Statewide Pride March moved to Lansing and has since been an annual event.

As the application to the National Register of Historic Places points out, the Stonewall Riots were to gay rights what Rosa Parks was to black rights, or the Boston Tea Party was to the American Revolution. Yet this critical event isn’t discussed in American history textbooks and isn’t included in the curriculum of public schools. The lucky few who take a human sexuality or civil rights class in college might learn about Stonewall.

Night of the Iguana

If you have never seen this 1964 classic black and white film by legendary director John Houston, rent it. The film is the stuff of legends: The movie featured a defrocked priest (Burton), bawdy widow (Ava Gardner), spinster artist (Deborah Kerr) and nymphet (Sue Lyon, fresh from Lolita). But Liz Taylor upstaged the entire 1964 film with her saucy shenanigans. Her passionate affair with the leading man – both were married to other partners – garnered headlines around the world. After the filming, the couple lingered in the idyllic tropical town. For her 32nd birthday, Burton gave her Casa Kimberly, a $57,000 villa linked to his own by an arched, cotton-candy-pink bridge, one story above the cobbled street. Also present were the peculiar playwright Tennessee Williams and rowdy, pistol-packing Mexican director-actor Emilio Fernandez. Once Huston reminisced: "The press gathered down there expecting something to happen with all these volatile personalities. They felt the lid would blow off and there would be fireworks. When there weren’t any, they were reduced to writing about Puerto Vallarta. And, I’m afraid, that was the beginning of its popularity, which was a mixed blessing." One only wonders if Williams had his way with the two very sexy Mexican servants, Pedro and Pepe, who literally shake their maracas throughout the movie. The film was made in 1963; while filming, President Kennedy was assassinated. Houston, fed up with America, would renounce his US citizenship. He would eventually retire to Puerto Vallarta. The film itself is extraordinary for its performances: Richard Burton casts a sexy, boyish charm to his defrocked priest. Ava Gardner plays Maxine, a kind of retired beat poet hostess who gets to keep the Mexican boys, but yearns for Burton. Deborah Kerr is the unsuspecting key to the movie. Clearly there was something going on (in character) with Burton and Kerr, and she gets to deliver the best Williams lines. Tennessee Williams certainly did have this themes, and one them was poetry. In this film, a 97 year old poet completes his final poem and dies. But there is poetry throughout this film, in that fascinating mood that only Tennessee Williams could create, which is a world where people speak in beautiful metaphors with lush prose that nearly borders the ridiculous, but manages to stay just on the side of reason.

The View from Here

 

Jet

 

We're taking a little hiatus from all the world as we head to the steamy tropics of Mexico. Tomorrow will be the Summer Solstice, the first day of Summer so it's an appropriate day to travel. We will be sending reports back between margaritas and guest bloggers will take up some of the space while we enjoy this sojourn.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Online magazine HOT

Who Knew?

Picture Relief

"I See Gay People...L.A. Pride 2009 photos by Jay Jorgensen"

How Are We Feeling?

It's hard to explain, so let me have the creators explain it:

We Feel Fine is an exploration of human emotion on a global scale.

Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling". When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the "feeling" expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.). Because blogs are structured in largely standard ways, the age, gender, and geographical location of the author can often be extracted and saved along with the sentence, as can the local weather conditions at the time the sentence was written. All of this information is saved.

The result is a database of several million human feelings, increasing by 15,000 - 20,000 new feelings per day. Using a series of playful interfaces, the feelings can be searched and sorted across a number of demographic slices, offering responses to specific questions like: do Europeans feel sad more often than Americans? Do women feel fat more often than men? Does rainy weather affect how we feel? What are the most representative feelings of female New Yorkers in their 20s? What do people feel right now in Baghdad? What were people feeling on Valentine's Day? Which are the happiest cities in the world? The saddest? And so on.

The interface to this data is a self-organizing particle system, where each particle represents a single feeling posted by a single individual. The particles' properties – color, size, shape, opacity – indicate the nature of the feeling inside, and any particle can be clicked to reveal the full sentence or photograph it contains. The particles careen wildly around the screen until asked to self-organize along any number of axes, expressing various pictures of human emotion. We Feel Fine paints these pictures in six formal movements titled: Madness, Murmurs, Montage, Mobs, Metrics, and Mounds.

At its core, We Feel Fine is an artwork authored by everyone. It will grow and change as we grow and change, reflecting what's on our blogs, what's in our hearts, what's in our minds. We hope it makes the world seem a little smaller, and we hope it helps people see beauty in the everyday ups and downs of life.

A special thanks to Richard Velasco for discovering this magnificent site. Please visit and see how we're all feeling.

Calvin Klein ad too suggestive?

A new Calvin Klein ad in New York City is creating a brouhaha in certain circles because of the apparent age of the models and the suggestive "orgy" atmosphere in the picture. As one reporter in the Louisville Kentucky Examiner asked: "Many have asked today; just who is the girl in the ad? And is she over the age of 18? Because what is portrayed on the billboard is highly closely related to child pornography. Some are speculating that she is likely under the age of 18 and Klein will have no choice but to remove the ad and charges could likely be filed against the clothing manufacturer for contributing to child pornography." Oh my!

Shot by Steven Meisel, the lightning-rod photographer behind Madonna's 1992 book Sex, Calvin Klein's print and video campaign appears online at calvinkleinjeans.com.

Censored adaptations of the ads will appear later this year in North America, while Europe -- long known for sexually liberal advertising -- will see the unedited versions.

With their hidden-camera esthetic and resemblance to pornography, the new ads are evocative of a 1995 campaign by the company that drew a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into whether Calvin Klein Inc. had violated child pornography laws. (The models weren't minors, so the Justice Department found no statutes had been broken).

Sex Sells.

is Bruno too gay?

As the July 10th opening date nears, the public begins to way in on the potential effects of the Brüno movie, starring Sacha Baron Cohen. At issue is whether or not the Brüno character reinforces gay stereotypes all the while clearly being a caricature.

Graden to leave MTV

Brian Graden, the celebrated gay MTV Networks executive who helped launch programs such as The Hills and South Park while increasing the media giant’s social awareness activities during his 11-year tenure, will leave the company, perhaps as early as the end of this month, reports the New York Post .

Graden serves as president of entertainment of MTV Networks’ Music and Logo group, where he has overseen programming for channels including MTV, VH1, and Logo. His position is unlikely to be replaced.

His departure is part of a broader reorganization at MTV Networks, which is struggling with declining ad revenue and sagging ratings, according to the Los Angeles Times . Insiders say there is a sense that MTV has moved too far toward reality programming, a direction that Graden, 46, engineered.

Graden, whose official title is president of entertainment, MTV Networks Music Channels, has been with the company for almost 12 years. Shows that were launched during his tenure include the reality hits "The Hills" and "The Osbournes." He also played a part in the creation of Comedy Central's huge hit "South Park," which was developed after Graden commissioned an animated short Christmas card from the show's Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The short was such a hit that it led to the birth of "South Park."

SOURCE: The Advocate

Flagging Design

In 1978, Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag (also known as the gay pride flag) as a symbol of LGBT pride, liberation and diversity. "In the beginning the Rainbow Flag was about liberation," Baker said in a UK Gay News op-ed piece. "It was about breaking free of an existence limited by fear and conformity, the right to express sexuality without shame or retaliation from those who legislate "morality.'"

The Rainbow Flag debuted at the 1978 San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade. It has since been used around the world as a symbol of LGBT unity in many variations, including adaptations such as bumper stickers and decals. However, despite its widespread use, in a May 2008 UK Gay News op-ed, Gilbert claimed that the flag was not complete and that it continues to grow along with the movement it represents.

But now, with the level of LGBT activism at heights unseen since Stonewall, is it time for a change? WNYC & PRI’s Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen thinks a makeover is in order. The station is asking listeners to redesign the rainbow flag for the 21st Century. Artists can submit their ideas on 360's Flikr site. The winner will be announced on WNYC's June 26th show.

"WNYC & PRI’s Studio 360 is all for gay pride...but rainbows are so...1978," the station says. What do you think? Is it time for newly designed pride flag?
To date there are only six entries, perhaps because people know instinctively there is little need to redesign an icon. All entries can be viewed here.
SOURCE: gaylife.about.com

School for Scandal

Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, is feeling the heat after pictures of him allegedly having sex, were posted online.  The racy images were apparently sold to a photo agency by Black’s former lover.
Perezhilton.com published the racy pics; the gossip site even claims there may be video of the incident which may have taken place back in 2006.  The steamy shots show two men performing unprotected anal and oral sex.
Recently a book "And Then There's This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture", by Bill Wasik, attempts to understand our ravenous need for information:

With so many different mediums, why do they all seem to follow these same stories? At the end of the day, why does anyone care so much about this random singer that none of us have ever met?

That relates to the "Long-Tail" -- the idea that the Internet will allow us to splinter off into a lot of smaller niches. The Internet does allow for smaller and smaller communities of interest that have more and more intense likes for shared things. But I also think one great value of culture for us is that we like to have something to talk about with each other. And so, you might have a great love for some very, very obscure form of heavy metal and on the Internet you can find all the other 5,000 different people around the world who like this very particular heavy metal music. But it's also true that if you go to high school or if you work in an office or if you have sort of friends out in the real world, you're going to want to engage with them in the shared stuff of mass culture. Mass culture continues to exist precisely because it's the stuff of cultural exchange among ourselves. And so, that to me is the reason why you have 10 million people becoming obsessed with Susan Boyle instead of 10,000 people. Precisely because she becomes grist for this bigger conversation.

Morrisey Moment

Coffee Bean Blocks Gay Internet

Despite advertising the availability of free wireless internet access at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf coffee shops, the connection comes at the cost of "technical" discrimination. Philip Minton, who runs the Unite the Fight LGBT equality blog, couldn't get internet connection at home, so he went to the Coffee Bean on 3rd and La Cienega, in West Hollywood, CA, to do his blog posting from there using their free Wi-Fi service.

Coffee Bean is another chain coffee shop, like Starbucks, with free Wi-Fi service for customers to use while sitting around drinking coffee and doing work, just relaxing, or meeting with people. When Minton set up his computer and started to go through his news feed, accessing various other blogs, he got this message:

 If you can't read it, it says that Pam's House Blend is blocked due to "sexuality." (Same thing for Towleroad among others.)

It is not uncommon to experience "technical" discrimination while trying to access newsworthy sites posting stories on LGBT issues from a computer at most work places or the library; simply containing the word "gay," "lesbian,"  "homosexual" and similar key words is enough to have the sites detected. As a result, those sites or articles are blocked for the same reason DNS, the Wi-Fi source for Coffee Bean, has described above -- "sexuality."

Minton has emailed the company to inquire whether or not the sites would be blocked had he typed in "heterosexual." Most techies can vouch that it is difficult to filter out pornography, or other adult content sites, without blocking non-adult LGBT sites. Minton brings up a good point in his blog post:

"But then we reach a deeper issue. Is the LGBT population feeding the popularity of LGBT porn, thus making the "homosexual" key word more equivalent to porn than a description of who we are (though many of us hate that word), thus justifying the wingnuts arguments against us about being simply a sexually driven population? Or is it simply so many people are in the closet and make these LGBT porn sites and their corresponding key words so much more popular than we possibly could on our own? (Again, another issue there.) Or is it just downright discrimination?

"Or is it all these things?"

Until he gets to the bottom of the issue, Minton asked his Unite the Fight readers to bear with him while he "[weeds] through the "technical" discrimination.

An answer was received: We only provide network admins with the tools to block content on their networks, we as a company do not block anyone for any reason. If this user (i.e.business) chooses to block a particular type of content on their network, we cannot interfere.

You however, as a consumer, have every right to boycott their business for the way they choose to block content on their networks.

SOURCE: Gay News Blog

Andrew Oldershaw (public relations for Coffee Bean) sent PH this email later in the day:

At approximately 3:00pm on Thursday we were notified by a customer using our complementary wi-fi service that two specific sites catering to the LGBT community were blocked from access. Those sites included Pam’s House Blend and Towleroad. After learning of the issue, our technical team researched the situation and took immediate steps to unblock the sites that were brought to our attention. It is not, and has never been, the policy of the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to block Internet content or websites from our customers or members of the LGBT community. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf subscribes to an OpenDNS platform that incorporates a peer review component which allows users to flag particular sites they deem inappropriate. In this case, a small amount of flags triggered the system and the sites in question were blocked automatically. No web-content filter is perfect, but we are grateful to the customers who quickly brought this to our attention for resolution. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf supports diversity on all levels and values the community members of the areas we operate in. Our goal in offering free wi-fi service is to open communication and exchange of information, not to block information,” stated Tim Casey, Vice President of Marketing & Operations, International Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, LLC.

Jon Voight is out of his mind

Actor and Jolie-daddy Jon Voight has been a knucklehead for quiet some time, but his appearances on Fox News have proven that he is need of medication.

Wig Off

JUNE 10--Now that he is a ward of the California state prison system, wig-loving murderer Phil Spector has been forced to return to his au naturel state. As seen in the below mug shot, the 69-year-old Spector's dome is no longer covered by one of the fright wigs he wore during his criminal trials (the most recent of which ended in the music producer's conviction for killing actress Lana Clarkson in February 2003). Spector, who was sentenced last month to 19 years in prison, was photographed after arriving last week at the North Kern State Prison Reception Center in Delano.

When only a towel will do...

Welcome to summer.

Dame Edna in Los Angeles

First, the curious life of John Barry Humphries, who is Dame Edna. He is married to Lizzie Spender, daughter of British poet, Stephen Spender, who for many of his younger years was a homosexual. Their son, Matthew, is married to Natasha Litvin, who is the daughter of Armenia artist Ashile Gorky. Humphries is 75 years old, which is remarkable if not for his memory alone, but also his stamina. Last night in Los Angeles, Dame Edna wowed a crowded audience at the Ahmanson Theater with song, flowers and a poignant embrace of the audience. In attendance were some gay celebs such as George Takei and comedian Rip Taylor.
Dame Edna Everage came to our attention many decades ago in New York City, as Australian friends would rally small crowds around the television and beg us to watch this man in drag. And we did. With politically incorrect remarks about Madonna's adoption of babies ( "from a small village called Cylamdia"), George Bush's lack of bookshelves in The White House, and the preponderance of gay people in the audience, Dame Edna tortured many in the audience with extemporaneous remarks about clothing, age, lifestyle and career. It was all in good fun as later as she brought a few audience members up to the stage in a "taping of a new talk show" format. An elderly woman named Yvette, who could barely walk, was asked to sing her favorite song, which was "Our Love is Here to Stay" which she did, with ocassional hints of a Susan Boyle inside her. She seemed to be having the time of her life. Dame Edna honored her gay son, Kenny, also her stylists, with an anthem, and for someone not living here, she seemed to know a lot about Los Angeles.
At the end, a standing ovation and a remarkable transition as she left the stage as Dame Edna and returned moments later as Barry Humphries in a tux.

The Advocate's List of 15 Hot Blogs

The Advocate has compiled a list of the top 15 Gay(ish) Blogs. MIA are Qweerty, the ever popular Joe.My.God, Planet Fabulon, or the blog that is the most imitated (especially by a pair of Parisians), fantasticsmag.com. It is to be noted that while we can disparage the notion of Mr. Hilton, his site is currently valued at $5.11 million dollars, whereas Out magazine's popnography is currently valued at $8219.

• AmericaBlog.com:
• Gawker.com
• DListed.com
• HuffingtonPost.com
• OhLaLaMag.com
• Signorile.com
• TowleRoad.com
• WorldofWonder.net
• PerezHilton.com
• Slog.TheStranger.com
• PinkIsTheNewBlog.com
• Popnography.com
• Rod 2.0
• GoodAsYou.org

to catch the story visit here

Nurse Jackie

Nurse Jackie premiered last night and from the moment the song, Valley of the Dolls reached the screen, many of us were hooked. Hooked is an interesting idea here, for Nurse Jackie is certainly hooked on speed and pain killers. Edie Falco (of Soprano fame) is brilliant as Nurse Jackie; a good nurse with some big problems. Her problems come in the form of substance abuse, incompetent doctors (Dr. Cooper, played by Peter Facinelli) who has a peculiar sexual issue, a sexual relationship with the hospital pharmacist and a boss who is keeping her eye on her. What is so great about Nurse Jackie is that she is in many ways played out like a guy. She has casual sex, though she is married with two children, and is unapologetic about it. She has a hot friend, Mo-Mo, played by the sizzling Haaz Sleiman, a friendship with the very droll, Dr. O'Hara, and of course her best friends, the pills. I'm not sure if this was an hour show or half hour, but it ended too soon. Written by Liz Brixius & Linda Wallem, both out lesbians, Nurse Jackie has bite, edge and a lot of character. Indeed, life is full of little pricks, but this is not one them.

Long Ago

Even though we seem to have come to a point where little is sacred, in some areas we've actually turned the "frankness level" down a bit. This may be because advertisers discovered that frank talk about body odors and other offenses make people squeamish and turn them off. Or that they discovered it's more effective to tell people they can smell like a budding flower on a spring day just after a rain shower, than it is to tell them they stink.

I can't believe that the problems articulated so bluntly in these ads, which range from 1934 to 1954, were more prevalent then than they are now. But you'd think the solution to almost all social problems back then was to simply purchase the right product.
FROM CREATIVEPRO

The Liberation of Adam Lambert

American Idol’s glamtastic runner-up Adam Lambert opens up in the next issue of Rolling Stone, speaking frankly about his sexuality, though he doesn’t think his revelation is particularly shocking. “I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay,” Lambert says in the new issue of Rolling Stone, hitting newsstands this week.
“I’m proud of my sexuality,” Lambert adds. “I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.” Ultimately, however Lambert tells RS contributor Vanessa Grigoriadis that there are other parts of his life that he’s trying to keep front and center. “I’m trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader,” he says.