March 2007 Archives

Ann Coulter toilet paper? Now this is just plain silly. Completely childish. Ridiculous.
How many rolls should I buy???
The Canadian company Rowanlea Gore Novelties in Berverton, Ontario, has named Mr. Coulter..I mean Miss Coulter, its official April 2007 "Faces for Feces" winner "for being a shrill, lying, racist, homophobic, publicity-hungry demagogue who destroys civil discourse with hate speech."

Says their Web site: Ann Coulter X-Wipes™ -- quilted two-ply softness to clean up the mess she made and speed her long day’s journey into irrelevance.

Remember way back when when Ricky Martin was all that and Barbara Walters flat-out asked hom on one of her celeb specials about the speculation that he is gay?
As I recall, Ricky dodged the question - more charmingly than Clay Aiken did in an interview with Diane Sawyer last year - but dodged it all the same. So Martin's comments about Mexican singer Christian Chavez, who came out publicly earlier this month, are interesting.
''Life is too short to live closed up, guarding what you say." Christian ''has to be free in many aspects. I wish him much strength.''
Well, whatever. Good to have him supporting Chavez who has been so amazingly honest and heartfelt in his public coming out. I feel like I know him a little bit. Ricky Martin? I don't feel like I know him at all.

Happy Saturday! I'm heading to The OC to celebrate my little sister's birthday but wanted to share a few letters and comments that I've received in recents weeks. They range from nice compliments to picky little spelling police things...

AN AMERICAN HERO RESPONDS...
Good morning Greg,
 I just wanted to write and tell you what an amazing piece you did.  I really like the detail of my story.  I could almost hear myself telling it. hehe It was very nice to meet you and thanks for all your support.  If you should ever get to Texas and swing through San Antonio, drop a line.  Again I really loved the articles.  Take care and I know we will see each other again someday. 
Eric Alva

GREG SAYS: Eric, you are so inspiring and thoughtful. Thanks for the note and keep trying to change the world! I still believe you are a rock star!
[Eric lost right leg in Iraq war, came out last fall and is now campaigning against military's anti-gay policy]

NOT AT A ROSS FOR WORDS
Hi Greg,
Thanks for the nice Diana [Ross] mention. I LOVE Diana and was so excited to see her on Idol Tuesday and Wednesday. I too thought she looked amazing and commanded the stage. It was odd that they made her shorten the song (she started at the second verse) and, having been in that studio to watch Idol live, I know that the acoustics there are very misleading and that performers often sound different/better in person than on TV.
She might have been pushing slightly (which made her voice sound thinner than normal - and not as stellar as her Actors Studio show; did you see her on that? Amazing) but her energy and spirit were wonderful.
Overall, a great, fun performance and about time she got her new material out to a mainstream American audience again!
Best, Lawrence

SAYS GREG: I think, for sure, that Diana Ross has still definitely got it! I'm just hoping she has added an L.A. date to her concert tour.

NAVRATILOVA PIECE BRINGS TEARS
Greg,
Just read your article about Martina. I don't usually do the blog thing. However i had to write you. Your article brought tears to my eyes. thanks.
No Name

GREG SAYS: Thank you! I know sometimes the blog is heavy on tennis but I am passionate about the game and some of its heroes, like Martina Navratilova.

NOT A FAN OF COULTER
Greg,
Loved, loved LOVED what you wrote about Ann Coulter in your blog! YAY! I can't stand her, and not just because she's - supposedly - conservative. (Some of my friends are and they're ever so much nicer than she is!) Me thinks Coulter doth protest too much? More than one pundit has said she looks like a guy in drag - and after her bashing of the 9/11 widows, I think she's overcompensating for not having a husband in her life. Sad. Very sad.
L.S.

GREG SAYS: I couldn't have said it better myself. It has taken all of the restraint I have to not start refering to her as Dan Coulter! (I'm bad.)

KUDOS FROM A BRIT
Hi Greg,
I've just been perusing your Out in Hollywood site and wanna say a big thank you. I've only got as far as the movie bit but can tell from that that this is the place to get the news.I've read of movies that I never knew existed. Power to your elbow mate!
Andy Willsher
UK
 
GREG SAYS: Thanks for being so thoughtful, Andy! I had to ask around to find out what "power to your elbow" means!  

NEEDING TO SPELL IT OUT
Greg,
I enjoy your blog - but could you please run your
entries through spellcheck before posting? I know
this is petty, but I just needed to say it.
-Janice H.

GREG SAYS: Yu've sed it Janyce amd I doo hpe yoo feal soo muchh beter now! Hapy Satudey!

Keep those letters and comments coming!!!

There's a really good interview in the new issue of People magazine with Elisabeth Hasselbeck who I have bagged on for her conservative political views. But in recent months, I have softened a bit because, well, I sometimes have felt sorry for the girl when she's up against the liberal (and correct!) views of her co-hosts Rosie O'Donnell and Joy Behar. But it turns out that Elisabeth doesn't need my concern, she can take care of herself just fine.
Here is part of the Q&A:
On How she feels about Rosie: "Everyone's always thinking Ro and I don't get along, we're 'enemies.' Politically, we're rivals. That is clear. However, we are personally friends. We are on e-mail all day long with each other."

On buzz that she feels ganged-up on: '"Oh poor Elisabeth. She's upset. She's being ganged up on.' That's not true. Under these blonde highlights, i consider myself a pretty tough person. So, don't cry for me, Argentina."

So Rosie hasn't brought her to tears? "I keep reading it, but it didn't happen. My mom's calling me, 'Oh, you were crying?' No! I'm fine! I've been to rosie's house. We hang out. It's a nice friendship, and it's one that no one would have expected - even us."

Will she be back on The View next year? Will Rosie be back?: "I hope things stay the same. I really do. We have something special here. Every single morning i wake up and look forward to coming in. So I hope Rosie stays, I think we have a lot more to talk about."

When I was reading Elisabeth's interview, i thought about two of my closest friends from college who both happen to have birthdays today (happy b-day Scott and Bill!). We have been thick as thieves for close to 20 years and have had political arguments both large and small (things got particularly ugly after the 2000 election and the lead-up to the Iraq war). But we have had to learn to seperate the political views from the friendship in order to preserve our brotherhood forged so many years ago when we were still figuring out who we were and how we felt about the world. I now know that it can be done. It's not easy during these volatile times but in the end, it comes down to this: friendship is more important than politics. And people who have stuck by you, through thick and thin, deserve your loyalty.
But could I get close to a new friend with these views? Doubt it. Scott and Bill are grandfathered in!

Donald Trump and the dead animal on his head appear on David Letterman's show tonight. The interview was taped earlier in the week so part of what Trump said is already making the rounds. Dave, of course, asked him about his stupid feud with Rosie O'Donnell and Chump, I mean Trump, went on to give his assessment of what is going on behind the scenes at "The View" and how Barbara Walters is no long a friend of his (how can anybody be a friend of this creep unless they are bought and paid for?)
"She was trying to protect Rosie," he said of Walters. "She just said things that weren’t so and therefore I sort of wrote her off my list. She’s off the list."
Is this guy for real? It's almost like he should be on "The Real Housewives of Orange County."
Chump goes on to say that he actually sympathizes with Walters: "Rosie is sort of taking over the show from Barbara. It was sad to watch what was happening. But Rosie, they say, almost beat her up in the green room, and Barbara went out and did things she shouldn’t do. I felt badly for Barbara. In a way, I feel that Barbara was just trying to keep the whole thing together. I don’t totally blame her."
How thoughful of him to show such concern for Walters, a real tiger and trailblazer who was the first woman to co-host "The Today Show" and the evening news and has faced off against more world leaders than Trump the Chump can probably name.
Yes, Rosie has changed the show's dynamic. Is that a bad thing? Obviously viewers don't care since ratings are through the roof - something that cannot be said of Trump's tired "Apprentice" show.
He managed to say one sort of decent thing though about his behavior during the height of the Rosie feud: "I called her names that I certainly shouldn’t have called her."
I'll say.
Then he confesses that the whole thing "has been fun, actually.”
Doesn't that just say everything about this, as Walters called him, "poor pathetic man"?
So Letterman tells Trump he doesn’t have the stomach for feuds like that to which Trump, slipping back into first-grade mode, says:“It doesn’t take much of a stomach. She’s got the stomach for it,” refering to Rosie.
The audience's reaction? Groans.
Trump is now officially groan-inducing, and not in a good way.

I'm feeling a little reflective today. As I scanned the various sites and blogs that I look at every day, I came upon these photos of "Prison Break" stars Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell. My immediate instinct was, "I've got to post these."
But why? Is it to let the readers of "Out In Hollywood" that the second season finale of "Prison Break" will air this Monday night on FOX? Of course it is! But then I wondered this: if it were the season finale of say, "Til Death" starring Brad Garrett, would I feel compelled to post a picture of a man who reminds me so much of Herman Munster?
I wonder...

So, what do you all think of David Beckham's new haircut. I think he looks smashing - as always. But the wife! Victoria Beckham must not have any mirrors in her house. I know she may think she looks chic but I think she looks like she should be called Scary Spice.
Hate to be mean, but she does looks frightening.

"Celebrity Duets" may not have been in the league of "American Idol" or "Dancing With the Stars" but it did give "Queer Eye" alum Jai Rodriguez (he was the culture expert) the opportunity to show the world that he can sing - and sing quite well. So congratulations to Jai for sigining a record deal with Airgo Music. His first single, "Wake Up Call," is scheduled for release in June.

This would be funny if it weren't so annoying.
One of the castaways on ABC's "Lost" was revealed to be gay in this week's episode: Boone, portrayed by the very pretty Ian Somerhalder. Just one little problem: Boone was killed off in the first season! And during that initial season, which remains the show's best, the only attraction Boone seemed to have was toward his stepsister Shannon! And it is through Shannon, in a flashback sequence, that we learn about Boone's sexuality. In the scene, the step-siblings are in the airport and she rips on him for hitting on every cute guy he sees. At least show us him hitting on a cute guy...give us SOMETHING!
What a ripoff. Maybe the show has plans to have more flashbacks with Boone making out with Jack (Matthew Fox) or Sawyer (Josh Halloway). I'd forgive them anything if we had that. But since neither Sawyer or Jack are gay (that we know of!), that ain't gonna happen. If I were a gay guy trapped on that island, i don't know how you don't fall for Jack.
I was ticked when Ian was killed off because he's been on my radar ever since he was on a long-ago and short-lived WB drama "Young Americans." He fell in love with a girl who was pretending to be a guy so she could attend the all-boy boarding school and he started to think he might be gay because of his strong attraction to this guy...who was really a girl.
And Ian showed in the indie gem "Rules of Attraction" that he isn't afraid to play gay or do a same-sex love scene. His kiss with co-star James Van Der Beek was semi-hot but even hotter was a sexy dance he did on the bed in his hotel room with another guy whose name I don't remember. But he was really gay in "Rules" and went after who and what he wanted.
Anyway, I'm pretty much off "Lost" this season anyway but if I hear they are going to explore this gay angle a bit more via-flashbacks, I'd be back in the fold.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has secured the endorsement of Billie Jean King in her bid to become the fitst female president in history.
Says King in a statement: "What I learned when I first met Hillary, and what I know now, is that she is qualified to lead this country. As a young woman, mother, advocate, first lady and senator she has continually shown us she is passionate about improving family issues, health care, equal pay and the challenges that people all across this nation face on a daily basis."
I actually think Billie Jean would make a great president! She has always fought for what she believes in no matter how daunting and in the process, has created social change.

It's Friday!!! How 'bout a little guy candy?
First, I offer you Clive Owen, whose terrific movie "Children of Men," I just watched on DVD the other night and was completely impressed by him, by Michael Caine, and jiust by the entire damned thing. Very well done. Clive got pretty grungy in "Children" but he sure isn't in this ad for Lancome:

Next up: Mr. Jonathan Rhys Myers who is starring in the new series "The Tudors," was a sensational Elvis in a TV flick a few years ago, a knockout as a killer in Woody Allen's "Match Point," and adorable as the cute soccer coach in "Bend it Like Beckham."

And finally, Mark Wahlberg. I think his comment about being creeped out by the roles in "Brokeback Mountain" were pretty lame but I like him as an actor. Saw a DVD of him in "Invincible" a few weeks ago and am planning to take my dad to see "Shooter" on Saturday. And, let's face it, he's got biceps to die for...

Happy Friday!!!

There's a new pop sensation in town and his name is Mika! His debut CD, "Life in Cartoon Motion" was released on Tuesday and Lance Bass was among those on hand at the release party held at West Hollywood's Mondrian Hotel Sky Bar. There has been much speculation about Mika's sexuality but he has made clear that he chooses not to discuss his personal life - entirely his right.

I caught "Eleven Men Out" last summer at Outfest. I was tired after seeing three other films that day but was so glad I stuck it out to see this sports dramedy set in the soccer world in Iceland! It's damned good and I was so happy to learn today the here! Films has acquired distribution rights and its sister company Regent Releasing will book the movie into theaters this summer.
Written by Jon Atli Jonasson and Douglas, "Eleven Men Out" centers on Ottar Thor, the star of KR, the Icelandic soccer team. After he surprisingly comes out of the closet to a reporter in front of his teammates, the controversy surrounding his coming out leads him on a journey to discovery himself, and a journey off the KR team. He soon joins an amateur team made up of other gay men trying to play in a straight world. In the ultimate culmination of hard work and heartache, the KR team and the amateur squad wind up battling it out on the field during Gay Pride Day.

Let me tell you this: the actor who plays Ottar Thor (Bjorn Hylnur Haraldsson) is as gorgeous as he is talented, He displays a full-range of skill in scenes where he is dealing with his rebellious teenaged son who is humiliatied by his decision to come out as well as with his ex-wife as they unite as parents. There are cool soccer scenes and fun stuff with fellow players and, here's a realo selling point: Haraldsson has a really steamy sex scene with another man that is pretty much worth waiting for!
Says here! executive Mark Reinhart, Executive Vice President, Acquisitions & Distribution, here! Networks: “This timely social satire illustrates the struggle gay men and women in professional sports and beyond face while trying to stay true to their identity, and we think our viewers will be charmed by this delightful film.”

I had to post this picture of a couple of 60-something dymamos who are still vibrant and active and relevant. Patti LaBelle, a singing star since the 1960s, is still dynamite and was deservedly given a special GLAAD Award Monday night in NYC. My hero Billie Jean King was there in support of the superb HBO documentary on her life called "Portrait of a Legend" which lost to "Rosie's Family Cruise."
I never tire of posting about formidable, accomplished, intelligent and inspiring people because I DO tire of seeing all the pictures of the complete trainwrecks who fill the pages of US Weekly, Star and In Touch.

The delicious Dolly Parton, deservedly awarded with the Kennedy Center Honors in December, had some surprising things to say when interviewed by a British newspaper recently. Dolly has been married for a million years to the same man, Carl Dean, who is rarely seen in public.
"When I have sex with my husband these days, I fantasize I am with someone like KEITH URBAN or a petite, hot young woman.”
COOL!!!!
She also says he first crush was on a Tennessee hooker who “I thought she was beautiful. She had more hair, more color, more everything.”
Well, there are at least two things that NO ONE has more of than Dolly!

It's always a happy day when you have reason to post a picture of Robert Gant. And if he happens to be shirtless in that picture, all the better! Gant, who came out publicly while a cast member of Showtime's "Queer As Folk," is going to appear in tonight's episode of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" in an episode that involves a string of showgirl murders, according to Brian's Blog on AterElton.com.
Gant, who co-stars with Chad Allen and Judith light in the indie feature "Save Me" which was featured at Sundance a few months ago, is one of those truly talented and nice people who you root for to have great success.

Democratic front-runner Barack Obama caught some flak, and I think deservedly so, for his casual reaction when asked to comment on oint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Peter Pace's remarks that homosexuality is "immoral."
Obama told Wolf Blitzer yesterday on "The Situation Room" that the story about his initial comments did not get out there properly in the beginning.

" I mean, what happened was I was leaving a firefighters' union meeting and trying to get in my car and did not respond to a reporter's query at that point," he said. "I wasn't responding to reporters period because I was trying to make a vote. Subsequently I made it very clear. I don't think that gays and lesbians are any more moral or immoral than heterosexuals and that I think it is very important for us to reexamine the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy because it's costing us millions of dollars in replacing troops that by all accounts are actually doing a good job but are simply being kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation."
Obama also spoke to Blitzer on the subject of gay marriage and civil unions: "Well, I think that 'marriage' has a religious connotation in this society, in our culture, that makes it very difficult to disentangle from the civil aspects of marriage. And as a consequence it's almost -- it would be extraordinarily difficult and distracting to try to build a consensus around marriage for gays and lesbians. What we can do is form civil unions that provide all the civil rights that marriage entails to same sex couples. And that is something that I have consistently been in favor of. And I think that the vast majority of Americans don't want to see gay and lesbian couples discriminated against, when it comes to hospital visitations and so on."

I'll be talking about the weekend's new releases at the multiplex Friday morning on "The Shane Foxman Show" on CFUN. The show is out of Vancouver, Canada but have no fear! You can listen to the broadcast live by going to www.cfun.com tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. and clicking on the Listen Live section. I think you need Windows Media Player to hear it.

If there was ever a tennis player who could write a compelling memoir, it's the recently-retired champion Andre Agassi. He's a future hall of famer for winning all four of the sports major titles as well as the Olympic Games but more than that, he is a sports icon who had great appeal outside tennis and to several generations. While he started out as a brash kid with long hair and flashy clothes, he went on to become the most articulate sportsman and elder statesman the game has ever had.
It was announced late Wednesday that Agassi's memoirs are to be published by Alfred A. Knopf and were strongly desired by numerous publishers. Financial terms were not disclosed but bidding reportedly topped $5 million as publishers flew out to see Agassi at his hometown of Las Vegas, touring his Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, a charter school for at-risk youth, and then meeting with him at his office.
David Hirshey, senior vice president and executive editor at HarperCollins, one of the publishers that competed for the book, said the deal was more in line with what a former U.S. president would get.
"This is White House money," Hirshey said. "I can't remember the last time a sports figure got more than two million."
His book is not yet titled and no release date has been set.
Aggasi (pictured at right w/great rival Pete Sampras) said in a statement: "I recently had the privilege of meeting with top executives and editors from eight publishing houses. Everyone was very impressive, but in the end, I felt the strongest connection with (Knopf head) Sonny Mehta and his colleagues at Knopf."
Mehta calls Agassi's "an extraordinary life, and he has a great story to tell -- an inspiring story of determination, competition, and what it takes to become one of the greatest athletes of our time. Additionally, he is someone who has chosen to use his success as an instrument for change in the world."
In addition to the story of his tennis life where he went to teen prodigy to number one back down to number 141 then back up to number one. His downslide occured during his marriage to actress Brooke Shields in 1997 but his game was back on track for good by the time he married tennis great Steffi Graf who had retired from the game by the time they married. Agassi and Graf have a son and daughter together who have parents who have both won the Olympics, been ranked number one and won a combined 30 grand slam titles.
I look forward to Agassi's book. He is introspective and thoughtful and one of the few straight guys in the public eye who has never been afraid to show emotion or talk about his feelings.
He has simply been himself...

Will Arnett hits the big screen tomorrow in "Blades of Glory" starring Will Ferrell. Most of his scenes are with real-life wife Amy Poehler and they are a hoot together in this silly movie as a brother-sister pairs champion ice skating team. But even bigger news than the movie's debut is this: Will is featured in the new issue of The Advocate as the person with the Big Gay Following!
He was interviewed by Brandon Voss but you will have to buy the magazine to read the entire Q&A. But here are a few highlights:
Arnett on his Big Gay Following: "I didn't know I had any gay following. I knew I had a couple of guys following me, but I didn't actually know I had an actual gay following. I feel honored. If I do have a gay following, they have great taste."

On guys hitting on him: "Maybe I'm oblivious to it. I used to live in Chelsea for years and there were a few times walking my dog when guys would try to strike up conversations with me like, 'So, what's going on?' And I'd be like, 'Oh, just walking the dog.'"

On his man crush: "George Clooney. He's just the ultimate cool. How can you say a bad word about the guy? He's handsome as you want to be, he's got that perfect salt-and-pepper hair, he looks like he was born in a tuxedo - dud you see him at the Oscars? I mean, c'mon, that's just not fair."
Arnett, who was a regular on the late-great comedy "Arrested Development," played gay in the movie 'Let's Go to Prison" where his character, Nelson, ends up with Barry, played by Chi McBride: "..I liked that Nelson and Barry end up together. I hope that the audience enjoyed that aspect of it."

Arnett will play gay again in an episode of the NBC comedy "30 Rock." He describes his character as "a West Coast executive who's vying for Alec Baldwin's character's job. When it's revealed that I'm gay, he used Kenneth the page to seduce me to distract me from taking his job. I do get blinded by him for awhile, but I'm able to overcome it. I get to make the statement: 'I'm gay and i want your job!'"

Hate to sound like that old lady who used to do the Burger King commercials and say, "WHERE'S THE BEEF?" Or was it Wendy's? But when I think of the Sony Eriiccson Open tennis tournament in Miami, I want to ask, 'WHERE'S THE BEEFCAKE?"
Last night, the sizzling Spaniard Rafael Nadal followed Andy Roddick out of the tournament by losing to this dude named Novak Djokovic who he beat earlier this month in the finals of the Indian Wells tournament. His loss came a day after the shock upset of top-ranked Roger Federer to the same guy who beat him at Indian Wells. It's crazy!

Andy Roddick, always a good quote, told reporters he quit his match against Andy Murray because he has an injury but "I don't know what it is. I'm going to get an MRI. I think the medical term is the bottom of my ass hurts."
On the female side, ya gotta love that Serena Williams is on a tear again. She won her quarterfinal in straight sets, looks fitter than she has in years, and hungry for victory. It's fantastic to see.

The new issue of GQ explores male bonding and the phenomenon of a same-sex crush. I think it's no surprise that the magazine chose Daniel Craig to illustrate the piece by Adam Rapoport because just about everybody I know, male or female, gay or straight, think he is the bomb.
The article asks its straight readers the following: Spending too much time thinking about Damiel Craig? Or Maybe George Clooney? Has your love of Jeter become a main topic of too many conversatrions? You may be afflicted.
Here is how the article defines the man crush: (n.) 1: a romantic, but nonsexual, attraction to another male; 2: nothing you should be ashamed of.

The writer reveals one of his man crushes: soccer player Zinedine Zidane (pictured above) and he admits to admiring his widow's peak and to getting up in the wee hours to watch his World Cup games.
It's all veeeeerry interesting is all I'm saying...

Adorable Dominic Monaghan, current star of "Lost" and a key actor in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, shows just how gay-friendly he is in these photos. Since he's happily coupled with his "Lost" co-star Evangeline Lilly, we know these pics were taken in fun. My fave? The one below with the sign describing himself as "Gay Scottish Sex Symbol." If I were going to date a Hobbit, I'd want him to look just like Dominic Monaghan...

Oops! I squirreled away these pictures from Elton John's concert at Madison Square Garden Sunday and his star-studded birthday party Saturday night in NYC but forgot to post them! Well, it's never too late to enjoy party pics!
I won't bother with captions for the pics because if you don't know who people like Keifer Sutherland, Pierce Brosnan, Barbara Walters, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Emma Thompson and Diane Sawyer are, there is no hope for you! Gee, none of those people came to MY last birthday party! What does Elton got that I don't got besides money, immense talent, hair (his isn't real but still!) and millions of adoring fans?
Meanwhile, I'm gonna hit Best Buy after I leave the office to pick up his new CD "Numbers Ones" and listen to it on the way home.

A lot of children of superstars run into trouble when the follow their parents into showbiz. This doesn't seem to be the case with the children of Diana Ross. Her daughter, Tracey Ellis Ross, has been on the hit sitcom "Girlfriends" for at least six years now and won the NAACP award this year for best actress in a comedy. Her son, Evan Ross, is starring opposite Queen Latifah in the HBO flick "Life Support." Evan plays a self-destructive gay HIV-positive teenager, Amare, who Latifah's character is trying to save. Life Support shines a light on people not often represented on the screen: African-American women and men living with HIV and AIDS, including men living on the "down low" like Amare’s lover, Michael.
Evan talked to Advocate.com about the movie, about playing a gay character and, of course, what it's like to follow his legendary mom into showbiz.
ADVOCATE: So what pressures, if any, do you feel being Diana Ross’s son?
ROSS: I get asked this question all the time. Right now I’m learning so much about my mom’s history and the stuff she’s done. I’d never really taken the time to do that, and she doesn’t really talk about it. She’s so great; she inspires me so much. It’s hard for me to take anything as a burden. I think the only thing that’s a pressure is growing up under a magnifying glass. But more than anything it’s a blessing to have such an incredible mom.
ADVOCATE: What impact do you hope Life Support will have?
ROSS: From Amare, I hope people see the harsher—the more real—struggles people go through. And for people to be able to see that struggle from a different point of view, because sometimes you see how a person gets by or tries to get better, but you don’t really get to see someone who is heading down the wrong path, like Amare.
ADVOCATE: What was it like playing a gay character?
ROSS: It was an interesting experience. I was excited about the role. I didn’t want to play it in a way where it would come off like, Wow, you can really tell [he’s gay] from the first time you see him. I just really wanted people to love Amare for who he was—and to have an understanding of what he was going through.
ADVOCATE: Was there anything you learned about queer culture while doing research for the film?
ROSS: I read up on a lot of stuff. Nelson George wanted me to play a character that was gay but was part of the hip-hop gay culture. It was a whole different side of things I hadn’t seen before. It was interesting and new, and I’m glad I got a chance to experience it. Even with the scene when I’m in the club and I have my hoodie on and I look over at a guy and I give him a look… It was interesting for me as an actor to see his reaction.

To read the full story, go over to Advocate.com.

My favorite players (except for Rafael Nadal) continue to fall at the Sony Ericsson tennis tournament in Miami. Roger Federer was knocked out yesterday and today, American cutie Andy Roddick was forced to retire during the first set of his match with British cutie Andy Murray.
Roddick, who is now being coached by Jimmy Connors, won the U.S. Open four years ago and reached the final again last September. He met with reporters (below) after the abbrviated match.

I don't know about you but as far as being lesbians go, Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox make excellent heterosexuals. These images of their highly-publicized smooch during the season finale on "Dirt" last night is more best friends than lovers. Still, it's nice to see these two lovely gals together - real-life best friends - on screen again. Thanks to JustJared.com for the images!

We heard from James McGreevey last fall when he paid a visit to Oprah Winfrey. Now his ex-wife Dina Matos McGreevey, the one who smiled awkwardly as he made his "I am a gay American speech," will be getting equal time, according to Queersighted.
The date has not yet been announced but it will be "later this Spring." Mrs. Matos McGreevey will be promoting her new book, "Silent Partner"-- billed as "a story of a marriage that was anything but happily-ever- after, told by a strong and resilient woman who can, and finally will, speak for herself." The book is due out on May 1 and the author is already scheduled to sign copies and answer questions at Barnes & Noble on Route 22 in her hometown of Springfield, New Jersey, so it is certain that her Oprah appearance will occur before the end of April.

I think Rob Lowe should be over turning down the role of Dr. McDreamy on "Grey's Anatomy" now that he has signed to be a full-fledged cast member of a better show: "Brothers & Sisters." Lowe, who plays U.S. Sen. Robert McCallister on the show, began appearing as a guest stae mid-season and was originally signed for just a handful of episodes.
According to Daily Variety, since Lowe joined the Sunday night show, there has been a ratings increase. It also helps that he and co-star Calista Flockhart have terrific chemistry.
Executive Producer Jon Robin Baitz tells Variety: "He brings a unique romantic addition to the show by his combination of wit and charm and his elegance. The great discovery of it is there's such an intrinsic chemistry between him and Calista, which is so rare to find in two actors together. He's been a tremendous boon to to the storyline in terms of storylines and even ratings."
Not to mention his incredible good looks!

Just saw this via Towerload.com, a Radar Online joint interview with out athletes Billy Bean, Jaohn Amaechi and Erera Tuaolo. Here is some of the exchanges:

RADAR: Why does the world go absolutely insane when an athlete comes out of the closet?
John Amaechi: I think because the stereotypes around sports and the stereotypes around gay people are so opposite. And that creates a disjoint—people can't imagine that the two things can coexist peacefully in one body.
Esera Tuaolo: Also, there's just not a lot of us out there.
Billy Bean: And if you are a jock and you want to be in sports, you learn to act like everyone else behaves, you learn to act straight.
RADAR: Billy, what's the oddest question you've ever been asked in an interview?
BEAN: I was actually once asked if I was a top or a bottom on a radio show, and that was the first time that I think I was embarrassed in public. When you become public, when you "come out," when you invite the public into your private life, there is a sense that you deserve to be asked that question.
RADAR: I once interviewed Mike Jones, the Denver prostitute who outed Reverend Ted Haggard. In the interview, I asked him if Haggard was a bottom or a power bottom.
BEAN: Why did you think that question was important? To make fun of Ted or to make fun of bottoms? That's what I mean about self-mutilation. I think that's what holds us back. Do you ask a woman if she's a top or a bottom? Not to get off track, but I just think we're making fun of ourselves.
RADAR: Well, I was making fun of Ted Haggard. Do you think it was wrong to ask the question?
BEAN: Well, I guess if you were asking Ted, but now that he's straight he probably couldn't answer the question. I'm just asking, "Why do we have to be defined into such little cubicles?" As gay people, it seems like our sex lives are on a trophy display, and I think that's what keeps us divided from the mainstream.

RADAR: Do you hear the word faggot a lot in locker rooms?
BEAN: Look at Tim Hardaway. I think he thought he was talking to one guy and not on a radio show and the truth came out, and that's the way those guys can talk in a straight environment. There's more high-fiving and laughing going on because if you're soft about gay stuff you must be a queer. That's what I think young guys think, so they just keep reiterating over and over, "I'm straight, I'm straight."
RADAR:John, you actually started coming out a bit while you were still playing for the Utah Jazz, in that you would go to gay clubs. Did you know any other NBA players who were gay—did your gaydar ever go off?
AMAECHI: Well, it did go off. I do know guys who are gay in the league, because some of them at some point or another lived similar lives, and we'd end up at the same parties or going to the same place. So I know a few people, but to be honest it's that thing again: When I show up in an arena, or even practice, my external life shuts off and it's all about work and my head is down and it's really more about numbers on a uniform than anything else.

To read the entire interview on RADAR, click HERE.

I got stood up last night...by a GIRL!
My friend Mariel and I had plans to attend the season 6 premiere screening of the FX cop show "The Shield" at the Arlight in Hollywood then attend the season 5 DVD party immediately after being held across the street at the Cabana Club.
I'm driving into the ArcLight parking garage and notice I have a voicemail on the cellphone. It's Mariel. "The wind blew the fence down in my front yard and I want to put it back up before it gets dark." Well, at least she didn't say, "Ya know, you make me sick!"
I never mind at all attending events by myself, it's easier to meet guys that way. But I didn't quite have my mojo last night and kinda felt like Loser, party of one, as I sat there eating my popcorn waiting for things to get started. But got over that pretty fast once the program started.
The first episode of season 6 was shown and it was a doozy. Forest Whitaker guest stars and is expected to be in a few more episodes this season but not the regular he was last season. I hadn't seen Whitaker in anything since "The Last King of Scotland" and the contrast underscores what a superb performance he gave in "Scotland" because it is so different from what he does on "The Shield."
Michael Chiklas is phenomenal as the lead character, so intense. He blew me away as did the rest of the cast which is terrific with a special shout-out to the terrific CCH Pounder who always elevates anything she's in. The audience was filled with scores of people who work in front of and behind the camera.
There was an emotional moment when the audience suddenly stood and went into a heartfelt standing ovation when the name of producer-director Scott Brazil was mentioned. Brazil directed 11 episides of "The Shield" and was with the show from the very beginning. He died last April during production of the season 6 premiere at the age of 50.
Thought about heading home right after the screening to catch the second half of "American Idol" but hey, who am I to pass up a party?
I wasn't very hungry so I pass on the buffet of food that includes such hearty fare as fried chicken and mac and cheese. But I'm a sucker for Coconut Shrimp and when a guy walks by with some on a tray, I snag one. Then when he comes by again a bit later, I snag another. Then another guy comes over with a tray that has those little mini-cheeseburgers on it. They are made with Kobe beef he says. It is basically so delicious that I scarf it down and am ready for another. Too bad I can't find burger boy now. And I can't very well tap on people's shoulders and say, "Hi. Have you seen that guy carrying around the little cheeseburgers? I need another one. NOW!" So, I move on.
Hung out with a couple of guys who work for E! online, took a photo of Michael Chiklis and one with CCH Pounder but really I wanted to go home. So I ask this short blond guy with a clipboard and headset what time the gift bags would be handed out. I'd been at the party an hour and not seen one yet. He looks at me, kinda snotty, and says, "The party only started 25 minutes ago."

Clipboard/headset guy, unfortunately, is Mary Cheney lookalike (and his hair had that flip at the end like Mary Tyler Moore's did on "The Dick Van Dyke Show") but at least gave me some useful information: 'They'll be handed out at 10," he says dismissively before turning on his heel and walking away.
I have a half-hour to kill now. If I've stayed at the party this long, I'm sure as heck not leaving without the gift bag which i know has a DVD of season 5 in it. So I walk around the room and so many people look vaguely familiar but I can't place them, ANY of them. Except for Frances Fisher. Her, I recognize. She played Lucille Ball in a television movie (and did so very well), was on "Titanic" and "Unforgiven" and I loved her as Julianne Moore's outrageous mother in "Laws of Attraction."
At last! It's a little past 10 and I see people carrying gift bags. I head over to the nice girl handing them out (Thankfully, the snippy Mary Cheney guy is nowhere to be seen), grab mine, and head out into the night.

Following is a complete list of GLAAD Media Awards presented on stage at the 18th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York on Monday night starting with the Excellence in Media Award presented to Patti LaBelle by Jennifer Hudson. Most of the remaining photos include GLAAD President Nei Guiliano. Hey, I don't really mind. The man is very photogenic don't ya think? Not pictured are the winners of the Outstanding Film – Limited Release: Quinceañera (Sony Pictures Classics) which was accepted writer/directors Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer, and star Jesse Garcia and Outstanding Reality Program: Project Runway (Bravo) which was accepted by: Tim Gunn

Vito Russo Award: Tom Ford (presented by Julianne Moore)

Pioneer Award: Kate Clinton (presented by Cynthia Nixon)

Outstanding Documentary: All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise (HBO) [Accepted by: Rosie O'Donnell and director Shari Cookson]

And here are some of the other folks present including four of the five "Queer Eye" dudes (Can someone give Kayan my number!) as well as the great Billie Jean King and a flawless looking Hillary Duff:

This funny incident is reported in today's New York Magazine Daily Intelligencer column: Cynthia Nixon showed up at last night's GLAAD Media Awards as an out-and-proud lesbian — a big step, given her involuntary outing by gossip columns a few years back — but her showy $50,000 donation to the LGBT cause, announced by GLAAD president Neil Giuliano in front of a capacity crowd at the Marriot Marquis, came as an even bigger surprise. Particularly, as it turns out, to Nixon herself. "I don't know if it was a joke or a case of mistaken identity," she said when we bumped into her later. "I donated $1,000." (This morning we were greeted with a voice message from a GLAAD flack setting the record straight, as it were.)
I'm just glad Nixon didn't pass out or something. After all, she's not getting those "Sex and the City" paychecks anymore and even though she won a Tony Award last year, the theater doesn't pay nearly as good as HBO!

I am miserable! The Sony Ericsson Open was playing in our sports department so I walked over to check the score in the Roger Federer-Guillermo Canas match. They were in a third-set tie-breaker with Federer up 4-3. Then, before I even get a chance to settle in, Canas has won the damned match 7-6, 2-6, 7-6, takling the tie-breaker 7-5.
What is going on here? It seems that Canas is a little bit in Federer's head now after beating him a few weeks ago at the Pacfic Life Open, snapping Fed's 41-match winning streak. And next week, the tennis tour enters the claycourt season which has been Federer's weakest surface (if you could call it that since he did reach the French Open final last year). I'm hoping these losses motivate him to finally win in Paris.
Anyway, Federer may not be holding up the men's championship trophy over his head on Sunday but he did win plenty of awards while in Miami.
On Monday, he took home a record four year-end awards from the Association of Tennis Professionals. Federer received the Player of the Year award, the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship award, the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award and the ATPTENNIS.COM Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year award, closing the book on Federer’s remarkable run in 2006.
But all of that is little solace to a great champion like Federer. I'm now looking for Andy Roddick (nice hairdo!) and Rafael Nadal (love the new outfit!) to carry on. On the women's side, Serena Williams showed she is back on top by rolling by top-seeded Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-1! Wow.

How awesome is this?
"As the Worlkd Turns," which already has the 17-year-old gay character of Luke Grimaldi (Van Hansis), is giving Luke a boyfriend! AfterElton.com is reporting that Luke’s new love will be Noah, played by Jake Silberman (pictured above with Hansis at last night's GLAAD Awards). Noah will make his debut on the show's May 31st episode. This will be the first male same-sex teenage couple on daytime TV.

What a line-up! John Amaechi! Billy Bean! Esera Tualo!
At this year’s NCAA Men’s Final Four weekend in Atlanta, The Human Rights Campaign and It Takes a Team! – a project of Billie Jean King’s Women in Sports Foundation – present a panel discussion to continue dialogue about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender athletes at all levels, from high school to the pros.
“Specifically in the arena of sports, this discussion must continue until gay athletes are viewed and treated without prejudice," Ameachi says. "Sports organizations have an obligation to engender an atmosphere where all people can perform at their peak for the benefit of the individual and the team. Allowing people to be true to themselves not only encourages empowerment, it fuels honesty and trust, the key elements needed in any healthy relationship, marriage, team or work environment.”
The panel takes place at 11:00 am at the Inforum in downtown Atlanta and also includes Joey Fisher, David Kopay, and Terri O’Connell.
And for fans of the very handsome Billy Bean, a former major leaguer who came out in 1999, here are a few sizzling pics I found while searching for the one of he and Esera that I posted above:

Since I don't see Luke MacFarlane's character of Scotty getting back together with Kevin on "Brothers & Sisters," I'm not too distressed to learn that MacFarlane has been cast in another show. I mean, the guy's gotta make a living! But this news, as reported first on AfterElton.com, is disappointing to fans of the Scotty-Kevin romance. They are so sweet together. I hope they don't become like Gary and Valene on "Knot's Landing" who took forever to get back together.
Let's face it, Jason Lewis' character of Chad, the closeted soap star, was not as well-received by fans so we are hoping for better chemistry with Kevin's next love interest.
MacFarlane by the way, has been cast in FOX's new court drama "Supreme Courtships." AfterElton reports that Luke will be playing Allan, a conservative character no doubt working for one of the conservative Supreme Court Justices.
Oh man. I'd so much rather be playing Scotty!

I love these pictures! Thanks to JustJared.com for finding them in the new issue of Jane Magazine. The mag was at the Sundance Film Festival in January and asked celebs what their biggest crime has been? They came up with some creative answers which becamew part of this fun group of mug shots. Enjoy!

OK all of you who like seeing girls kiss: on tonight's season finale of "Dirt," Jennifer Aniston guest stars and will have a lip-lock with her former "Friends" co-star and real-life best friend Courtney Cox, the show's star and executive producer. Both actresses have downplayed the kiss saying it's not like they make out or anything. "Dirt" airs on FX - check your local listings for the time...

Patti LeBelle has always been a down-to-earth diva and never afraid to have some fun. So when Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson presented LaBelle with a GLAAD Media Award last night in New York, "I didn't know you were this nice," LaBelle told Hudson. "I thought you were a bitch," she joked, noting that she had never met Hudson before their appearance.
There's a nice, detailed account of the first meeting between these two divas from different generations who both have pipes like few others on Keithboykin.com.
The "Dreamgirls" star appeared on stage at the very end of the show to present Patti LaBelle with a special achievement award. But the introduction turned into a 15-minute lovefest between Hudson, LaBelle and the audience. And for those who had any doubt about where Jennifer Hudson or Patti LaBelle stood on gay issues, they both made it very clear. They fully support the rights of gays and lesbians, including the right to marry.
What started out as a simple introduction of LaBelle turned into a major production as Oscar-winner Hudson was treated to a standing ovation by the crowd, which included Patti LaBelle herself. Before Hudson could finish her introduction, LaBelle was on her feet again, standing at a front row table as Hudson struggled to read her script from the teleprompter at the back of the room.
Patti walked to the stage and knelt at the foot of the stage for a moment, then climbed the stage and knelt again in front of Hudson, who seemed visibly shocked by the gesture of humility from the R&B diva. LaBelle spent most of her acceptance speech praising Hudson and comparing Hudson to herself. After repeated calls from the audience for the two women to sing, Patti broke out in an a cappella version of "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," and Hudson joined in.

Here's the deal. I loved "Ocean's Eleven" but hated "Ocean's Twelve," thought it was boring and bad. So am I going to see "Ocean's Thirteen" when it comes out this summer? Of course! I wouldn't think of missing out on seeing three handsome leading men like Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and George Clooney together on-screen! I just hope the third movie in this successful franchise is a good one!

There's no Julia Roberts in this one but I see Ellen Barkin on the movie poster, Carl Reiner and Elliot Gould are back which is a good thing, and look who they've got this time around: Al Pacino!

I wanted to post this picture taken of Elizabeth Taylor taken in recent days because she looks so happy. It seems like turning 75 last month agrees with this Dame of the British Empire, multiple-Oscar winner, AIDS activist, and perfume and jewelry mogul. Or maybe it's not being married to anyone that agrees with her! It's been a good 10 years since her split with her seventh (or eighth if you count Richard Burton twice) hubby Larry Fortensky who she had met in rehab in the late 1980s. I wonder what ever happened to him? Taylor's sixth (or seventh) husband, Virginia Sen. John Warner, seems to have learned something from his former wife of six years (they divorced in 1982) when he trumped Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is responding to Gen. Peter Pace's anti-gay remarks earlier this month. Warner, a staunch Republican, simply released a statement saying that he did not believe that homosexuality is immoral.

I just love the nice pink touches that are added to photos posted on PinkIsTheNewBlog.com. But even more than that, I just love pictures of Mario Lopez!
Happy Tuesday!!

I've met George Takei before. It was last summer at an Outfest event but our time together was so brief. so what a treat it was to have a real gab Saturday nitght at the HRC gala with the man who I first became familiar with not through his role as Capt. Sulu on the original "Star Trek," but through his appearances on Howard Stern's radio show before it switched to Sirius. I told George that I don't have Sirius and he said in his unmistakable voice: 'Well you shoooould. Howard neeeeds you!"
It's been 17 years since the unlikely professional relationship began between Stern and Takei who had never heard of the shock jock when he was booked to appear on his show in 1990.
"I didn't know Howard from Adam," he remembers. "I went to this radio station and as I'm sitting waiting to go on, I tell one of the other guests, 'This conversation is offensive and vulgar.'" Takei was unaware that the show he could hear in the waiting room was Stern's!
"They usher me in and here's this wild-haired guy who says to me, "Anyone with a voice like that has got to have a big dong!"
That was the beginning. Takei was a bit uneasy about Stern but Howard sensed a strange chemistry. He would surprise Takei with on-air calls and created what he called the "Sulu Dance." Eventually Takei was won over enough to begin appearing on the show without being too guarded. Still, he did not come out publicly as a gay man to Stern or any members of the press (he had long been out in his personal life to family and friends) until a few years ago.
"What Howard offers me is access to a while different audience," George says. "If you are going to push for social change, you can't just preach to the choir, you've got to get other people. I've gotten so many emails [from listeners] who said they never thought about gay issues but 'what you say is right.''
Takei felt compelled to be more public after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzennegar vetoed a same-sex marriage bill in California: "I felt I needed to speak out in an authentic voice." He tells me that he and Brad Altman, his manager and partner of 20 years, would very much love to get married.
Takei is currently a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign "Coming Out Project" and since coming out, he's has become as big a star as he ever was - all over again: "It's been great. If anything, my career has enjoyed a second wind."
That second wind includes a recurring role on the NBC hit series "Heroes" on which he plays the father of Hiro.
"My scenes are all in Japanese," he notes.
Since "Heroes" is a huge hit in its first season and 'Star Trek" did not catch on in a big way [in syndication] until after its cancellation in 1969, Takei says it really is the first time he's been on a hit show!
"'Star Trek' became very popular but our ratings were rock bottom," he says. "So this is great fun."
Also great fun was reprising his role of Sulu for an episode of "Star Trek: New Voyages," a web-based continuation of the original "Star Trek" series. Following his episode, "New Voyages" will produce an episode from an unproduced script that has Capt. Kirk's nephew as a gay man in a relationship with a fellow crew member aboard Starship Enterprise.
Takai thinks series creator Gene Roddenberry would be proud: "He was very enlightened and I know that Gene would be very happy with what is going on now."
I'm very happy for George's career recent resurgence even though he never really gone away, not with the five "Star Trek" movies in the 80s and 90s that followed the original series and all those conventions where he is swarmed by "Trekkies" and that unlikely Howard Stern connection. I love it! And I loved our chat. His partner, Brad, snapped the photo of George and I (right) before we wrapped up our conversation and headed into the dinner.

It's time to celebrate a milestone: this blog's 1000th entry! I was hoping to find some kind of image that said "Out In Hollywood Celebrates!" but the closest I got was "Hollywood Celebration!" and it seemed fitting to post it since it is a book cover with a picture of a young Elizabeth Taylor kissing her life-long closeted gay friend, the gorgeous Montgomery Clift, in a scene from their classic 1951 movie "A Place in the Sun."
The blog debuted in late June 2006 and has since consumed me in a wonderful and unexpected way. Now it's time to get started on blog entry 1,001!!!

Reports surfaced on Queerty last week that scores of party-goers had seen actors Shane West and Ashton Holmes locking lips at a GQ event. But on Monday, through their publicists, both guys are denying that they are gay.
Says Holmes' publicist: "It's absolutely absurd." West's spokesperson said the entire thing "is laughable. There is absolutely no truth to this story."
Queerty posted today that the denials don't explain the emails sent to the website of eye witness accounts that the actors had a quick but passionate kiss and then a few pecks directly after. It was clear they tried to make it as brief as possible, but that they didn't want to stop, the website stated Monday.
I don't have much commentary except to say if these two are gay and don't want to be outed, they've got to be more reserved at public events! If they are gay, I wish them the best in their coming out process and hope they know that neither Neil Patrick Harris or T.R. Knight have suffered career setbacks as a result of coming out. I think they have more fans than ever.

Australian swimming champ Ian Thorpe, who retired from competition last year, has been notoriously quiet about his private life and never commented about the never-ending speculation over his sexuality. But he was quite candid on the topic in an interview with "Australian Good Weekend magazine."
“I became a gay icon when I was 15,” he said, “which was a little bit weird. When I was 17, everyone had started that speculation about me, though I didn’t hear about most of it. I don’t have a problem with being a gay icon. it’s not a big deal to me. But I think the gay speculation, along with when I was accused of taking drugs in 2000, was an attempt to pull me down from the top. Some people think it’s an insult to say, ‘Oh I think he’s gay’, but I don’t take it that way. I’m not gay. I’m lucky that within myself I don’t care enough to get worried or upset over it.”
Good Weekend journalist, Janet Hawley then asked Thorpe if he were gay, would he be comfortable coming out and saying so?
“I have no idea, because I’m not gay,” he responded. “I don’t think anyone should have to be asked that question. You don’t have to come out and declare you’re straight. It shouldn’t be a big deal today, but people still get hang-ups over it.”
The main reason most people have labelled Thrope as gay are his not-so-typical traits, from designing pearl necklaces to taking care of his appearance. But that’s nothing, says Thorpe. “Guys are just guys, girls are just girls, all of us are different. Some guys are more in touch with their feminine side, interested in design and quirky things, some are blokey blokes.”

Queerty blog found an interesting interview at gay South African site Mamba with Noah's Arc lead Darryl Stephens and I found it via AfterEtton.com. Stephens claims in the interview that he's through playing gays for a while (he says it's a "moratorium"), and then goes on to explain why he and his cast do not discuss their sexualities publicly:
"The one thing I can say is that the straight actors on this show [Noah’s Arc] are not saying "we’re straight, playing gay". In the same way that the gay actors aren’t saying "we’re gay". No-one [on the show] is talking about their personal lives. We sat down – all the actors sat down – and said that the straight actors are not going to get all the press because they’re being “so brave” in playing gay."
In addition to the title character on "Arc," Stephens plays gay in the current release "Boy Culture" and had a role in the comedy "Not Just Another Gay Movie."
Stephens later notes that he's of course up for a movie version of Arc, adding, "Noah is a great character for me. A lot of people relate to him – he’s a gift. I won’t give up playing this character."

The British tabloid The Sun has a long memory and on the occasion of Elton John's 60th birthday on Sunday, the paper decided to dig up six dozen of his most memorable quote. Some of them are, well, a little bitchy but hey, this is the man who wrote "The Bitch is Back."

On The X Factor: “It is a cruise ship show. I’ve got nothing against the people who go on – good luck to them. But I hate how they’re treated. The record companies sell a lot of records and those people are gone. It’s f***ing cruel.”

On Hear’Say: “They have to be the ugliest band I’ve ever seen. If you’re going to have a boy band or a girl band then they’ve got to be good-looking. The guy Danny looks like Shrek. I feel sorry for them.”

On florists: “I loathe flower arranging – it’s a hideous profession.”

On Grammys, while reviewing a Stevie Wonder video on a kids’ TV show: “Grammys only go to disabled people.”

On Madonna’s victory at the Q Awards in 2004: “Madonna Best Live Act? Since when has lip-synching been live? Anyone who lip-synchs on stage when you pay £75 to see them should be shot. That’s me off her f***ing Christmas card list, but do I give a toss? No.”

On The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King winning 11 Oscars in 2004: “It was the most boring Oscars I have seen. I thought there might be one surprise in the song category but even there The Lord Of The Rings won. And I don’t think it deserved to.”

On pop music: “The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears, S Club 7, Steps – the music is like packets of cereal. There are too many of them, too many of them are just average and mediocre.”

On appearing on Chris Moyles’s breakfast show: “I haven’t been to the BBC for so long, I almost went to the other building. But I saw Tony Blackburn on a walking stick and I thought, ‘No, it’s the wrong f***ing place’.”

On George W Bush: “The worst thing that has ever happened to America.”

On Cherie Blair’s lifestyle guru Carole Caplin: “Who’s that stupid cow who advises the Prime Minister? Carole Chaplin, Caplin – whatever her name is. She’s a mindless f***ing turd.”

On his football club Watford FC: “I’ll be fine if I don’t get an Oscar. I was chairman of Watford FC so I know what it’s like to lose.”

On Tony Blair and the Iraq invasion: “You lied to us, Tony. The Hutton Report made me wanna spit. It was like, these idiots think they can get away with anything. I voted for Tony. He’s basically a nice guy. What happened? Is it because power does that thing to you, that you isolate yourself? It enrages me that people can just smirk their way through it.”

On his grandma: “When she was visiting me in LA I’d just taken a load of pills and was threatening to throw myself in the pool. I told her I’d be dead in two hours and she replied, ‘Oh, I better go home then’. ”

On pseudonyms: “In hotels I use names like Binky Poodleclip and Sir Horace Pussy.”

On HIV: “America is my second home. I slept with half of it and came out HIV negative. I’m a lucky, lucky person.”

On ex-wife Renate: “The nicest person I have ever met. I don’t have one negative thing to say about her.”

On his mum Sheila: “I’ve always been a mummy’s boy.”

On Simon Cowell: “I am on the side of the artists. I am not on the side of someone like Simon Cowell, who sees them as another Mercedes Benz in his pocket.”

To a critic who slated his duet Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word with Blue: “Sorry happens to be a beautiful song sung by Frank Sinatra, among others. As a musician, I know this. As a w***er, you wouldn’t. Have a nice day.”

On the Diana Memorial Fountain: “It’s purely ugly. It looks like a sewer.”

In a tirade to photographers and police waiting at Taiwan airport in 2004: “You are rude, vile pigs. Do you know what that means? Rude, vile pigs. That’s what all of you are.”

On David Beckham: “David’s adorable – he’s a great role model for young people now he’s calmed down. He loves his wife, adores his kids, he’s a modern father who isn’t racist or homophobic. He loves his fashion. I really don’t think there is a single bad bone in his body.”

On women: “I can be driving along and see a woman and think, ‘Phwoar, she’s gorgeous.’ I don’t just fancy men.”

To a female photographer who tried to snap him leaving Liz Hurley’s house: “I hope you die of cancer of the clitoris.”

On Robbie Williams: “I keep my eye on him from a distance. I worry about him. I always feel he’s a bit of a loose cannon. He has that look in his eye.”

On Geri Halliwell: “Whenever you see her she clings on to you. She’s good company but she and Robbie just seem to be so obsessed with their careers.”

On Rod Stewart: “When we get together I truly believe we are the funniest two people in the world. We just insult each other – but in a great way.”

On Oasis: “They could have been the biggest band in the world but they blew it. It all came down to the fact that they were not prepared to work. And the drugs didn’t help during their abortive trips to America.”

On cocaine: “I have dreams when I have a white nose and it’s all round my mouth and I’m trying to get it off my nose and my mother’s coming in the room.”

And cocaine again: “Sometimes when I’m flying over the Alps I think, ‘That’s all the cocaine I sniffed’. We once tried to figure out how much money we spent on coke and alcohol. We were so disgusted that we stopped.”

On himself in the 1997 fly-on-the-wall documentary Tantrums And Tiaras: “She’s an absolute cow! I had to laugh. I was just impossible.”

On agents: “An agent is a person who is sore because an actor gets 90 per cent of what they make.”

On success: “I cannot bear successful people who are miserable.”

On sex: “There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex. People should be very free with sex – they should draw the line at goats.”

On the English: “People in England are so bloody nosy.”

On his real name, Reg Dwight: “I was making a record and I had to choose a name because they said, ‘You can’t make a record under the name of Reg Dwight, because it’s not attractive enough’.”

On gadgets: “I was more ashamed that I couldn’t work the washing machine than the fact that I was taking drugs.”

On being gay: “I am the most well-known homosexual in the world.”

On the 2006 World Cup: “I love football but I’m sick of the World Cup. Who cares about Angola versus Portugal? I don’t even care about England.”

On George Michael: “My fear is he just smokes too much dope.”

On Brian McFadden’s solo single Irish Son: “I nearly died when I heard it. I absolutely hated it. I had to take it off in case I committed suicide.”

On his tantrums: “I think it is an Aries thing. I don’t like it, but what can you do?”

On Ozzy Osbourne: “We have so much in common, apart from the hair. Mine is bought. His is real.”

On the Bible: “I’m a mad shredder. I get these Bibles sent to me saying ‘Repent now’ and I shred them.”

On playing at the private parties of German businessmen: “I sing Rocket Man, Candle In The Wind and Happy Birthday Dear Gunther – and get paid tens of thousands.”

On the present he would give Liza Minnelli to celebrate her 2002 wedding to David Gest: “A heterosexual husband.”

On singer Craig David in 2001: “If there’s a better solo singer in the UK than Craig David, I’m Margaret Thatcher.”

On spending £2million in a month: “I’m not a nest-egg person.”

On Old Blue Eyes: “Sinatra was simply the best. No one else even comes close.”

On himself: “A review in the Financial Times said I was an extremely funky pub pianist. That was a good summing-up of what I am.”

After a fan said hello to him while he was on holiday in the South of France: “I’m supposed to be on f***ing holiday. I’m never coming here again. Get me on a plane tomorrow.”

On his refusal to sell pictures of his wedding to David Furnish to a celebrity magazine: “Our relationship isn’t up for grabs. Our love is sacred to us. It doesn’t come with a price tag.”

On film Billy Elliot: “I could barely watch it I was crying so much. It moved me because I could see myself in Billy. It was like my own childhood and how I broke out into my dream.”

On his body: “I’m stocky. I’ve always had a body-image problem. No self-esteem. And that will never, ever leave me. It’s improved, but I’m hypercritical of myself and the way I look.”

On his music: “The great thing about rock and roll is that someone like me can be a star.”

On David Furnish: “I took hostages and prisoners and expected them to adapt to my lifestyle. This relationship is very 50-50.”

On Live 8 2005: “I thought it was a bit of an anticlimax, to be honest. The thought behind it was fantastic but Hyde Park is a charisma-free zone. There was no sense of occasion and, from a musical point, I didn’t think there were too many highlights. I was very pleased to be a part of it but I didn’t think it was anywhere near as good as the first one. How could it be?”

On Posh’s attitude to husband David’s alleged affair with Rebecca Loos: “I don’t think they handled it very well.”

On his own indiscretion: “I haven’t got Tourette’s syndrome but I can’t censor myself. Why should I?”

On aggression: “I’ve always wanted to smash a guitar over someone’s head. You just can’t do that with a piano.”

On songwriting: “At my age you’ve just got to make a decision about whether you are going to write for yourself or for the radio. I mean, how many f***ing hits can you have?”

On trying to live a normal life: “Well, I’m not ordinary, so it’s not a struggle trying to be.”

OK, I've written about the speeches from last night's Human Rights Campaign 2007 Los Angeles Gala, now it's time for the dish.
I get to the Century Plaza Hotel and head straight to the pre-dinner reception and silent auction. I always bid on stuff that I can't afford at events like this and if i win it, I go into a cold sweat wondering if I'll have to sell a kidney to pay for it.
So I decided to briefly look at what was up for bid, almost write in a bid for a script signed by the entire cast of "Scrubs" then ask myself, "Why?" I move away from the auction tables and do what I really like to do: I start people watching.There's Judith Light! Wonderful woman. A gal standing near her breathlessly tells her friend: 'I just loooooved her in "Who's The Boss."
Then Gov. Bill Richardson (pictured, left) sweeps in with HRC President Joe Solomonese and Eric Alva . I actually know Joe and Eric by now (that's me pictured at the top of this post with them) and hug them hello. Joe introduces me to the New Mexico governor who is a big bear of a man.
They move on and I go back to people watching. Maybe it's because I'm wearing a tuxedo but I'm feeling a little catty all of a sudden (meeeooow!). I mean, I hate to be mean, but I've never seen so many fake tans in one room in my entire friggen life! There was most certainly some botox injected into more than a few dog-eared faces and then there were some guys attending this black-tie affairs looking way too casual and like they could benefit from a flea dip (meeoww!). Other than that, it was just your basic room of annoyingly attractive men, some cool lesbians, and our wonderful straight allies.
Oh! There's Jane Lynch! I love her work! She was so good in "for Your Consideration" as this Mary Hart-like TV cohost and as Steve Carrell's boss in "The 40 Year Old Virgin." I don't know why but I suddenly get shy and don't approach her. Usually I just bust in on people and say, "Hiiii!" But Jane, who is the hardest working actress in showbiz, is with a few friends having a good time and I don't want to bother her.
George Takai on the other hand...not so lucky! I say hello to the actor best known as Sulu on "Star Trek" who is now appearing on the NBC hit 'Heroes."
George could not be nicer and we end up having such a long chat about his life since coming out so publicly a few years ago, his new "Star Trek" project, and his relationship with Howard Stern, that I am going to have to share it with you tomorrow.
They are turning the lights on and off as a not so subtle way of getting us the heck out of the reception area and into the ballroom. George and I part ways and I enter the dinner and rather than struggle to find table 145, I ask a handsome guy at the door wearing a badge if he could help me. He directs me to a table right near the stage! Then he slips me his phone number (I wish!). I run up to my friend, the great publicist David Beckwith (pictured, left), and give him a big hug. I'm so glad to see him and to be at his table.
We are still eating our salads when Gov. Richardson takes the stage and before beginning his more political remarks, he confesses to being a true Trekkie and acknowledges George Takai in the audiience and says, "I'm so proud of you."
But he does have a bit of a gripe: "I'm the only Hispanic-American governor and the only Hispanic-American presidential candidate. I don't understand why the hispanic, Kahn (played by Ricardo Montalban), is always the bad guy!"
This is my first HRC dinner and i was told by someone at the reception that a year earlier, the dinner had dragged on until near midnight. So, i decide to pour myself some red wine. It is delish! So after the governor does his thing, Jane Lynch takes the stage and intoduces Joe Solmonese. He looks so different in a tuxedo compared to the jeans and T-shirt I saw him in yesterday. Joe definitely works out. He's also funny.
He begins his remarks by saying, "I have to say, i really miss Charo." The room roars. I wonder what the heck he's talking about! He explains: "Remember last year when we opened with Charo instead of Bill Richardson and she sang FIVE songs?"
Now i know why the night dragged on so long! I take another sip of wine.
But to my surprise, the evening flies by and we are wrapped up by 10 p.m. Good thing I stopped drinking the wine! So, I find my friend Trevor, the intrepid Trevor Daley (that's us, right), who was on the HRC dinner planning committee and who is THE best person to work a room with.
We start schmoozing with everybody and Trevor introduces me to what seemed like half the room. We snapped all kinds of pictures and I introduced Trevor to Eric Alva who was the big hit of the night.
We meet Eric's partner, Darrell, who had urged the first soldier injured in the Iraq war to join HRC in the first place, and Trevor chats up Eric who is as personable as he is courageous.
Then Trevor and I bumped into someone we both knew: the great saxophonist Dave Koz who has a new CD 'At the Movies" out now. i congratulated Dave on his performance at the Academy Awards last month and thanked him fior sending me his new CD. After we gabbed with him a bit, Trevor - eyes always scanning the room - found someone else for me to meet.

I said to Dave: "We have to go. We're on our way to a Dave Koz Fan Club meeting. I'm the president and Trevor's the vice president."
[Yes, I REALLY said that! Egads.]
Dave laughs and as we walk away Trevor says, "Why aren't I the president?"
It was an awesome night...

I gotta say, J.P. Calderon is mighty fit. The former "Survivor" castoff and current participant on the "Janice Dickerson Modeling Agency" is pictured here in some outtakes from his photo session for the February cover of Instinct Magazine.
Those are SOME outtakes!

Anthony Callea, whose No. 1 hit "The Prayer" is the highest-selling single in Australian chart history. has ended years of speculation by confirming he is gay. The Australian Idol star told the Herald Sun he had reached a point in his life where he was comfortable enough to reveal his sexuality.
Yes, I am gay," Callea said yesterday. "I have no issue with my sexuality now, but it's taken time to become confident with who I am and happy with who I am. I'm looking forward to living a life with no barriers and not having to worry about saying the right thing."
Callea, 24, said he was planning to come out before a Sydney radio announcer accidentally did it for him this month.
"I'm comfortable enough to come clean now. It's a weight off my shoulders," he said.
"He also suspected many of his fans wouldn't be too surprised.
"I don't think it's a big issue. Who cares? If people have an issue with it, it's their issue. It shouldn't really be relevant to me being a singer and a performer."
Callea said he regretted denying he was gay during an interview in 2004 in the early days of his Idol experience.
He feared being outed may have harmed his chances in the contest.
"You learn from your mistakes. I was 21, 22 at the time," he said. "I didn't want to be known as just the gay contestant from Idol. It was a very confusing time."
Callea says no one in the Idol camp, his record company Sony BMG or his management insisted he hide his sexuality. But he said growing up as a gay Italian teenager was difficult:"I went through a stage of major depression," he said. "I hated myself. "I had to see a psychologist. I wasn't talking to anyone. My parents didn't know what was wrong with me. But getting through that makes you a stronger person, it allows me to do what I'm doing now and not be affected by what's said."
Callea said the support of his partner Paul had been invaluable. The singer met Paul while working on Idol.
"I'm being honest but I still have a personal life I'm going to keep private," he said.
Callea said while he has no problems with his revelation, he is concerned about the impact it may have on his family, who live in Melbourne's western suburbs.
"I'm strong enough to cop any flak that might come my way, but I care about the comments that might come to my family and friends," he said. "I'm not ashamed of being gay, but it's not in my nature to go out and promote it," he said. "I want to be known as a singer and as a performer. This shouldn't change anything. I'm happy to be judged on my music, but I don't think it's right to judge people on their sexuality or their religion or their race or anything."

This is part three is a trio of posts about Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first soldier injured in the Iraq War who has come out as a gay man and is fighting for the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy...

Alva, 36, servied his country for 13 years. In addition to Iraq, he did tours of duty in Somalia and Japan and was awarded the Purple Heart after he lost his right leg in the war. He spoke with "Out In Hollywood" a few days ago about how dismayed he is over the comments made a few weeks ago by General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs, who said homosexuality is immoral and the military should not support anything immoral.
"It was shocking, it was like a slap in the face, a stab in the back," Alva says. He's a fellow marine and I remember I was excited when he got to be appointed the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs because he's the first marine in U.S. history to hold that title. But when he stated that, I couldn't believe it and had lost all respect for him. He was someone I had looked up to."
Alva joined the marines in 1990 before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and kept his sexuality a secret to all but a select group of close friends in the military. He knows there are an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops who are currently serving and that is why Pace's comments are particularly galling.
"He put himself out there under fire where people are gonna wonder why would you say something especially when thousands serving the armed forces look up to him, the men and women who are serving honorably, very honorably, under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. As it is, their voices, their freedom of speech is already shunned because they aren't allowed to say who they are. Here's someone who is in a leadership role getting to express his freedom of speech in a wrongful manner and to show such disrespect. It's not just the estimated 65,000-plus, there are millions of others who may have brothers and sisters who are gay back home or may be being raised by a same-sex couple family. So he disrespected millions."
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese says Pace's comments, when put side-by-side with Alva's story of dedication to his country and record of service, only illustrates how wrong the policy is.
"So much of this bigoted homophobia is actually based in fear and it's a generational thing. When you see someone like General Pace making these comments, I think the American people see it for what it is, an older generational response that's based in fear. To contrast that with Eric, the face of a new generation and a profile in American courage and the fact that so many young people both in and out of the military either know gay people or know gay people in the military, it's been a wonderful, important contrast."
Alva has heard from plenty of people still active in the military who have been supportive and emails from other people all around the world and says: "The overall response from people has just been tremendous. Twenty years ago, you could not have got something like this. People have really changed their views on life and how we should be treated."
A resident of San Antonio, TX. where he lives with his partner of three years, Darrell Parsons, Alva is now studying to be a social worker to work with people with disabilities.
"There's no reason why in this world we still shun people for something that they're not, what someone else would like them to be," he says. "I'm going to do everything in my power to just enable people to be aware of how we treat people."

The Rocket Man landed at Madison Square Garden on the night of his 60th birthday Sunday which also marked his 60th performance at the Garden - more times than any single artist.
Elton was introduced by fellow baby-boomer icon Bill Clinton, who congratulated the singer on "joining my favorite club — the 60-year-olds."
Elton let loose a string of golden oldies, beginning with, fittingly, "SixtyYears On" and the title track from "Madman Across the Water." The set list was filled with such fan favorites as "Levon" and "Daniel."
After his performance, Elton was joined on stage by Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams, who provided a cheeky tribute. Noting John's understated dress, Williams quipped that the singer "used to make Liberace look Amish." Then another surprise guest appeared: John's partner in music for 40 years, Bernie Taupin, and he led the audience in singing "Happy Birthday to You."
The concert will be broadcast April 5 on MyNetworkTV. The two-hour special, "Happy Birthday Elton," also will feature celebrity interviews.
The concert came the day after a Saturday night black tie affair, hosted by Elton's hubby David Furnish, held at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in uptown Manhattan. The guest list was high-wattage: musicians Tony Bennett, Lou Reed, Brian Wilson, Bette Midler, Mary J. Blige, Yoko Ono, Kid Rock, John Legend, Lenny Kravitz, James Blunt, and Ozzy Osbourne; actors Richard Gere and wife Carey Lowell, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Kiefer Sutherland, Liv Tyler, Anne Hathaway and Chloe Sevigny; designers Donna Karan and Donatella Versace; media personalities Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters; and tennis great Billie Jean King who has been Elton's close friend for more than 35 years..
Furnish introduced a tribute of film clips with messages from singers Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart and Celine Dion; actors Jim Carrey and Billy Connolly; and designer Tom Ford.

I'm not sure who I'll be supporting in the presidential race but New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson certainly made an excellent impression on me at last night's Human Rights Campaign 2007 Los Angeles Gala where he was the keynote speaker. Hillary Clinton was also in town for a private fundraiser and I'm still sore at her for being too cautious in her initial response to Gen. Peter Pace's anti-gay remarks a few weeks back.
So right now, I'm up for grabs.
It was so refreshing to hear a politician address a crowd of mostly gay and lesbian people and to unabashedly embrace us: "You will never have to prod me to make a stand with you," Richardson said. "I know there are a lot of candidates who are rock stars and have a lot of bucks, but I'm getting up there - I'm moving up!"
I like Richardson not just because he's gay-friendly, but he's the first Hispanic-American to run for president! It's kind of ironic that he is such an underdog for the Democratic nomination given his experience as a governor, 15 years as a congressman, former secretary of energy (under Pres. Clinton) and abassador to the U.N. He's also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four different times for negotiating the release of hostages, American servicemen and political prisoners in North Korea, Iraq and Cuba, according to the bio in the HRC program.
HE should be the rock star!
Richardson told the crowd that he was not at the HRC dinner campaigning ("sort of...") and told of his current efforts to pass a domestic partnership act in New Mexico to go along with the hate crime and anti-discrimination legislation that has already been passed.
"I want a domestic partnership bill so I can sign it," he said. "I believe all families deserve our respect."
He seems undaunted by the opposition.
"I've done all of this in a red state. I'm convinced we can accomplish all of that on a national level."
As for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Richardson said simply: 'It's gotta go. If I'm elected president, I will end this disastrous, disrespectful policy. It makes no sense to turn away and turn out well-qualified recruits at a time when our country needs them the most."
Richardson said two of his top priorities as president would be to pass federal hate crime and anti-discrimination acts on a federal level and to have the fight against AIDS the highest priority of foreign policy: "I've spent my career pushing this agenda because it's the right thing to do."
"This country is tired of the politics of hatred and division. What we need is someone who can bring us together."
Well said.

When Bill Maher was handed the Equality Award at last night's Human Rights Campaign 2007 Los Angeles Gala, he joked: "This is really gonna help me meet guys!"
Maher may not be gay, but the LGBT could not ask for a funnier, smarter and more outspoken ally who has said such things as "The only thing abomidable about being gay is all the time you have to put in in the gym" and "When homophobia trumps terrorism as an issue, wow. This country needs to get laid" and my favorite: "We're all equally free, or we're not free."
And those were just some lines from the clip reel shown before Maher took the stage. I scribbled some notes from his very funny and envelope-pushing speech. But be warned, it is not for the faint of heart!
"In America, there should not be two sets of Civil Rights one for people who put penises in vaginas and one for people who don't," Maher told the crowd at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel. "The people who don't...are not in need of help."
He made fun of Ted Haggard ("How can someting so satanic feel so right?") and, of course, Ann Coulter. the room hissed when Maher said her name. "Why is John Edwards a faggot?" Maher wondered. "Because he combs his hair? She didn't mean that he was a bathhouse faggot..like Mark Foley. [She meant] someone who cares about the poor, who reads newspapers and who speaks in complete sentences. You know, real gay stuff."
He added: 'Faggot to [right wing conservatives] is a code word for liberal pussy...you know, like JFK. Huge fag."
Maher then compared this "liberal pussy" perception to the conservative self-image of being all macho and bluster, of being "guys who like to go in the woods and shoot each other in the face."
Maher made clear where his loyalties lie: "Fit me for a pair of ass-less chaps" if caring about liberal issues makes him a "faggot."
He then wondered about President Bush: "[He] spends two hours a day working out and his favorite adjective is 'fabulous' and John Edwards is the gay one?"
In the end, Maher told the crowd that "it is with great pride that I am one of your most siginificant allies..."
He then left the stage, left the hotel, and left us all in absolute stitches.

When Eric Alva walked onto the stage Saturday night at the Human Rights Campaign gala in Century City, he got the longest, sustained ovation of the evening. That is until he finished his deeply personal, touching and at times very funny speech. The audience clapped even longer and louder as he left the stage.
"It's been a pretty emotional week for me," Eric told the crowd, referring to the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war - the same week that he lost his right leg after stepping on a land mine. "It's almost surreal to go from being in the desert in the Middle East to this dinner in Los Angeles tonight."
His funniest moment during his speech was when Alva talked about all the media attention he received after being the first soldier injured then after coming out publicly last fall as a gay man and speaking out against the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
"It's been sort of a whirlwind,' he said. "I've even done Anderson Cooper twice." The crowd roared then Alva added: "I meant INTERVIEWS! Is it hot in here?"
After the dinner, I told Eric that he was a rock star.
"You're the fifth person who has told me that," he told me, laughing.
I'm sure plenty more people would tell him the same thing as he made his way out of the ballroom.
It was interesting to watch Eric command a room the way he did. A little more than 24 hours earlier, we were sitting at The Abbey doing an interview and I just didn't think rock star. But he's a special man and has taken this opportunity to really make his voice heard.
"My thoughts on the war are the same as a lot of people in this country right now," he said as we sat in an outdoor booth at The Abbey in West Hollywood Friday afternoon. "A lot of people are saddened at how things turned out to be, especially since the one sole reason why we actually went to war didn't turn out to be true. I pray and hope every day that there is a positive outcome and quick resolution that could bring the troops home."
Alva's notoriety as the first to be injured resulted in his being awarded the Purple Heart and being visited in the hospital by President Bush, then-Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld, Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Michael Jordan and even singer Sheryl Crowe who sang a song for Alva at the hospital. He was on the "Oprah Winfrey Show," featured in People magazine and, of course, there were those Anderson Cooper interviews.
But until last fall, he had not come out publicly as a gay man although he had confided in several fellow marines who were close friends while he was still in active duty.
"It was a big risk i was taking, it was like playing Russian Roulette. But we had become friends and I would go to dinner at their houses and their wives would say, 'Why aren't you with someone?' It was always the wives. They'd say, 'I have a friend who I work with, let me set you up. It got to a point where, inside for me, it was frustrating. So I would have to tell my best friends."
After he was medically discharged from the military in 2004, Alva met Darrell Parsons and he joked to the audience Saturday night that "I couldn't find a boyfriend with two legs. I lose a leg and I find the best boyfriend in the world - my true love."
It was Parsons who encouraged Alva to get involved with HRC. He would give him stickers to put on his car "and I'd say, "Oh no, no no. Leave me alone! But he'd leave the pamphlets lying around amd it did open my eyes and taught me a lot of things that I didn't already know and that I should have known."
Finally I joined HRC and surprised my partner. I said, "Look! Here's my sticker!"
Late summer in 2006, Parsons said to Alva: "You've always talked about doing something positive because people know you but you can't wait 10 years and have that moment pass you by." That night, past midnight, he said he got on the computer and sent an email to HRC. He wrote that he was injured in the war, had lost a leg, "and the reason I'm contacting you is because I'm a gay person and if there's ever anything I can do to help you, I'm willing to volunteer."

He has since become one of the most effective speakers in the battle against the military's anti-gay policy.
Says HRC President Joe Solmonese: "You can't meet Eric or hear his story and not feel like he hasn't sacrificed incredibly for his country and that he isn't somebody who shouldn't be able to serve his country. What he symolizes to America that is most important is that he's a courageous, outspoken marine who wants to move this country toward the direction of equality and wants to illustrate for the American people that all of us ought to have an opportunity to serve our country if that's what we choose to do."

TOMORROW: Part three of the Alva interview. Read what he has to say about the anti-gay comments of General Peter Pace and about what he plans to do with his future. (Sorry to drag it out one more day but trust me, it will be worth it.)

She's long been an artist on the tennis court but tennis legend Martina Navratilova now has a new canvas on which to express herself.
Martina has an exhibition of artwork produced by her hitting tennis balls dipped in paint and it opened in Paris this weekend in Paris. She has been working on the project in secret for four years with Slovak artist Juraj Kralik. Between 2001 and 2005, the pair created the works on the courts of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments in New York, Melbourne, Paris and Wimbledon. The tennis balls were covered in paint and hit onto a canvas that was hung on a wall or laid out on the ground at each of the four Grand Slam venues. Navratilova mostly used her forehand when hitting the painted balls.
"What I like is that you hit the ball but you don't exactly know what you're doing," Martina told the AFP news agency.
More than 60 canvases have been created for the Art Grand Slam show at Roland-Garros, home of the French Open which Martina won in 1982 and 1984. She won 18 grand slam singles titles in all, including nine at Wimbledon.
Her favorite canvas is titled "Way of My Life," featuring two loops that spiral upwards to the edge of the painting.
"It represents my career, with a small loop and a big loop and at the end it shows I'm finished," she said.
The exhibition, which also includes a documentary about Navratilova, is in Paris until August 20.

Later today, Elton John will celebrate his 60th birthday with a record-setting 60th performance at Madison Square Garden. I won't be there, sadly, but I will play some of his CDs in honor of the milestone. At least the concert will be recorded and broadcast April 5 as a two-hour special on MyNetworkTV so check your local listings! I saw Elton in concert a few times in the mid-90s when he was touring with Billy Joel and those were some of my favorite concerts - ever.
I interviewed Elton a few years ago for a magazine piece and the most memorable thing was that his schedule was very unpredictable so I was told that he would call me on Monday or Tuesday but no set time so be ready. I remember going to lunch with a group of co-workers that day, putting my cell phone on the table and saying, "Elton will be calling any moment." Of course Elton called me later that day, while I was stuck in traffic on the 101 freeway! He laughed when I told him of my predicament and waited until I could find an off-ramp, park, and do the interview.
Anyway, I got to meet him face-to-face last fall when he was doing a charity tennis event with Billie Jean King called Smash Hits with proceeds benefiting the Elton John AIDS Foundaton. Elton played doubles with Andy Roddick and I gotta say, he's got a terrific forehand!
Anyway, this has nothing to do with his 60th birthday but you know me, any excuse to tell a celebrity anecdote.
So happy 60th birthday to the "Rocket Man" and a big thanks for being so outspoken for the rights of gay people, for all that you have done in the fight against AIDS, and most of all, for the music that has accompanied us on car rides, on a lazy afternoon or on a jog in the park.
Rock on!

It was an honor to meet and interview retired Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva yesterday, the first U.S. military personnel wounded in the Iraq war, who last fall came out as a gay man. Eric is now working with the Human Rights Campaign as a national spokesperson in an effort to repeal the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that discrimintates against gays.
When I arrived at The Abbey to chat with Eric and with HRC President Joe Solomese, Eric, 36, stood to shake my hand and I immediately noticed that he was missing his right leg. His injury occured on March 21, 2003 when he was in charge of 11 Marines in a supply unit in Iraq and stepped on a landmine.
During his months in rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Hospital, among his visitors were President Bush, First Lady Laura Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Alva was awarded a Purple Heart for his service and received a medical discharge from the military.
Neither the president, first lady, Rumsfield or anyone else in the government knew that this American hero who they were so proud of, was a gay man. But it took two more years before Alva felt compelled to come out personally. By that time, he had retired from the military and settled into a committed relationship with Darrell Parsons.
'I knew I was going to leave my career in the military and that in a way it was kind of good because now I could start to live my life as a gay man," he said. "But on a personal level I thought, 'Well, who would ever love me because I'm missing a leg?' Of course I was proven wrong on that. I feel blessed every day having Darrell in my life because he loves me for who I am."

Alva joined the military in 1990 when he was just 19 years old and served for 13 years including tours of duity in Somalia and later in Iraq. Although he was aware that gays were banned from serving, he says he was entirely focused on becoming a marine and had not yet fully come to terms with his sexuality.
"I kind of put that side of my life on hold as far as even going out. My goal was to become a m arine and become a good one. I didn't realize until after I joined the marine corps. that that was a part of my life that I was missing and so i would start meeting people when I'd go out."
He learned in the fall of 2002, around Thanksgiving, that he would be going to the Middle East and arrived in Kuwait in January 2003. "We had a mission. We knew we had a job to do. Of course that mission was kind of different later on. Regardless of that, the men and women serving, we still have a mission. But I think i speak for a lot of people who would like to see it go differently than it has the last couple of years."
Alva thinks the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is "ineffective" and all the more disgraceful given how much the country is in need of good soldiers.
"A lot of people want to believe that the witch hunting still doesn't exist. It does. It still exists. I'm not one that was under investigation but you kind of have to wonder why the numbers [of those discharged] have decreased since 2005. Are they keeping people in now because they still want that [gay] person behind a weapon to still be in Baghdad or Afghanistan? Are they waiting until they finish their duty to kick them out? Or are people accepting and not telling because they finally realized that the person doing the job is just an outstanding individual qualified to do that job? But the bottom line is, it's a policy that needs to be changed. I think any job in the military, any person male or female discharged just for who they are. Whether it's a cook or being a linguist, the bottom line is the military is losing people who are qualified to do the job of defending this country."

Our conversation was so inspiring to me that I have to share it with Out In Hollywood readers in two parts. The second part will be posted early tomorrow with Alva sharing his thoughts on Gen. Peter Pace's recent anti-gay comments, the reaction he has received since coming out and speaking up, and what his plans are for the future.

I'll be attending the annual Human Rights Campaign dinner tonight in Century City and will give you a fly on the wall rundown on it tomorrow! But I got the chance to chat with HRC President Joe Solmonese about all kinds of things when we met at The Abbey Friday afternoon.
I asked Joe about how all of the anti-gay controversies in recent months involving such people as Ann Coulter, General Peter Pace and former NBA player Tim Hardaway affect the work of his organIzation as it pushes for passage of a federal hate crime bill, the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and for same-sex civil unions and marriage.
"With all of the things that we are called on to address whether it's Ann Coulter of General Pace or the myriad of other things that come at us, our biggest challenge is to stay focused on the legislative task that's before us. We put so much energy and so much work into being part of creating a gay-friendly congress, we've got to really stay focused and keep our community focused on hate crimes and then any of the other things that we're able to get done. It's all about congress right now."
But the anti-gay comments made by public figures can have an upside.
"They fire up our community and serve as a real rallying call but I think they also force Americans to take a point of view that they might not otherwise. When John Amaechi came out and Tim Hardaway said what he did, there weren't a lot of players who had come out and expressed support for John. But Hardaway said what he did and dozens of them did. It forces Americans to hear two different points of view and say, 'Wait a minute, which side am I on?'"
He believes the results of the 2006 mid-terms elections and the anti-gay rhetoric that is now getting so much press has increased awareness during a window of time that he says the LGBT community has to use to fight for social change. The hate-based language of someone like General Pace has an upside in that it "furthers the debate, it continues to keep the subject of 'Don't Ask, Don't" tell in the public dialogue and that's good for us," Solmonese says.
"What's great about the last election with the states, you had a place like Minnesota where we were always fighting to make sure the legislature didn't put a marriage ban on the ballot, with the change in the legislature there, we don't have to worry about that now. But the change is legislature also means that in places like New Hampshire and Iowa and others, you have the opportunity to work on proactive legislation, a non-discrimination bill, a civil unions bill."
So what about the anti-gay people who take potshots or more at gays?
"It's an interesting time because there's so much to do and yet there's so much that has really given our community cause to become active whether it's Ann Coulter whether it's General Pace, there's so much for us to do. And I've been very inspired by our community, 300,000 HRC members emailing and writing letters to their newspapers telling them to drop Ann Coulter. I think people feel empowered after the elections which I'm thrilled by."

The blogoshpere has proven to be a help in getting people stirred up.
"I think that our challenge every day is to send our message out through the most creative medium as possible, that's why we have a radio show, it's why we're always trying to find new and different ways to reach an audience," Solomonese says. "So when someone tells me that our campaign has somehow landed on PerezHilton.com, it isn't the kind of place I would have thought that it would land, but boy, when it does, it magnifies exponentially and I that has a lot to do with the kind of viral effect of this [anti-Coulter] campaign. And the way that it has really tainted Ann Coulter in ways that other things that she's said, she's kind of been able to default. She's said so many outrageous things like about 9-11 widows. It can be distilled down to a word, a word we are already in the middle of trying to make sure that America understsands that for our community, it is just as offensive and just as demeaning and just as dangerous as any other hate-based word that would have derailed her career long ago."

Lily Tomlin is causing a scandal! This brilliant talent, now 67, is handling the surfacing of guerrilla video shot on the set of the 2004 film "I Heart Huckabees" that show her cussing out director David O. Russell and vice-versa. Tomlin was interviewed by New Times in Miami about the video in which F-bombs fly after it showed up on YouTube.
“After poor Britney Spears, with her poor little legs open … I’m not the least bit upset about it,” Tomlin said. “That’s part of the upside and the downside of the Internet.”
What. A. Hoot.
The video had never before surfaced publicly but was the subject of a New York Times article in 2004, when it was rumored to be making the rounds of West Coast talent agencies. Tomlin is sitting next to Dustin Hoffman and another actress in a car when she goes into a profanity-laced fit.
“Oh my God, the one in the car is on there too?” Tomlin asked, referring to one of the two videos, which were shot during two different scenes. In “the one in the car,” Tomlin tells Russell: “Leave me the fuck alone! Do you know what the fuck is going on, period? Fuck you! Fuck you motherfucker!”
Tomlin, laughing, said to New Times: “I can’t believe the damn car is in there. I’ve never seen it. Is that when I’m sitting in the seat and really going nuts? Oh my God, I’m gonna die when I see that.”
In the second video, shot on the set of the office of Tomlin’s detective character, Russell is seen screaming at Tomlin: “Fuck you! I’m just trying to help you, you understand me? I’m not here to be fucking yelled at!” He then sweeps his arm across the desk at which Tomlin is sitting and its contents go flying.. “I’ve been working on this thing for three fucking years, not to be yelled at by some fucking c**t! So just fuck yourself!”
Tomlin, who had previously worked with Russell on "Flirting With Disaster" does not have hard feelings.
“I love David,” she said. “There was a lot of pressure in making the movie — even the way it came out you could see it was a very free-associative, crazy movie, and David was under a tremendous amount of pressure. And he’s a very free-form kind of guy anyway.”
“Adults have fights and go through stuff,” she added. “I know some people are more dignified in the world, that if you transgress against that kind of professionalism, that it’s some kind of great sin, but I don’t see it that way.”
It is so refreshing to read Tomlin's take on it all. She is so immensely talented with such a brilliant body of work on film, television and stage. And she's also an out lesbian (partnered with her frequent professional collaborator Jane Wagner) so that makes her all the more cool in my book.
Tomlin told New Times that the episode is “in a way liberating… now it’s all over, and so what, and I don’t have to keep up some great pretention I’m the most dignified, eloquent, elegant, perfect, smart-thinking, kind, generous person. I’m just a plain old human with a whole bunch of flaws.”
Aren't we all?

...but the guy wearing it sure isn't!!!

He's Brian Jourbert, the handsome Frenchman who just won the world championship in men's figure skating in Tokyo. Here is more of Brian:

It sure beats lookng at Will Ferell!!!

Happy Friday!!!

This is what happens when I decide to stay home and watch a two-hour "American Idol" instead of going to a party thrown by Bravo for the season premiere of 'workout" : I miss the boys kissing! Dammit. But good thing there were cameras and that AfterElton.com posted them. I share these shots of trainers Jesse Brune and Brian Peeler who were said to have tension between them. Brune is gay and Peeler is straight but it is hard to tell in these hot pix.
Enjoy!

Since the gay drama "Boy Culture" is only opening in three theaters this weekend, chances are most of you will be seeing something else if you take in a movie this weekend. I write about the plethora of choices that are opening today (six new wide releases in all!) in today's edition of the Los Angeles Daily News. They include a new Ninja Turtle movie ("TMNT"), Adam Sandler's new drama "Reign Over Me," the horror flick "The Hills Have Eyes 2," and the family movie "The Last Mimzy."
But, if you're looking for beefcake and you've already seen "300," the best choice would probably be Mark Wahlberg's new action flick "Shooter" or the sports drama "Pride" starring Terrance Howard because a lot of scenes take place at the pool! To read my story, click onto DailyNews.com.

What a concept. A government leader actually openly supportting gay people and civil unions. No, I'm NOT talking about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama who are hesitant to speak out against those who call homosecuality "immoral."
I'm talking about British Prime Minister Tony Blai8r who spoke last night at the Stonewall Equality dinner at the Dorchester Hotel in central London. Here are the parts of his remarks that I found the most inspiring:

"... I think civil partnerships is really the thing … as I was saying to people earlier, it doesn’t just give you a lot of pride, but it actually brought real joy.I don’t know whether you remember the very first day, and it was quite a bizarre circumstance that the first ceremonies were actually in Northern Ireland."

Laughter

"I was so struck by it, it was so alive, I remember actually seeing the pictures on television. It is not often that you sort of skip around in my job, I can assure you, But it really the fact that that the people were so happy and the fact that you felt just one major, major change had happened, of which everyone can feel really proud. And now I think we were just saying, was it 16,000 civil partnerships, and what is interesting now is that other countries in Europe are looking at this legislation, and it is very divisive still in Spain and Italy at the moment. But nonetheless it is happening."

"This is my second reflection about it all: There are a whole load of different pieces of legislation, which I will not rehearse here, but what has happened is that the culture of the country has changed in a definable way as a result of it. And here is what I think is really interesting. The change in the culture and the civilising effect of it has gone far greater than the gay and lesbian community. ..If you allow discrimination to fester, that is a complete rejection of that modernising and civilising notion."

Wise words. Blair has made mistakes in his 10 years in office (Iraq war?) but his attitudes toward gay people will forever endear him to me and to many others. Our leaders in the U.S. could learn a lot from Blair in this area.

So I'm typing away in the newsroom of the Daily News when one of our film critics, Bob Strauss, walks by. I tell him that I will return his DVD of "Children of Men" to him next week then say, "I saw 'Blade of Glory' last night!"
Bob, without skipping a beat, says: "And I thought '300' was the gayest movie this year."
Ha! I actually think the new Will Ferrell comedy about two rival male skating champions who end up teaming for the pairs competition could have and should have been even more gay.
Although pairs skating is usually male-female, Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder) are banned from individual skating for punching each other out during the medal ceremony at the World Championships. They spend three long years doing humiliating jobs before they attempt to put aside their differences and team-up in an effort to exploit a loophole in their suspension. There is the usual gay panic stuff when they are training and have to lift each other in what resemble sexual positions but they get over that in time and end up a formidable team that challenges the reigning world champions and brother and sister Stranz (Will Arnett) and Fairchild (Amy Poehler).
Ferrell's character is a macho sex-addict who clearly loves the ladies but Heder's character of Jimmy set off my gaydar from, I dunno, the opening FRAME. So why not have him be gay and fall in love with the brother of Stranz and Fairchild instead of their sister (played by Jenna Fischer)? The only gay character is Jimmy's creepy stalker who tells him at one point: "I'm gonna cut your skin off and wear it to my birthday party."
Oh my. So my verdict? I laughed a lot at the silly stuff and the physical pratfalls and I thought Ferrell was a riot. As a gay man and someone who follows the movie indiustry closely, I would have liked to have seen a positive gay portrayal in a movie. If done well, as it was in Ferrell's "Talladega Nights," it can expose mainstream audiences all the more to all different kinds of gay characters...not just stalkers!
"Blades," directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, hits theaters March 30.

In Touch Weekly reports the following bombshell: Simon Cowell's ribbing of Ryan Seacrest about his sexuality this season had lots of American Idol fans wondering. But Ryan's ex-girlfriend Shana Wall, who he dated for a few years, says he's been telling the truth when he says he's straight. "Ryan is not gay, nor is he bisexual," Shana, who produces and hosts the online cooking show, The Hot Dish with Shana, tells In Touch. "We had an amazing and passionate relationship for a few years, and we are still very close."
Well then, that's that. Ryan is 100 percent heterosexual now.Are there any doubters left out there NOW?

This picture of Neil Patrick Harris is from a long-ago appearance on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" that I came across as I was trying to find am image of him filling in for Regis Philbin the past two days on "Live With Regis and Kelly."
I missed yesterday's show because on the West Coast, much of it was preempted for the Elizabeth Edwards press conference. But today I watched and Neil was great! He's quick, charming, funny and has a great sense of fun. What came across the most was this: he's a man who is comfortable in his own skin. He's a confident man who I am so proud of because he acknowledged being gay last year then went on with his life and career. Kelly Ripa had terrific chemistry with Neil and it only underscored all the more how off the mark Rosie was a few months ago with all that Clay Aiken silliness (the handn over mouth thing). Regis, who is recovering from heart surgery, told NPH he was "doing a great job" and Neil joked that he had switched all of Regis' Notre Dame memorabilia with USC!
In an odd bit that was saved by NPH, Kelly and Poppy Montgomery of "Without a Trace" did a duet and Neil showed his musical ability by doing various vocal music sound effects. He was also very sweet to "American Idol" castoff "Stephanie Edwards" who sang "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" and reminded everyone why she should still be on that show!

The world's top-ranked tennis player Roger Federer (pictured above) looks to be in positive spirits as he practices this week in Miami for the big Sony Erricson tournaments which ranks right behind tennis' four grand slam events in terms of prestige. Federer will be eager to re-establish his dominance with a win after his shocking early exit last week at the Pacific Life Open where I got to watch him play in doubles. But if Federer gets to the final again (he is defending champion), he could face a resurgent world number two in Rafael Nadal (pictured, left) who looks to have regained confidence after winning last week's tournament.
It would be so great if these two very appealing superstars made it through their halves of the draw and played in the final. I wouldn't miss that match for anything.

" In the Life," the pioneer gay and lesbian newsmagazine on PBS, is featuring John Amaechi in its episode “The Last Closet” which begins airing nationally in April. However, an exclusive excerpt is currently available for download via podcast at http://www.itlmedia.org/podcasts/podmini.html.
Check it out online as an appetizer before we get the full meal next month!

Would the soundtrack of a gay man's life be what it is if not for the gifts of Stephen Sondheim? Absolutely not! "Send in the Clowns," "Some People," 'Rose's Turn," "Ladies Who Lunch," "I Feel Pretty" and on and on. This openly gay musical theater legend turns 77 today and I want to wish him a very happy birthday and thank him for contributing so much to the culture.
In addition to my beloved "Gypsy," Sondheim is the man behind such classic shows as "West Side Story," "Into the Woods," "Sunday in the Park with George," "Company," "Sweeney Todd," "Assassins," "Follies," "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," and the amazing "A Little Night Music."
What. A. Talent.

I've casually watched 'American Idol" here and there this season but didn't go out of my way for it. But Tuesday night, I became a Season 6 addict. Had a nice dinner with my friend Ted at Mani's Bakery and was preparing to head out to West Hollywood to attend Bravo's kickoff party for the new season of "Workout." Had the TV on and thought, I'll just watch a few songs. Two hours later, I had seen every performance and was on the phone with a friend predicting who would be eliminated. So last night, I made sure I had no plans and watched the results show with more nervous anticipation than I should admit. I never in a million years thought it would be Stephanie Edwards,who is a terrific talent with great presence, going home.
Anyway, what's fun about being an addict is talking about it with everyone. My sister and I were gabbing as I drove to work this morning about how horrible Simon was to Lakisha Jones who we both thought was absolutely terrific singing "Diamonds are Forever." We were really steamed. "He just went too far!" my sister huffed. My little 8-year-old neice, home from school with a sore throat, says in the background: "Simon just says things the wrong way."

I get to work and talk to three different people about the results and we are completely into it, talking about Sanjaya's comeback, the little girl who kept crying in the audience (didn't she look like Marcia Brady during the first season of "The Brady Bunch"?) and about how surprising it was to have Chris Richardson (not to mention Stephanie!) in the bottom two last night.
So my favorites? I think it will come down to the brilliant Melinda Doolittle (I would buy a CD of hers anytime) and the very appealing and talented Blake Lewis who really has star quality. But I think Lakisha will be in the top three and should be. She is the bomb.
And who's next in line for elimination? I think Sanjaya is safe for another week or two (he does have a certain appeal) and am betting that Phil Stacey, who completely leaves me cold, will be the next to say goodbye and that Haley Scarnato will not be far behind.
Whatever happens, I'll be watching!
God help me.

I've had the pleasure of guesting on "The Shane Foxman Show" on the Canadian radio station CFUN but never gave you all a heads up because I didn't know you could listen to it in the states! Well, you can! Go to www.cfun.com tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. then click on the Listen Live section. I think you need Windows Media Player to hear it.
The last time I guested was the morning after the Academy Awards when I didn't realize I didn't have much of a voice until they called and when I spoke, my voice came out as a croak!

My heart really sank this morning with the news that Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, has cancer in her bones. They couple, married 30 years, held a press conference this morning to discuss the health of Mrs. Edwards and are optimistic that with treatment, they will continue with their lives as before which includes her husband continuing to run for the White House.
"From our perspective, there was no reason to stop," John Edwards said. "I don't think we seriously thought about it. You can go cower in the corner and hide or you can go out there and stand up for what you believe in. We have no intentions of cowering in the corner."
Elizabeth Edwards, 57, said she was "incredibly optimistic" and said her expectations about the future were unchanged. "I expect to do next week all the things I did last week. And the week after that, and next year at the same time."
Mrs. Edwards said she was fortunate that she felt pain from a cracked rib and got X-rays that revealed the cancer.Dr. Lisa Carey, the oncologist treating Edwards, categorized the cancer as metastatic Stage 4 cancer, which is largely confined to the bones. She said the prognosis was good.
She first underwent treatment for breast cancer after the 2004 campaign in which her husband was the Democratic vice presidential nominee. John Edwards, who was campaigning in Iowa, cut short the rest of his schedule on Tuesday to be with his spouse. The two went to see the doctor together Wednesday.
Most national polls show him running third behind Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
Edwards and his wife met in law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They married in 1977 and have had four children. Their first child, Wade, was killed in a 1996 car accident. In her 2006 book, "Saving Graces," Elizabeth Edwards wrote about her life, including cancer treatment and the death of her son.
In watching the Edwards' together, it's easy to root for them. They are so unlike most political couples who are so scripted anbd stiff. They seem to really love each other very much and most of all, respect each other. She is an intelligent and articulate woman who speaks her mind but does so in a way that doesn't cause her husband political trouble. I would love to see her in the White House as our first lady. It would be a nice change from the Stepford-like Laura Bush who, while charming, has not used that position as effectively as many of her predecessors have.

The fabulous site Kenneth in the (212) has posted some pics of "Prison Break" star Wentworth Miller that recently ran in the Cool Issue of L'Officiel Hommes. Miller went on the record last year stating that he is not gay. I'm not sure everyone believes him but one thing everyone can believe is this: the man is hot!

It's always so refreshing to have someone like Elton John in this Peter Pace/Tim Hardaway/Ann Coulter world. Elton is calling on people to speak out against homophobia in an editorial he wrote for New Statesman, a British magazine.
Here is part of it:
"In December 2005, I was legally bound to the man I love. It's my legal right and my human right. And I wanted everyone to know, I wanted to shout about it. In some countries, my voice would have been drowned out. Maybe even stamped out. Men and women are persecuted and attacked every day all over the world, just because of who they love and who they make love to...My voice has served me pretty well over the years. I hope maybe it can do him some good too. But we need more voices. Whether the bigot is in our local pub or a thousand miles away, we should all stand up and speak out for these basic human rights."

Larry Kramer's column yesterday about straights hating gays has certainly led to a lot of discussion about people's attitudes toward us and it has really got me thinking: good grief, it's true! I know not all straight people hate gay people but Kramer makes a good case for believing it's more people than we ever thought.
In the past few months alone we've had to hear about such things as Gen. Peter Pace stating that he believes homosexuality is immoral and should not be condoned by the military, Tim "I hate gay people" Hardaway opens his big mouth, the hateful Ann Coulter opens hers, Garrison Keillor sticks his foot in his, and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama barely open theirs in reaction to Pace's infuriating comments.
And now you can add Indianapolis Colts' coach Tony Dungy to this quickly-growing anti-gay hall of shame. AfterElton.com reports that Dungy stuck to plans to appear Tuesday night at the anti-gay Indiana Family Institute's dinner where he was honored at an event that raised $70,000 for their homophobic activities.
At the dinner, Dungy said to the crowd of 700: "I appreciate the stance they're taking, and I embrace that stance. IFI is saying what the Lord says. You can take that and make your decision on which way you want to be. I'm on the Lord's side."
So what is that stance? IFI is against adding 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' into discrimination law, state on their web site that LGBT people are "trapped by Satan" in their "homosexual lifestyle," and that "30 percent of all 20-year-old homosexual men will be HIV positive or dead by the age of 30."
NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello previously told AfterElton.com that "I believe I have made it clear that we have no issue with this dinner." Neither Dungy, nor the Colt's front office would answer questions about Dungy's appearance in promotional materials for the dinner while in his Colt uniform.
Gee, is it any wonder that an active NFL player has never come out of the closet? It will take players of Brady Quinn's generation, who are generally not so stuck in this anti-gay way of thinking, to finally get everyone to relax and just let it be. Gay people, athletes, soldiers, politicians, journalists, actors and all the rest should not have to hide who they are just to make their professional dreams come true.
I'd love to stay in my Hollywood bubble where I have friends and co-workers who accept me for who I am and if they don't, I don't really notice. But reality keeps hitting me in the face as I read newspapers, articles online, watch the news or listen to NPR.
But what gives me hope, and a fighting spirit, is that the bigotry is being exposed and condemned - maybe not by everybody, but by enough people to make the Paces, Coulters and Hardaways wish they never opened their big mouths. And people with jobs like coach Dungy, who should be a role model to young athletes, outa think long and hard about how hypocritical it is to endorse such mean-spirited ideas and to then say you are "on the Lord's side."

It's not often that a handsome movie star isn't the best looking man on the set. But that will be the case when Tom Cruise teams with Bryan Singer for an untitled thriller for Cruise's United Artists studio. Singer directed the first two "X-Men" movies and last summer's "Superman Returns." He is openly gay and about as handsome as they come. He is probably a hotter commodity right now in the movie business right now than Cruise himself after Tom's spate of bad publicity and strange behavior.
But I have a feeling that Cruise is poised to be the comeback kid with some good roles that have him being more than a superhero in an action film like "Minority Report" or "MI:3." Cruise is a good actor who has been nominated for three Academy Awards for "Magnolia," "Jerry Maguire" and "Born on the 4th of July." He is currently is co-starring with acting icons Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in his next movie "Lions for Lambs" to be followed by the project with Singer. The untitled movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is based on actual events and depicts an attempt to assassinate Adoilf Hitler at the height of World War II. Cruise had not intended to star in the film but during meetings, Singer became intrigued with the idea of Cruise as the film's central character and offered him the role.
Production is set to begin this summer and is not expected to interfere with the "Superman" sequel Singer is preparing.

I blame it on being distracted while on vacation: last week was Liza Minnelli's 60th birthday! What can you say about this showbiz icon? So much. She's is an Oscar winner ("Cabaret"), an Emmy winner ("Liza With a Z"), the recipient of the Grammy Legends Award, and a two-time Tony winner ("Flora the Red Menace" and "The Act"). She also won a Golden Globe for her dramatic work in the TV movie "A Time to Live" and was Oscar-nominmated for "The Sterile Cookoo," has been in successful comedies on the big screen ("Arthur") and on television ("Arrested Development"), starred opposite Robert DeNiro in the musical "New York, New York" and has performed in sold-out concerts around the world - including a memorable late-80s tour with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.
She is every bit her mother's (Judy Garland) daughter and more. While Judy died tragically young, Liza is still here and is still kicking despite battles against alcohol and other addictions, bad marriages (most notably to the very strange David Gest) and health problems that include hip replacement, bad knees and struggles with her weight that she seems to be winning.

I was at the GLAAD Awards two years ago when Liza was honored with the Vanguard Award and she was a sensation, singing for us and making us love her as much as we ever did. I also got to see her at this terrific event where her father's (Vincente Minnelli) movie "Meet Me in St. Louis" (starring her mother) was screened with a remastered print. When she walked out on the stage at the DGA to intoduce the movie, I got goose bumps. That is some serious Hollywood royalty who has lived up to her lineage.
They really don't make superstars like Liza Minnelli anymore.

Lots of news coming out of here! Networks this week. The latest tidbit is that it has acquired North American distribution rights to the South Korean film "Huhwaehaji Anah" ("No Regret"), the first feature film from director Leesong Hee-il. here! Films’ sister company Regent Releasing will handle the film’s theatrical release during Summer 2008.
Set in Seoul, South Korea, No Regret centers on Sumin (Lee Young-Hoon), who leaves the orphanage where he grew up and heads to the city to study art design. After losing his job at a factory due to layoffs, he finds himself working as a prostitute in a gay bar. Initially Sumin resists the advances of Jaemin (Lee Han), who comes from a rich and conservative family that doesn’t accept his sexual identity. Eventually Sumin succumbs to Jaemin’s advances, after they briefly experience happiness as passionate lovers, Sumin and Jaemin’s relationship falls into heartache and tragedy.
“No Regret is a moving and visually stunning film, and here! Films is pleased to bring this project to North American audiences,” said Mark Reinhart, Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Distribution for here! Films. “This is one of the first films made on the Korean peninsula dealing with homosexuality, and we’re thrilled to be involved in bringing this project stateside.”

Judging from this sexy scene, I think I want to see here! Networks' "The Raven," a gothic, alternative adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic horror tale. The film, directed by cult horror icon David DeCoteau ("The Brotherhood" "Leather Jacket Love Story"), makes its debut on here! this summer.

Principal photography on "The Raven" was completed this week. From a screenplay by Matthew Jason Walsh, the movie puts a new spin on the gloomy and macabre proceedings of the classic Poe story. The film centers on a group of young men and women in Britain who throw an extravagant party at an eerie mansion said to be the site of an infamous mass-murder. When the festivities are cut short by an ominous visitor, all hell breaks loose. As the murderer begins picking off the party participants one-by-one, old grudges resurface and new suspicions arise, making the entire affair a deadly night to remember.
DeCoteau’s "The Raven" is the first in a series of Poe-themed films that DeCoteau will shoot for here!. Next up for the director is the adaptation Edgar Allan Poe’s House of Usher, based on the classic Poe story “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

I knew it would happen, and yet I still feel so giddy! TVGuide.com has just reported that my favorite show, "Brothers & Sisters" has been renewed by ABC for a second season. By announcing the renewal so early, it is proof that ABC has a lot of faith in the show.
And why not? The ratings are solid against stiff Sunday night compeition and the show is so damned good with a stellar cast highlighted by Matthew Rhys' portrayal of Kevin, the openly gay attorney and a part of the spirited Walker clan. I look forward to following more of his romantic adventures and those of his siblings which include Kitty played by Calista Flockhart who is in a relationship with a U.S. senator played by the still-gorgeous Rob Lowe!

But most of all, it's all about Sally Field, the show's anchor and one of the best actresses of our time. As Nora Walker, Sally has the chance to play a complex and interesting woman and come Emmy time, I will be bitterly disappointed if she is not nominated for best actress in a drama series. She already has two Emmys and two Oscars but seeing as she is still at the top of her game, I think a third Emmy is deserved!
In further good news, ABC has also given an early renewal to the great "Ugly Betty," another fabulous gem of a show embraced by gays and straights alike.

It was a lovefest this morning on "The View" which was devoted to Rosie O'Donnell's 45th birthday. The casts of the Broadway musicals "Les Miserables," "A Chorus Line" and "The Color Purple" all performed in honor of Rosie, one of the biggest boosters Broadway has ever had.
Said Rosie: "Come to New York! See a Broadway show. You will love, love, love it!"
Rosie's co-hosts gave her presents including Joy Behar who gave Rosie a toy dump truck that had Donald Trump's face in the drivers seat. Dump Truck is O'Donnell's nickname for Donald Trump. To see a video of that gift exchange, click HERE.
Elisabeth Hasselback gave Rosie a very personal gift: a pair of clogs decopaged with the names of Broadway shows. Such a thoughtful gift comes a day after Rosie and Elisabeth had one of their biggest verbal sparring matches while discussing guest Rory Kennedy's "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" documentary for HBO. While asking Kennedy a question, Hasselbeck continued at length her opinions on the detention facility angering O'Donnell.
"You have to stop," Rosie stated. "You can't just blather on your opinion. She's here to talk about that, ask her a question."
Apparently the two made up after a series of emotional emails after the show: "I know that I'm loud and I know that I'm twice your weight," Rosie said to Elisabeth, whose conservative views often clash with the very liberal O'Donnell's. After blowing out the candles of her birthday cake, Rosie wished "for the rest of the season there are no feuds!"

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation will hold it's annual awards ceremony in Hollywood next month honoring mainstream media that portrays the LGBT community in a positive and realistic light. But it is becoming a sore spot among here! Networks that its gay and lesbian programming is not eligible.
In a letter sent yesterday to GLAAD President Neil Giuliano, here! Networks did not mince words in letting their feelings about being excluded known. They say they "completely disagree" with GLAAD's decision to continue the focus of the Media Awards on mainstream media last year after this same issue was raised by the folks at (MTV's LGBT network) Logo.
"Media has changed dramatically over the years because of the blood, sweat, and tears of brave LGBT activists, yet GLAAD has not adjusted its policies and strategies to account for this as it relates to the high profile Media Awards," wrote Stephen F. Macias, senior vice president, corporate and marketing communications of here! Networks. "In the absence of strategic change from GLAAD, the organization’s largest event is on the verge of becoming irrelevant and the millions of dollars raised wasted when LGBT Americans need strong leadership more than ever."
Guiliano (pictured) maintains that the decision is consistent with their primary mission which "is to advocate for fair, accurate, and inclusive LGBT stories in mainstream media.  We want mainstream media outlets to include us in their stories and programming – and to do it well.  The GLAAD Media Awards program is designed to help GLAAD achieve that mission, and is the logical extension of – and in many ways the culmination of – our work with media outlets throughout the year.”
 Counters Macias: "Is GLAAD defining mainstream as only “Straight” outlets? Your Media Awards logic suggests that. It is a defining moment when a LGBT civil rights organization equates mainstream and straight as synonymous implying that fringe and LGBT are also synonymous. GLAAD should either change in its mission statement to clearly state that it is only promoting straight/mainstream media programming or discontinue the exclusion of gay media from submitting work for a GLAAD Media Award."
He adds that "gay networks are raising the bar around what mainstream media should consider fair, accurate, and inclusive work. No longer is the LGBT community beholden to “mainstream” media as the only place where we might catch a glimpse of ourselves. We salute those outlets that in the past have included our community in their programming, and now LGBT media joins them in expanding our stories."
Here! is playing hardball with more than just words. They said they will no longer be supporting GLAAD or its awards as a major sponsor"until this policy is changed to be fair and inclusive."

She's done a lot in four-and-a-half decades from winning countless Emmys for her classic talk show, co-starring in movies ("Sleepless in Seattle," "A League of Their Own," "The Flintstones"), appearing on Broadway ("Grease") and hosting the Tony's better than anyone ever has. Now Rosie is bringing some real buzz to "The View" which is must-see TV and has not backed away from being controversial. On that show, Rosie shows America each and every day who she really is.
Thanks for being you Rosie!
Happy birthday...

Marc Malkin, who has a terrific Planet Gossip site on E!Online, has been running parts of a conversation he had with John Waters this week. What jumped out at me was the openly gay Waters reaction to Isaiah Washington going to some kind of rehab to get treatment for the homophobic remarks he made about co-star T.R. Knight. Waters says he wants to know what kind of rehab is it that Washington claims to have gone to for help.
"It's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," he says. "Is there a racism rehab, too? Can the KKK people go there? Only in L.A.!"
Marc chatted with Waters in his Chateau Marmont hotel suite just a couple of days before the premiere of his new court TV show"'Til Death Do Us Part."
Waters first gained fame by shocking moviegoers with his outrageously funny—and dirty—"Pink Flamingos" and went on to make "Hairspray" and "Cry-Baby" among others.
"I look through my cable guide and, each month, at least four or five of my movies are on TV," he says. "Pink Flamingos is on the Sundance channel, which in many places is regular cable. It's not even like On Demand. So, many families will sit there together and up comes a singing a--hole!"
Inthe 1980s movie "Hairspray," the role of Edna Turnblad was played by cross-dressing Divine. It was then played by Harvey Fierstein in the Broadway production and will be played by John Travolta in the new movie musical version due out this summer.
"It's great," Waters says. "I'm about to be a grandfather. It's the third generation."
What would Divine think of Travolta taking on her part?
"He would snatch the part right from John's cold, dead fingers," Waters says. "But Divine would be 60 now. In my last movie [A Dirty Shame], he would have been Big Ethel—the grandmother!" 

I don't know about you, but "Dancing With the Stars" was lacking something the other night when it made its season premiere: MARIO LOPEZ! Here's my thought: since Mario was clearly robbed of the title last season, I think they should have plugged him into the competition instead of Cliff from "Cheers" when the big guy from "The Soprano's" quit. Now the best I can hope for is for Heather Mills' artificial leg to fly off. I do think Joey Fatone is pretty cute though and I'd watch Ian Ziering dance, walk, talk, sing...you name it. But Mario, they ain't.
Anyway, here are a few shots of Mario, who is now co-hosting the weekend edition of "Extra," working out in L.A. Even without all the dancing, Mr. Lopez is dedicated to staying in tip-top shape so we can snap pictures of him and post them all ovcer the Internet! And we really appreciate it!

Ususally, we only see Thomas Roberts from the waist up in a suit delivering the news on CNN. He looks real handsome doing it and is a very good anchor on Headline News. so for those of you dying to know what he looks like without a shirt on...here ya go! Courtesy of Kenneth in the (212).

As a native of The OC, one of the first gay bars I ever tip-toed into (looking over my shoulder the entire time) was Laguna Beach's Boom Boom Room. I was there last fall doing interviews for a freelance piece that hasn't yet seen the light of day but it was so great to be there again at this terrific place by the ocean.
There is a very good chance that this will be the last year for the Boom since its operators sold the land a few years ago to a man who has other plans for the property. But there is a determined group of activists who are fighting to SAVE the BOOM!!! (www.savethboom.com). The group announced this week that it will canvass the globe to find a buyer for the Boom Boom Room and the Coast Inn in which it is located.
“We will spend as long as it takes, talk to as many people and contact as many companies as we can to try and find a ‘Knight in Shinning Armor’  to come in and save the day,” said Fred Karger, founder of SAVE the BOOM!!!.  We have plenty of gay billionaires and centi-millionaires out there and we will appeal to as many of them as we can for help. Laguna Beach has been a gay destination for over 100 years.  If the current owner could be persuaded to sell this historic building to a gay buyer, or one of our many friends who will keep it gay, then Laguna Beach will remain a safe and welcoming city to the gay community for the next 100 years.
Former Laguna Beach Mayor Robert F. Gentry, who was the first openly gay Mayor in the United States and currently serves as Co-Chair of SAVE the BOOM!!! says: “Laguna has a long history of strong ties to the gay community.  The gay community has shaped Laguna Beach in many ways. Hundreds of gay men and lesbians have served the city in policy positions, volunteers, artists, police officers, residents, and city staff members.  Laguna Beach would not be Laguna Beach if it were not, in part, for the gay community.  Gay and lesbian visitors have helped to fill the coffers of the City and provide the resources for its safety, its infrastructure, and its identity around the world.” 
 

So the new issue of TV Guide is out and called "The Sexy Issue." It's filled with lists and pictures of very attractive people like coverboy Patrick Dempsey. Joining him on ther list are his co-stars Katherine Heigl and Justin Chambers (What? No McSteamy!) and the entire cast of the show was voted "sexiest cast" over second place "Lost" which had Evangeline Lilly and Josh Holloway (also voted sexiest criminal) on the list (What? No Matthew Fox!)
While Dempsey got the cover (and was also voted sexiest couple with Ellen Pompeo), I'm glad to see that the very sexy Chambers (picture, right, with Heigl) was singled out because he really is McHot!
Frankly, the TV Guide list is kind of maddening because it has all these sub-categories like "sexiest makle doctor" (Goran Visnjic of "ER" with Dempsey the runner-up?) and "sexiest crimefighter" (Tom Welling of "Smallville") etc.
Then there is the sexy hall of fame where the magazine pays tribute to the sex appeal of David Cassidy, Angie Dickinson, Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett (1970s); Tom Selleck, Catherine Bach, Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis (1980s); and George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston, Heather Locklear and Grant Show (1990s).
I'll pick out my standouts from the main list because, well, it's my blog:
Females: Ha! Who am i kidding? OK, I admit, Eva Longoria, Rebecca Romijn, Roselyn Sanchez, Rashida Jones, Marg Helgenberger and Ali Larter are sexy but my area of expertise is the...
Males: Shemar Moore (pictured, left), Sendhil Ramamurthy (also voted sexiets brainiac), James Tupper, Dave Annable (below), Skeet Ulrich (also voted sexiest bad boy) and (yum!) Eric Mabius(below) from "Ugly Betty."

Overall, good choices. So who was left out? I'd put Matthew Rhys of "Brothers & Sisters" at the top of that list but glad to see Annable representing the show, I also think any sexy on TV list cannot be complete if you don't include "CSI" star George Eads and, HELLO? John Stamos! The best he got was fifth place in the "sexiest male doctor" category behind HUGH LAURIE!

Larry Kramer, AIDS activist, playwright, founder of the group ACT-UP and author of "The Tragedy of Today's Gays" and other books, has written a powerful letter, published in today's Los Angeles Times, that I hope you will all read and pass on to friends, gay or straight.
DEAR STRAIGHT PEOPLE,
Why do you hate gay people so much?
Gays are hated. Prove me wrong. Your top general just called us immoral. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in charge of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops, some fighting for our country in Iraq. A right-wing political commentator, Ann Coulter, gets away with calling a straight presidential candidate a faggot. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is making really tacky jokes about gay parents in his column. This, I guess, does not qualify as hate except that it is so distasteful and dumb, often a first step on the way to hate. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama tried to duck the questions that Pace's bigotry raised, confirming what gay people know: that there is not one candidate running for public office anywhere who dares to come right out, unequivocally, and say decent, supportive things about us.
Gays should not vote for any of them. There is not a candidate or major public figure who would not sell gays down the river. We have seen this time after time, even from supposedly progressive politicians such as President Clinton with his "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military and his support of the hideous Defense of Marriage Act. Of course, it's possible that being shunned by gays will make politicians more popular, but at least we will have our self-respect. To vote for them is to collude with them in their utter disdain for us.
Don't any of you wonder why heterosexuals treat gays so brutally year after year after year, as your people take away our manhood, our womanhood, our personhood? Why, even as we die you don't leave us alone. What we can leave our surviving lovers is taxed far more punitively than what you leave your (legal) surviving spouses. Why do you do this? My lover will be unable to afford to live in the house we have made for each other over our lifetime together. This does not happen to you. Taxation without representation is what led to the Revolutionary War. Gay people have paid all the taxes you have. But you have equality, and we don't.
And there's no sign that this situation will change anytime soon. President Bush will leave a legacy of hate for us that will take many decades to cleanse. He has packed virtually every court and every civil service position in the land with people who don't like us. So, even with the most tolerant of new presidents, gays will be unable to break free from this yoke of hate. Courts rule against gays with hateful regularity. And of course the Supreme Court is not going to give us our equality, and in the end, it is from the Supreme Court that such equality must come. If all of this is not hate, I do not know what hate is.
Our feeble gay movement confines most of its demands to marriage. But political candidates are not talking about — and we are not demanding that they talk about — equality. My lover and I don't want to get married just yet, but we sure want to be equal.
You must know that gays get beaten up all the time, all over the world. If someone beats you up because of who you are — your race or ethnic origin — that is considered a hate crime. But in most states, gays are not included in hate crime measures, and Congress has refused to include us in a federal act.
Homosexuality is a punishable crime in a zillion countries, as is any activism on behalf of it. Punishable means prison. Punishable means death. The U.S. government refused our requests that it protest after gay teenagers were hanged in Iran, but it protests many other foreign cruelties. Who cares if a faggot dies? Parts of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. are joining with the Nigerian archbishop, who believes gays should be put in prison. Episcopalians! Whoever thought we'd have to worry about Episcopalians?
Well, whoever thought we'd have to worry about Florida? A young gay man was just killed in Florida because of his sexual orientation. I get reports of gays slain in our country every week. Few of them make news. Fewer are prosecuted. Do you consider it acceptable that 20,000 Christian youths make an annual pilgrimage to San Francisco to pray for gay souls? This is not free speech. This is another version of hate. It is all one world of gay-hate. It always was.
Gays do not realize that the more we become visible, the more we come out of the closet, the more we are hated. Don't those of you straights who claim not to hate us have a responsibility to denounce the hate? Why is it socially acceptable to joke about "girlie men" or to discriminate against us legally with "constitutional" amendments banning gay marriage? Because we cannot marry, we can pass on only a fraction of our estates, we do not have equal parenting rights and we cannot live with a foreigner we love who does not have government permission to stay in this country. These are the equal protections that the Bill of Rights proclaims for all?
Why do you hate us so much that you will not permit us to legally love? I am almost 72, and I have been hated all my life, and I don't see much change coming.
I think your hate is evil.
What do we do to you that is so awful? Why do you feel compelled to come after us with such frightful energy? Does this somehow make you feel safer and legitimate? What possible harm comes to you if we marry, or are taxed just like you, or are protected from assault by laws that say it is morally wrong to assault people out of hatred? The reasons always offered are religious ones, but certainly they are not based on the love all religions proclaim.
And even if your objections to gays are religious, why do you have to legislate them so hatefully? Make no mistake: Forbidding gay people to love or marry is based on hate, pure and simple.
You may say you don't hate us, but the people you vote for do, so what's the difference? Our own country's democratic process declares us to be unequal. Which means, in a democracy, that our enemy is you. You treat us like crumbs. You hate us. And sadly, we let you.

...Could it be because of this Brady Quinn kid? I just found another few pictures of him and thought they were just too nice to keep to myself. Isn't he photogenic? Whatever team gets him, that's the one I'll follow. LA doesn't even have a team so as a fan, I'm a free agent!

Just because I didn't love the movie doesn't mean others won't. So i'm happy to share this information with you: Regent Releasing is having a "Race to the Bottom" promotional weekend that kicks off with a red carpet premiere on March 30 at the Regent Showcase in Los Angeles. Cast and crew will be present and an after-party will be held at O-Bar in West Hollywood.
Continuing the special event weekend, Regent will feature a Q&A with the film’s writer/director Russell Brown following the 7:30 p.m. screening on Saturday, March 31. On Sunday, April 1, playing off the spirit of the film, Regent is offering a 2-for-1 “Girls Grab Your Best Gay/Gays Grab Your Best Girl” promotion for the 7:30 p.m. show time. At this show time only, with the purchase of one ticket, a second ticket will be free.
The Regent Showcase Theatre is located at 614 N. La Brea Ave. in Los Angeles. Tickets for the screenings can be purchased at the theatre’s box office.
"Race You to the Bottom" centers on Nathan (Cole Williams) and Maggie (Amber Benson), who are in the throes of a passionate affair. They’re young, good-looking, and both have boyfriends. When Nathan is assigned to write a travel article in Napa Valley, these unconventional lovers test the limits of the sensuality and fantasy that bond them.

I'm hoping to get down to Orange County this week to catch "Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life" which had been slated to play in LA but has inexplicably been cancelled. I thought about Chita Rivera during all of the "Dreamgirls" noise Jennifer Holliday was making about not being invited to the premiere or to be in the movie. If Holliday felt overlooked, she has suffered nothing in this regard compared to Chita Rivera. It was this stage legend, nominated for nine Tonys, who originated the Rita Moreno role in "West Side Story," the Catherine-Zeta Jones role in "Chicago" (each woman won an Oscar), the Janet Leigh role in "Bye Bye Birdie" and on and on. But instead of complaining, Rivera kept on working and ended up winning Tonys for "Kiss of the Spider woman" and "The Rink." She was nominated again last year for the autobiographical "A Dancer's Life."
Chita was interviewed for the current issue of Frontiers Magazine and I wanted to share what she had to say about, of all people, Rosie O'Donnell: "Rosie is one of my favorite people in all the world. I admore her honesty, her truth; she's a giver. she's just absolutely honest. If you want to know the truth, just ask her. She'll tell you. What you see is what you get and I don't think you could find a better friend than Rosie. She's got a lot of guts and my God, she's talented too."

It's kind of a problem when you have a movie that largely focuses on two characters and, well, you can't stand either one of them. That was my experience watching a screener DVD of "Race You to the Bottom," a film that follows Nathan (Cole Williams), a travel journalist, as he is assigned to write about romantic hot-spots in the Napa Valley. He invites Maggie (Amber Benson), the woman he has been seeing for months, to come along for a passionate weekend getaway.
But here's a twist: both Nathan and Maggie have boyfriends! And these boyfriends both think the pair have that Wll and Grace tyoe of relationship so they think nothing of these two "buddies" taking off up the coast to research the travel piece.
What follows is talking, talking and more talking and much of it does not feel at all the way real people talk to each other. It's that "Dawson's Creek" type of dialogue where they are saying deep and smart things but mostly they just seem self-absorbed and boring. The love scenes also have zippo sizzle.
Nathan was the biggest problem for me. He says he's a 70-30 bisexual ("I like my men passive and my women aggressive") but I don't believe for a minute that he's into girls and you wonder why he's dragging Maggie through all of this. And Maggie. Why is she cheating on her boyfriend with this guy? What does she see in Nathan?
Anyway, the best scenes are the fights the two have toward the end of the film, where they really say some nasty things to each other and for the first time, you believe that Nathan is an actual human being with feelings. And at the start of the road trip, they stop by the house of one of Maggie's girlfriends, a smug gal with a hot husband who chose her over Maggie. Nathan kind of evens the score for Maggie by seducing hot hubby in the barn as the girls are cooking lunch.
Still, I'm lukewarm at best about "Race You to the Bottom" and disappointed that there wasn't more going on in this film.

AfterEllen.com writer Kim Ficera was so incensed by Donald Trump's recent comments to "Entertainment Tonight" about Rosie O'Donnell's battle against depression that she sent a passionate e-mail to the co-host of "The View" seeking an interview. Much to her surprise, Rosie agreed to answer some questions via e-mail and I am happy to share it with you:
AfterEllen.com: You haven't agreed to an interview on the Donald Trump situation until now. What changed your mind? Rosie O'Donnell: i don't do interviews as i have a blog u asked nicely so i said yes
AE: Why do you think that a man who has nothing valuable to say won't shut up? RO: he is showing his true self
AE: Why do you think that the media is ignoring the deeper harm caused by Trump's hurtful words? RO: no one takes him seriously
AE: I think Trump continues to bash you because he's a homophobe and a misogynist. What do you think? RO: i think u r wise
AE: What bothers you most about what Trump has said? RO: 2 many 2 choose all he says = same same same
AE: The media continues to call your situation with Trump a "feud," which is a ridiculously innocuous way to describe abuse. How do we teach people to stop treating each other so badly if we can't admit we're treating one another badly in the first place? RO: tabloids of all kinds love a feud truth has been silenced -- by the media -- since 9/11 -- america is waking up -- the art of distraction is making dt and me news
AE: How do you feel the gay community has treated you in the aftermath of these Trump statements? RO: again -- no one really cares what he thinks or says he is a rich guy's son all smoke and mirrors
AE: How do you balance being a comedian and a very passionate social commentator? RO: i say what i think what is often obvious yet unspoken
AE: You're very open on The View about being a lesbian; how have viewers responded? RO: so far no issues really i have some postings on my blog along the lines of STOP PUSHING UR GAY AGENDA
AE: Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about the rumors that you're going to get your own talk show again in fall 2008. Are they true, and if so, what can you tell me about the format? RO: i have no plans to do my own show at the moment however as a concept -- the donahue show of the 80s appeals 2 me.

Rosie gets all the attention these days but from the early days of "The View," I have always found Joy Behar to be an absolute riot. And as the years go on, she has shown herself to be intelligent, perceptive and articulate...and still a riot. TV Guide.com's Michael Logan had a chat with Behar and she lets loose about Rosie and her show's losing streak at the Emmys with the show scoring 10 nods this year including best talk show and best hosts.
Here is much of the Q&A:
Will "The View" finally win some Emmys?
Behar: "Are you kidding? We never win! Our show might win this year, but the host thing is the problem. The judges don't go for multiple hosts because there's always someone to hate. The only time Regis Philbin won was when he was hosting his show alone [after Kathie Lee Gifford and before Kelly Ripa]. The voters have issues, you know? It's weird. We'll see what happens. It's just an award. A doorstop. Still, we're on a roll, aren't we? "
TVGuide.com: Nobody but a fool would miss The View these days. It's train-wreck TV. We can't not watch.
Behar:" Did you see us all flip our hair together in solidarity against the Donald? He's thrown down the gauntlet again. [Trump made wisecracks on Entertainment Tonight about Rosie O'Donnell's battle with depression.] He's very small. And you know what they say about guys like that: small-minded, small… well, you know where I'm going. He's a pain. But you know what? It juices up the show because Rosie gets mad. She can't take it."
TVGuide.com: As a comedian, you've always had balls, but you're in a whole new place now. It's like you're finally owning the right to be mouthy and outrageous and tell it like it is. Do you credit this to Rosie's arrival?
Behar: "There is something going on now that's very different. Rosie has been a big shot in the arm. It's like we've gone radical. There were certain restraints before — I won't go into what that dynamic was — but the restraints have been lifted and Rosie and I encourage each other to say whatever we want. Can you call her and tell her to stay? People were afraid. They said, "Two comedians? No way. They'll be competitive." Well, it's not true. It's a much better match than people thought."

TVGuide.com: As funny as you both are, there's also an urgency and passion to your opinions now. You're rabidly political and hyperemotional.
Behar: There was a time at the beginning of this administration where we had to walk on tenterhooks. Not anymore. This administration is done! We're exercising our First Amendment rights every day on our show. It's important, and nobody else is doing it except for Bill Maher. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are scripted — I'm talking about off-the-cuff stuff. "
TVGuide.com: Since Rosie showed up, we're liking Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Barbara Walters has warmed up nicely, too. She's more relaxed and not so schoolmarmish. So this is looking like the perfect combo. Do you really need these guest hosts?
Behar: "I'm not wild about the idea unless it's someone the audience already knows really well, like Whoopi Goldberg. That way we can jump into the hot topics immediately without having to explain who the guest host is and take up time interviewing her."
TVGuide.com: So there's no need to find a permanent replacement for Star Jones?
Behar: I say leave it alone. It's working the way it is!

Chris Evans is a fine actor, really. What I'm saying is that I think he is more than just a pretty face with an awesome body. Still, I do like the fact that this fine actor is not shy about doing photo shoots that show off his awesome bod like the one at right.
But here's the rub. In the new issue of VMan magazine, Evans says his new publicist has suggested that he no longer do shirtless photo shoots saying, "You don't want to end up pigeonholed as a beefcake."
Evans says he has to work out every day or else he will get too thin and that Sandra Bullock is his perfect type of woman.The pictures posted here of the fully-clothed Evans are from the VMan photo shoot while the one of him showing his abs is from the archives.
Which do you prefer?
I say this to Chris: fire that publicist immediately and take your shirt off! The cameras are waiting. After all, it's not hurting Matthew McConaughey's career. Matthew tried to play down his assets in such films as "Amistead," "Frailty" and "Contact" but his biggest hits such as "How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days," "Failure to Launch" and "Sahara" have all included some doses of beefcake and those abs.

I'd love to see more regular gay characters on network television because let's face it, Kevin Walker can't carry the load for everyone and I'm not even so sure Andrew Van De Kamp is still gay we see so little of him. But one recent trend that has been good to see is how a growing number of series are producing gay-themed episodes. In the past seven days alone, there has been gay characters as guest stars on three different shows: "The New Adventures of Old Christine," "The Wedding Bells" and "The Winner."
Last night's episode of the new sitcom "The Winner" (pictured above) had star Rob Corddry becoming friends with a recently-single (and rather hunky) gay man whom he refuses to believe is gay because the guy likes football, among other "straight" things. Two nights earlier on "The Wedding Bells" featured Stephen Guarino (pictured, left) as a flamboyant groom who everyone is sure is gay.
I've already written about the "Old Christine" episode that aired on Monday so click HERE to read that but in a nutshell, Charles Esten (pictured, right) guested as Christine's former brother-in-law who is coming to terms with being gay. Esten was so funny (and gorgeous) that I want him to have a recurring role!
AfterElton.com explores this topic in its BLOG today and I recommend reading their take.

Oh, he was just kidding! Isn't it so ironic how people who say or write horrible and disrespectful and make their living by remaining in the good graces of the public are suddenly so sorry once they are bitten in the ass by the backlash?
Latest case in point: Garrison Keillor of "A Prairie Home Companion" fame. Towleroad.com has just reported that Keillor has issued an apology for the "misunderstanding" he created in a column last week, an apparently "tongue in cheek" look at parenting and the good old days.
Here is, in part, what he wrote: "The country has come to accept stereotypical gay men -- sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers and go in for flamboyance now and then themselves. If they want to be accepted as couples and daddies, however, the flamboyance may have to be brought under control. Parents are supposed to stand in back and not wear chartreuse pants and black polka-dot shirts. That's for the kids. It's their show."

Now he is singing a different tune and writes: "I live in a small world—the world of entertainment, musicians, writers—in which gayness is as common as having brown eyes. Ever since I was in college, gay men and women have been friends, associates, heroes, adversaries, and in that small world, we talk openly and we kid each other and think nothing of it. But in the larger world, gayness is controversial. In almost every state, gay marriage would be voted down if put on a ballot. Gay men and women have been targeted by the right wing as a hot-button issue. And so gay people out in the larger world feel besieged to some degree. In the small world I live in, they feel accepted and cherished as individuals, but in the larger world they may feel like Types. My column spoke as we would speak in my small world and it was read by people in the larger world and thus the misunderstanding. And for that, I am sorry. Gay people who set out to be parents can be just as good parents as anybody else, and they know that, and so do I."

Former New Jersey governor James McGreevey is still creepy to me but I will still post about him if he says anything I think is relevant. So McGreevey, who resigned after revealing that he had engaged in an extramarital affair with a male staffer, says culture is outpacing politics in the acceptance of homosexuality.
The Associated Press reports that while McGreevey was in Santa Fe, N.M., this weekend to speak at a fund-raiser for the Human Rights Alliance, he called his decision to come out "one of the most painful but honest decisions of my life."
Even though the revelation of being gay can hurt family and friends, McGreevey said people must learn at an early age to be open about their sexuality - something he was not open about until his late 40s after he had married two women and fathered a child with each. Something he was not open about during his entire political career ibcluding when he was governor and was not publicly in favor of gay marriage.
"Hopefully, this generation will be the last generation of American youth that has to choose between their heart and their career, between love and acceptance," he said.
McGreevey also addressed comments made earlier this week by the Pentagon's top general. Marine Corps general Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, remarked that homosexual acts are immoral and said the military should not condone homosexuality by allowing gay personnel to serve openly.
"General Pace's remarks were so terribly unfortunate, not only because that's what he believes but the notion that 'don't ask, don't tell' actually encourages people to be less than honest, less than open, less than transparent," McGreevey said.

I gotta say, the Los Angeles Daily News is one cool newspaper. Not just because they have been 100 percent behind me doing the Out In Hollywood blog, but because of stories like the one that is on the cover of today's features section by my colleague Nancy Dillon. Doubling Up On Daddies focuses on how more gay male couples are turning to surrogates for fatherhood.
Among those Nancy profiles are "Ugly Betty" writer-producer Oliver Goldstick and his partner Bud Leslie who have two biological sons, Simon and Jonathan. Also in the article is Don Roos, the talented writer-director behind such indie gems as "The Opposite of Sex" and "Happy Endings." Roos and his partner Dan Bucatinsky, (pictured at right) are preparing to adopt their second child from the same woman who mothered their adopted daughter, Liza. Bucatinsky is the writer and star of "All Over the Guy."
It's a terrific piece and one that not only tells some personal stories, but lists some helpful resources on where to begin.

Matthew enjoys a beer on the beach...It's official, he no longer owns a single shirt!

So what the heck is Bjorn Borg doing standing there with a group of handsome and half-naked men? No, he's not switching teams! The tennis Hall of Famer held a model search over the weekend for his underwear line at Selfridges in London, according to Towleroad.com.
Before there was Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi, tennis' very first teen hearthrob was Borg. When he first played at Wimbledon in 1973, he nearly caused riots as the girls swooned over him (and no doubt a few guys!). Borg went on to win the tournament three years later to begin what was a five-year undefeated run. He was finally toppled in the 1981 final by John McEnroe and by te next year, had retired from the game at the age of 26. He had already won five Wimbledons and six French Opens.
Borg must be at least 50 by now...but he still looks pretty hot!

The great Broadway diva Patti LuPone ("Evita," "Sweeney Todd," "Master Class" and the London production of "Sunset Boulevard") occasionally makes forays into film ("Driving Miss Daisy") and television ("Life Goes On"). The multi-talented star, whose "Patti LuPone on Broadway" show was a major triumph in the mid-90s, will appear this Thursday night on "Ugly Betty." The Tony Award-winning LuPone will play the mother of Marc St. James (Michael Urie), the gay personal assistant of evil Wihelmina (Vanessa Williams). The mother does not know her son is gay and he wants to keep it that way. He enlists Betty to play his girlfriend to keep mom in the dark.
I love "Ugly Betty" and can't wait to see LuPone on it. But there is even bigger news concerning this great star: LuPone will be starring in a concert version of "Gypsy" (as, who else? Mama Rose!) in "Encores! Summer Stars" from July 9 to July 29th with Gypsy starring Patti LuPone. Author Laurents, who wrote the book and directed two of the shows previous Broadway incarnations will direct. LuPose previously took on Gypsy in the towering role of Rose at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago this past summer. 
I consider LuPone to be in the league with Ethel Merman who originated the role of Mama Rose so it's fitting that she would finally tackle this classic part that has previously been played on Broadway by not only Merman, but also Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Bernadette Peters in wildly successful revivals. There was also the feature film that starred Rosalind Russell and an acclaimed television production headlined by Bette Midler.
Since I'm not planning to be in New York during this time, I'm really hoping a CD of the show is released. I would buy in a heartbeat and add it to the soundtracks I already own of the Merman, Lansbury, Daly, Midler and Peters versions.

Last night was the series finale of the NBC talent show competition "You're the One That I want" in which the contestants were vying for tbhe leading roles in a new Broadway production of "Grease." I mised the finale and most of the season. Just couldn't get into it.
Now the BBC is doing its own version of the show byt instead of competing for the spots in "Grease," they will be vying for parts in a UK production of " Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." As if that wasn't appealing enough, one of the show's judges will be the incredibly handsome and talented John Barrowman who recently wed his longtime boyfriend. Barrowman is a veteran of the stage in additon to his TV work in the UK ("Do Who" and "Torchwood" and in the U.S. ("Central Park West" and "Titans").
The BBC show is called "Any Dream Will Do" and Barrowman will be joined by Denise van Outen from the American version, producer Bill Kenwright, voice coach Zoe Tyler and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Another wonderful gay element is this: the showwill be hosted by the openly gay Graham Norton!

Very cool news. Neil Patrick Harris will be filling in for an ailing Regis Philbin Thursday and Friday on "Live With Regis and Kelly." Aside from his sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," this will be the most high-profile gig for Harris since he came out publicly last fall. He's made clear that he does not want to become a gay activist or dwell on his sexuality so I think we can expect him to steer clear on that. But how great that America will see an openly gay man co-host "Live" to be followed by the openly-gay Rosie O'Donnell moderating on "The View." I love it!
I'm sure there will be no repeat of the silliness that took place when Clay Aiken put his hand over Kelly's mouth during an interview when he guest-hosted last fall and she told him it was a no-no becasue she didn't know where that hand had been! Rosie somehow took the comment as homophobic even though Clay, who is widely assumed to be gay, has never come out of the closet.
Harris has been a pro for a really long time, is the veteran of two hit series and several Broadway shows. I think he will knock America's socks off.

I'm still catching up on TV shows after my all-to-brief vacation. Monday night marked the welcome return of the very, very funny Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitcom "The New Adventures of Old Christine." I have loved this show since its premiere last year and it remains FUNNY.
The first show that aired on Monday was a repeat but I had never seen it before Old Christine's ex-hubby Richard (his new girlfriend is known as new Christine to avoid confusion) has a really hot brother named Joe who is played by Charles Esten. Joe is struggling with being gay but realizes, after kissing his former sister-in-law Christine, that he is indeed gay! He's not ready to come out to big bro but old Christine, always the blabber mouth, spills it. A series of lies and misunderstandings follow and it is all very funny. New Christine even blurts out that she was briefly a lesbian while in college.
TV Guide, in its weekly "Cheers and Jeers" column, gives a cheer to Esten "for his witty turn as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' ambiguously gay ex-brother-in-law." The magazine notes that Esten is an alum of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" and "is one of those rare actors who's equallyg funny AND handsome."
So here's my idea: why not have him show up on a regular basis to stir things up? Maybe he can hook up with Christine's brother who's not gay but sure seems like he should be!

Rafael Nadal captured his first career championship at the Pacific Life Open and his first title since the French Open last June by defeating Serbian teen Novak Djokovic 6-2, 7-5 Sunday afternoon.
"I was very satisfied with my game, for sure with the title," said Nadal, who claimed the title without dropping a set. "It was a very great week for me. A very, very important week. And it was very important. I have eight months without any title, but I come back with big one."
This was supposed to be the tournament when top-ranked Roger Federer made history by achieving the longest consecutive match win streak in the history of the game. It did not happen and his early loss could have been disastrous for the Indian Wells tournament.
But Nadal, with every bit as much star power as Federer, came through.

The year is 1959 and a repressed English professor (Helen Shaver) goes to Reno where she spends weeks waiting for a quickie divorce at a dude ranch. There she meets Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), a beautiful and vivacious casino worker and, well, the hotel sex scene is said to be one of the most erotic this side of "The L Word."
The movie is "Desert Hearts" and is was released more than 22 years ago. On June 5, Wolfe Video will release a special two-disc Collector's Edition DVD of the film directed by Donna Deitch who has gone on to become a successful television director whose credits include the new NBC hit "Heroes."
According to Wolfe, the new DVD will feature several new interviews with Deitch and the film's stars, previously unseen footage from the infamous love scene, audio commentary and much more.

I can't wait to read this book!
Next month, "Beyond Brokeback: The Impact of a Film" will be published. Its content was selected from among the most compelling writing on The Ultimate Brokeback Forum. These writings are said to convey the remarkable power of "Brokeback Mountain" to affect the lives of all sorts of people—straight and gay, old and young, male and female—on six continents.
Ranging from the amusing to the emotionally devastating, the pieces collected in "Beyond Brokeback" crystallize the deep, frequently life-changing reactions of its often-unsuspecting viewers.
It's been more than a year since "Crash" upset "Brokeback" for the best picture Academy Award. The slight just seems more and more egregious as time goes on, doesn't it?

When I was stalking, oops, I mean watching, Rafael Nadal practice and play his matches this week at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, I knew he would be tough to beat even though he has not won a tournament since the French Open last June. This afternoon, in his first final since Wimbledon eight months ago, Nadal plays Novak Djokovic for the men's title. He will win. To get to the championship round, second-ranked Nadal took apart third-ranked Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-3.
The women's final turned out to be as marquee as tournament organizers could have hoped for after Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis were both upset in earlier rounds. It pitted 2002 Pacific Life Open champ Daniela Hantuchova against second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, a Russian who won the U.S Open in 2004 and made it to the final of the French Open last year. Daniela won in straight sets and hopefully will be a more regular presence in the final weekend of tournaments this year.

...all the world seems bright and gay!!!

Somebody's gotta say it: Why don't Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell just get a room already and get it over with!
The gay-baiting that so often (too often) takes place between these two grown men on "American Idol" is just baffling. Do they think it is funny to act like 12 year old boys on the playground? Are they secretly in lust with each other? What is the deal?
On this week's live performance show, Melinda Doolittle came out to perform wearing four-inch heels.
Ryan asks Simon if he had any advice for her wearing the high heels. Simon, thinking he's oh-so-clever, replies: "You should know, Ryan."
Then Ryan throws Simon a pitch that he probably not help but knock out of the park: "Stay out of my closet!"
To which Simon says: "Come out!"
Ryan ends the flirtation with this line: "This is about the Top 12, not your wishes!"

Like I said guys, get a room and give us all a break!

The movie poster for the Adam Sandler-Kevin James summer comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" was unveiled this week. They play firefighters who pretend to be gay in order to receive domestic partner benefits. There is some concern that the film, which no one has seen yet, will make light of what is a very serious equal rights issue for gays and lesbians: same-gender marriage.
I share that concern but am optimistic that the movie will have a positive message in that regard given that Sandler is involved. His movie, "Big Daddy," had one of the best no-big-deal portrayals of a gay couple I've ever seen in a mainstream movie. At any rate, I plan to check it out!

Let's face it, I haven't been all that interest in pro football ever since I stopped pretending to be straight back in the late 80s. But that doesn't mean I can't get interested again, especially if there are players who look like Brady Quinn, the golden boy quarterback from Notre Dame. Quinn is rated the No. 2 quarterback prospect in next month's NFL draft behind JaMarcus Russell of LSU.

Paris Barclay, the openly-gay Emmy-winning television director, gave an interview this week to AfterElton.com about gays in TV and a variety of other topics. I encourage you to read it (after you have read my Star Trek piece!). What jumped out for me is when Barclay was asked to comment on the Ann Coulter foot-in-mouth controversy:
"What this — and what happened with the Isaiah Washington situation — has given us is a really interesting moment in history to talk about the expression of hate and whether it is OK. Jesse Jackson and company did a little bit with "nigger" last year, and there was a little bit of a brouhaha.
I think what's happening now between Coulter and Isaiah is that it's becoming something that people are talking about, and it's all good. "What does this mean to you" and "Were you offended by that?" I've had a gazillion conversations about my own personal reactions to the word that I've never had before because this stuff is in the news."
AE: We say the N-word; we don't even say the word "nigger" now. Is the F-word an equivalent level of offense?
PB: "To me, it is. For me, it's extremely parallel. Even with the fact that gay people can call each other "faggots" — that means a different thing. Just like black people can call each other "nigger" or "my nigger," as is the expression, that's a different thing than abusively being called that word. So, it's not just that word itself; it's how it's used and who uses it that gives it its power. So I think those words are really equivalent because the use of it — how it's used and who uses it — redefines the strength or the weakness of the word. It can be a term of endearment, or a casual address or it can be a slur depending upon how and who uses it. "

God bless these men and women.
Seven retired military officers publicly acknowledged being gay on Friday, hoping their actions will stir Congress to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” and force Marine Corps general Peter Pace(pictured at right looking saintly and moral) to apologize for calling gays “immoral” earlier this week, The Advocate reports.
The officers are all highly decorated and have earned numerous honors and commendations. They include Col. Stewart Bornhoft, USA; Capt. Joan E. Darrah, USN; Capt. Robert D. Dockendorff, USNR; Chaplain Col. Paul W. Dodd, USA; Capt. Sandra Geiselman, USNR; Col. E. A. Leonard, USA; and Capt. Robert Michael Rankin, USN.
"Our community has a long history of serving our country in the armed forces," the group said in a release. "Today, there are more than 65,000 lesbian and gay troops on duty. Another 1 million gay and lesbian veterans, including the seven of us, have served in our fighting forces. General Pace's remarks dishonor that service, as does the 'don't ask, don't tell' law. General Pace must offer an immediate and unqualified apology for his remarks, and Congress must take action to repeal the ban on lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans who want to serve our country."

If you are a balding man and aren't in the hair club for men, who would you want to buy products from? Former NBA player John Amaechi who recently announced publicly that he is gay or Tim "I hate gay people" Hardaway?
Well, now there really isn't much choice since Amaechi has inked a deal to represent Headblade while Hardaway has been dumped by rival company BaldGuyz. Amaechi noted that there is some amount of "karmic justice" in this development but says "I don’t feel any joy [at Hardaway's loss].
The ads featuring Amaechi will run in two basketball magazines, Hoop and Slam, and while HeadBlade is not a huge company, Amaechi's endorsement deal is being noted as a step forward in the acceptance of openly gay athletes by mainstream marketers, according to Towleroad.com.
Meanwhile, the beleaguered Hardaway gave an interview Miami Herald's Barry Jackson and said the impact his hateful anti-gay comments ''hurt the most."
I'll bet. Would he even be sorry if there had not been such instant backlash against him? Doubt it.
Here is more of Hardaway's sob story, I mean interview: ''People have been trying to kick me when I'm down. [The reaction was] very, very shocking. People saying my wife left me -- that's not true. My family is OK and my finances are OK. I'm looking for a second chance and trying to clean up my image. I haven't been in trouble with drugs or guns. I'm an upstanding citizen. Like I told my children, life is not easy. This is a big bump I have to overcome. I'm going to deal with it like a champ. I've got to make sure people know I don't hate gay people.''
Oh, now you DON'T hate gay people. OK. Glad you're making progress on that. If you get all your endorsements back, will you hate gay people again? Will you still feel compelled to cross the street in order to get away from them? Will you still be such an IDIOT?

In case you missed it, CNN is scheduled to re-air Anderson Cooper's terrific interview with his colleague Thomas Roberts, titled "sins of the Father," on Monday where Roberts discusses the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a trusted family chaplain.
"I had a lot of hesitation," Roberts tells People magazine about speaking out. "You worry about what everybody thinks of you."
I'm a little dismayed by some of the reaction I've been reading on the Internet. People are disappointed or downright pissed that Thomas did not mention being gay or that it was not stated at all during the piece. Some feel that Cooper dodged that area because of all the mystery/speculation/interest surrounding his own sexuality.
Here's my take: As for as Anderson Cooper goes, I give him the benefit of the doubt that his not focusing on the openly-gay Roberts' sexuality was a journalistic decision. He's a terrific journalist and does not seem uncomfortable about his sexuality. He just chooses not to talk about it, period. That's his right.
As for Roberts, he has been out for years and in case anyone didn't know, his appearance last fall on a panel about being gay in the new biz at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Assn. convention left no doubt. So let's focus on the actual story here which is about a man who suffered greatly in his life because of the sexual abuse and is now ready to taik about it.
In the interview with People, he recalls a suicide attempt at the age of 14 because he felt that the abuse had to end: "I just wanted to fade away." Rev. Jerome Toohey Jr. comforted Roberts, then molested him for another two years.
"What happened to me was a selfish and disgusting thing to do to a kid," Roberts says. "I thought I'd go to my grave with this secret." The news anchor believes he buried the experience for so long because "I didn't want to understand the severity of what he had done to me. I didn't want to be a victim."
Roberts, 34, now says he feels ready to move on with his life: "I feel like I've been through a ring of fire. Being on this side feels so much better."

So look at the picture above of the Pentagon's top general, Peter Pace, addressing the troops. You gotta figure that there are more than one in that crowd who are gay, who are not being asked and who are not telling. They are choosing to serve our country, gay or straight, and I am grateful beyond words. That's why I was so glad to see the world come down hard on Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when he told a Chicago Tribune reporter this week that he supports the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy because it allows gays to serve and doesn't make "a judgment about individual acts."
Then he went on to say the following: "I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral acts. I do not believe that the armed forces of the United States are well-served through our policies that it's OK to be immoral in any way."
OK, so that's how he feels. I'm SURE he's not immoral in any way.Pul-eeeeeze! And is he about to tell Dick Cheney that his lesbian daughter is immoral in any way? Does this Pace believe that our stretched-too-thin military is better off for discharging more than 10,000 troops including more than 50 specialists in Arabic since 1994?
After a flurry of condemnation, Pace responded by saying that he "should have focused more on my support of the policy and less on my personal moral views."
Ya think?
Politicians from both parties, of course, weighed in. Nancy Pelosi slammed Pace as did Rep. Martin Meehan of Massachusetts who has introduced legislation seeking to repeal the anti-gay policy. "Our military is struggling to find and keep soldiers we need. We are turning away good troops to enforce a costly policy of discrimination," Meehan said. But I was most interested in the statement made by Virginia Senator John Warner, a former Secretary of Navy who is mighty Republican but was also married to Elizabeth Taylor for six years: "I respectfully but strongly disagree with the chairman's view that homosexuality is immoral."
It is ironic that Warner's statement was stronger than those made by Democratic presidential front-runners Senators Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill. who initially played it safe in that maddening way that politicans do.
Said Clinton Tuesday when an ABC reporter asked her whether homosexuality is immoral: "Well, I am going to leave that to others to conclude."
Huh?
Said Obama on Wednesday when pressed Obama for reaction to Pace's comments: "Traditionally, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman has restricted his public comments to military matters. That's probably a good tradition to follow."
Inspiring.
It wasn't until a homosexual advocacy group ripped both candidates for being so wishy-washy that they finally said something that resembled a position.
"Well, I've heard from a number of my friends, and I've certainly clarified with them any misunderstanding that anyone had, because I disagree with General Pace completely," Clinton told Bloomberg News Thursday. "I do not think homosexuality is immoral."
Gee, good thing she heard from her friends. Otherwise she would still be leaving it up to others to decide and not have a position?
Also Thursday, Obama released a statement on the issue. "I do not agree with General Pace that homosexuality is immoral. Attempts to divide people like this have consumed too much of our politics over the past six years."
Yawn.
Thank God that Jo Wyrick, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, let Clinton and Obama know just how lame their initial comments were. Without mentioning either of the 2008 presidential candidates by name, Wyrick said that "most Democrats understand, and should understand, that morality isn't derived from sexual orientation or gender identity. Morality is how you treat your neighbor, support your community and sacrifice for your family and country. When I tuck my daughter into bed at night, those are the values I teach her.
Wyrick went on to say: "We expect Democratic candidates and elected officials to reaffirm those same values, to speak up when families or individuals are scapegoated or maligned for political gain, and to proactively argue the benefits of treating all Americans equally under the law without regard to their sexual orientation or gender identity."
Well said.
Hey! Maybe Wyrick should run for president! She at least has the guts to say what she feels and to express herself clearly and thoughtfully. Imagine that.

Sometimes, you just can't be everywhere at once. For the past three years, this is the week that I have been in Las Vegas covering the ShoWest Convention. I was there when Brad and Angelina walked out on stage about 10 feet from each other a few years ago to try and not look like they were a couple (yeah, right). Al Gore was there last year to push "An Inconvenient Truth" which I skipped to see some creepy movie called "Hard Candy." It was at ShoWest where I watched a Thomas Jane movie ("The Stander") with Thomas Jane sitting right in front of me, blocking my view of a Thomas Jane nude scene. What was I supposed to say, "Can you please movie your head so I can see your ASS?" And at my first ShoWest, I got to ask Meryl Streep a question during a press conference, see Bette Midler real up close and see a very pregnant Gwynth Paltrow teeter on these sky-high platform shoes.
Ah, memories.

But this year, after a grueling award season, It was decided I would take a vacation instead of go to ShoWest. I was cool with that but now that I see what I missed...I'm PISSED! New Line Cinema had called last week and invited me to this "Hairspray" event and I casually begged off since I'd not be attending. Now I see that it was my chance to see James Marsden in the flesh! The my queen, Latifah, and Michele Pfeiffer...and John Travolta! And whoever the girl is playing the Ricki Lake part.

This is an account of the evening: It was a full house with the cast of Hairspray was on hand at ShoWest on Wednesday night — John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Brittany Snow, James Marsden, Elijah Kelley, Allison Janney, Christopher Walken, and Nicole Blonsky as the lead.
JustJared.com reports that 20 minutes of footage from the film (out July 20) was previewed at ShoWest and the reviews are great!
By the way, my reviews were not so great last night. On the last night of my vacation in Palm Springs, I took a break from watching tennis, downed a few greyhounds (vodka and grapefruit juice) and took the stage at the Spurline on Arenas Street downtown. It was kareoke night. I bombed bigtime! Sang a painful version of Carole King's "It's Too Late" but instead of getting booed, the crowd was behind me when I confessed, mid-song, to singing like Cameron Diaz in "My Best Friend's Wedding." After that, everyone sang the choruses with me and I got a big cheer at the end and some high-fives.
Uh boy...I shoulda gone to ShoWest to hear the professionals sing...

My vacation is over. I'm leaving this terrific resort and the Pacific Life Open behind in a few hours to head back to LA. But it's been a wonderful time and even though the top female players lost early, there was a tennis legend on the grounds yesterday who more than made up for it: Billie Jean King!
Billie Jean was honored in the afternoon with the third annual Alan King Tennis Passion Award by King's widow Jeanette King and tournament founder Charlie Pasarell. No one, I mean no one, has had more passion for tennis than Billie Jean King. Her passion has not just been about winning and being number one. It's been about fighting for equal rights, for open tennis, for making tennis more accessible and appealing to the masses. I could go on and on because Billie Jean's accomplishments are as big as her heart. She is an inspiration to anyone who ever wanted to make a difference in the world and make the most of their passion.
Billie Jean's great rival on the court and great friend off the court is Chris Evert, the player who BJK herself says "was the best thing that ever happened to women's tennis." Chrissie was the sports first glamour girl but she also had game: she has the highest winning percentage of any player in history and during a two-decade career, won Wimbledon three times as well as six U.S. Open and a historic seven French Opens.

It should be noted that Chris Evert, America's sweetheart, set the tone back in the early 80s when Billie Jean was outed and Martina Navratilova came out. Chrissie was publicly supportive of both and remains so to this day. She was the top player then and she did what Billie Jean told me has to happen in men's sports: the top guys have to let the public know that they are cool with it and send that message of "deal with it" to the guys in the locker room.
Anyway, Chrissie will be signing autographs tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. on the grounds. I'm sure this means she will be presenting the women's trophy after the championship match. My friend Henry and I worship Evert who will always be known as "Our Chrissie." When she retired in 1989, we moved on to "Our Steffi."
Now we don't really have anyone like that because players like Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Billie Jean just are not around anymore. Serena Williams is as good as they are but her commitment to the game and the tour are nowhere near what theirs was and continues to be. I loved it when the top players showed up week after week and battled each other for supremacy.
Those were the days...

I'll be missing the action at the Pacific Life Open today because, well, my vacation is over! But the tournament on the men's side managed to survive the early loss of Roger Federer because the charismatic and popular Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal both won their matches in straight sets yesterday and will meet in the men's semifinals on Saturday!
That is a dream match up and one that would be anyone's idea of a perfect final. Tonight, Tommy Haas will play Andy Murray and it's tough to call that one but I'm gonna say Haas wins because he has been on FIRE this week. On fire to go with his SMOKING good looks! The other semi is the very non-marquee match between David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic. Sorry I will be missing that. (I know, that didn't sound very sincere...because it wasn't!). And then there are today's women's semis: Na Li vs. Daniela Hantuchova and Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Sybille Bammer. Gee, it pains me to miss those. (lack of sincerity once again...)
But, you take what you get. I'd love to go to the night session to see Haas and Murray but will catch it on ESPN and Saturday should make for a terrific day of tennis just like yesterday was. Nadal and Roddick were both so purposeful and passionate in their wins against very talented and determined opponents and both want to take advantage of Federer's absence and win this great event which ranks only behind the four grand slams: Wimbledon, Australian Open, French Open and U.S. Open as well as the tournament next week in Miami which I think is still called the Erricson Open. It used to be the Lipton and that's what I still call it.
So, it's a wrap. I love tennis and hope to get to another tournament soon! As a parting shot, I share with you a few pics of the gorgeous men who help make this game so worth watching. Is it any wonder I wanted to spend a little vacation down here??
Pictured in order are Roger Federer, Carlos Moya, Rafael Nadal, Tommy Haas, Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal (now how did HE get in there again?) and David Nalbanian.(all pics are courtesy of The Desert Sun which does a heckuva job covering this tournament!)

No, I have not been kidnapped and taken hostage on the Enterprise. But all this vacation stuff led to my forgetting to hype a freelance piece I did that was posted on AfterElton.com yesterday. It's about a gay-themed episode of "Star Trek" that is set to be filmed for the Web-based series "Star Trek: New Voyages" that is continuing the adventures of Spock and Capt. Kirk and others. The script was originally written for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" but got shelved. In the episode, Kirk's nephew is gay! And his boyfriend is a member of the crew...and they are gonna kiss! It was fun talking to the writer, producer and the actors.
It's an interesting piece of Star Trek history for fans and non-fans alike. So click HERE and read the story in its entirety.
Here is a few appetizers:
"This script was written as a promise," says David Gerrold, an associate producer on Next Generation who was largely credited with mapping out that series. "There was a subtext that they were gay, but we treated them like they were really good friends. But someone does ask them: 'How long have you been together?' Well, a few people in the office went ballistic! A memo came down that said, 'We don't want to risk the franchise by having mommies calling the station because they saw gay people on Star Trek.'"
Actor Bobby Rice, who plays Peter Kirk: "How cool is that? It's pretty wild. I never thought I'd be a Kirk. I feel like what we are doing is fantastic and groundbreaking. It takes place in the future, and homosexuality should be generally accepted in the future. Star Trek has always been about tackling these kinds of issues, so it's a great place to have this story. The gay fan base has had a really positive reaction."

You would think that the news cycle would at least do me a favor and slow down a wee bit while I try and take a little vacation. But noooooooooooooo. We've got the Joint Chief of Staffs saying homosexuality is immoral, the presidential candidates taking positions on "don't ask, don't tell," Tim Hardaway wants a second chance, a Prairie Home Bigot has shown his true colors, Jim McGreevey is fighting his ex-wife for custody, a former American Idol finalist who mysteriously dropped out last season getting sued for sexual harassment and on and on.
Since I'm still on vacation, I'd rather just think about things like David Beckham moving to LA soon! He is pictured above in Manchester, England, where he went this week to thank his fans. I'll wait another day before blasting off on these various news topics because I do have an opinion or two about that and more. I'm gonna keep it light and funzy (is funzy a word?) because I'm at this great resort (La Dolce Vita Resort) in Palm Springs, just had a waffle, and am gonna see some tennis in a bit. Nadal is playing after lunch! Tommy Haas, the gorgeous German player, won last night so the hot guys are hanging in.
So last night, did you SEE Diana Ross on "American Idol"? She was as glorious as she ever was as she approaches 45 years in the music biz. She looked GREAT and as she sang "Love You More Today Than Yesterday" and showed everyone how it is done, I couldn't help but put myself in the shoes of the 12 finalists sitting there. It must have been like a master class is pop stardom. Nobody has ever really done the superstar thing better than Diana Ross. The truth is, I don't know what the deal with the big wrap thing was and her voice was a bit thin at times. But guess what. She had total command of that stage every second she was on it and sold that song completely. And the joy of performing is still so evident. What a songbook the finalists had to choose from this week!
Speaking of pop icons, I read on Monday (yes, I do read on vacation..I just do it by the pool) about the great Cyndi Lauper going to be one of the headliners for a brand new "True Colors" tour, in an effort to raise awareness about homosexual rights. Lauper tells the Washington Post: "A lot of people were saying that when it came out they were teenagers and they were coming out. They were disowned by their family and their friends and their jobs got all messed up and they were totally alone, and suicidal, and then they heard `True Colors' and it made them feel hopeful." The 15-city voyage for civil rights begins June 8 in Las Vegas and concludes June 30 in Los Angeles. Other headliners will include such notable performers as Blondie sensation Deborah Harry, the brit-pop duo Erasure and comedian Margaret Cho. " This tour is basically gonna be five hours of some of my favorite bands and me, and Margaret Cho making us laugh, and while we're touring, we're going to be raising awareness." Lauper says. "I think people don't know what's going on, that's all."
I agree that "True Colors" is the greatest gay anthem of all time, even better than Diana Ross' "I'm Coming Out." Listen to the words and try and disagree! I saw her perform live back in 1999 when she was the opening act for Cher's "Believe" tour and she absolutely knocked our socks off. Cyndi Lauper is one cool woman!
And over on "Brothers & Sisters," I see that Kevin Walker's next love interest has been cast. Eric Winter will make his debut next as the gay brother of Rob Lowe and, of course, he is hot! I'm glad to see that they are going to wrap up the Kevin-Chad storyline. I know it's shallow, but don;t you think the whole thing would have been about 100 times hotter is Jason Lewis, who plays closeted soap star Chad, had his hair cropped short the way he did on "Sex and the City"? Think about it. Anyway, I look forward to posting some lip-locks between Winter and Matthew Rhys who plays Kevin. For a straight guy, Matthew sure is a good kisser (from what I can see).
Also, I read that Mario Lopez - the hearthrob who made hearts throb everywhere when he appeared naked on "Nip/Tuck" last fall and accused Julian McMahon of looking at his **** in the shower - is open to appearing on the show again. Well, that would be an awfully good thing...let's write more shower scenes in please.
Finally, a big congratulations to Van Hansis who plays gay teen Luke Snyder on "As The World Turns." He has been nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding younger actor in a daytime drama! Good for him! Here is what he said in an interview with AfterElton.com about his part: Hansis told AfterElton in an interview last year: "As far as playing a gay character, it's nothing that I've ever had any negative feelings about. I love my character. In the end, I'm really glad they made my character gay. I'm able to do so much more than the average soap guy gets to do."
Also, Ellen DeGeneres and her wonderful show got 12 Emmy nominations while "The View" featuring the never-boring Rosie O'Donnell got 10 nods. Great news! This could be the gayest daytime Emmys yet!
OK, I'm gonna take a dip then head back to Indian Wells where the Pacific Life Open is taking place. I've learned to pick up a sandwich at Togo's or something beforehand because I really don't enjoy paying $8.50 for a sandwich! And if you want a Coke with that sandwich...another $3.50! Oh, you want chips? Another $3 please. Oh, you want a frozen lemonade so you don't pass out from heat exhaustion? $5 please.
Have a nice day! I'll be back in L.A. tomorrow sometime so start checking back regularly for more frequent postings!

Hi everyone...I'm still here in the desert watching tennis. All I have to say is, 'Thank God for Rafael Nadal.' No, not just because he's gorgeous and looks good in Capri pants. No, because if not for him, the Pacific Life Open would be without any stars! Roger Federer lost Sunday followed by former number ones Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin as well as the popular American James Blake. On the women's side, the two biggest names, Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis, both lost yesterday! I watched Maria go down yesterday and it was pathetic! She was up 6-4, 5-4 and lost six straight games. I could never imagine Steffi Graf or Monica Seles losing like that. They had too much heart. Sharapova needs some more heart.

I will say this for Roger Federer, he is a great sport. After losing in singles on Sunday night, he went out and played doubles...and won! Then he went out again yesterday and played again...and I was there to watch! Organizers, in a bad miscalculation, put Federer on court 2 which holds only 5,000 people instead of the 16,000-seat main stadium. Court 2 was jammed to the rafters with people also standing, all jammed together, at all the entrances. Federer and his partner lost in a heartbreaker but the respect and love the crowd gave to him was something I will never forget. Players who are as dominant as Federer often get a backlash and fans want to see them lose. But I sense that is not the case with Federer. He is respected and beloved.
So, the best thing about this tournament are the practice courts. You get to see the male players, often shirtless, hitting all their best shots again and again. There's no stopping to start points etc. It's glorious. I watched Nadal for an hour yesterday and another hour today, along with hundreds of other people, and it was more fun that most matches. Also watched the very talented and movie star handsome Tommy Haas (pictured, right) practice yesterday and he is ridiculously good looking. Also watched Martina Hingis practice and she looked sluggish. I was not surprised when she lost last night. Anyway, wanted to share a few thoughts before heading over to dinner at El Mirasol. Barry Manilow eats there about once a week. If I run into him, I'll tell him you all said hello!
Thanks for your patience as Out in Hollywood has slowed to a trickle during my vacation. I am going to try and do some postings (non-tennis) tomorrow morning before heading back out to the tennis courts.
Will sure miss Federer though...I'd watch him anytime. Total class.

Came in from the pool long enough tonight to catch Anderson Cooper's interview with openly gay anchor Thomas Roberts who told the heartbreaking story of being molested as a child by his priest. I'm glad he's
telling his story, it cannot be easy. I dashed off some notes but I think I'll post the story in his own words:

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- I became a victim of sexual abuse at the age of 14; the abuse lasted three years. It took me nearly 20 years to gather the strength to help put my abuser behind bars. Now, a year after "justice" was done, I am ready to tell my story publicly in ways I never have before. My abuser was Father Jeff Toohey, a trusted man of God. He was the equivalent of a religious celebrity in my private all-boys Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland. Father Jeff was every boy's friend and mentor. I considered him my mentor as well.

When my parents divorced, I was sent to Father Jeff to help me cope with all the changes. Divorce in the mid-1980s still seemed so foreign. Plus, I was just a kid, and I didn't know much about divorce. I just knew it sucked. All I had at that time in my life was my family and school. Those were my constants. But as my family fell apart, so did my life at school. After the abuse began, high school became a prison of shame and lies.

I felt trapped. My parents would be horrified to know their failure at marriage put their son at risk to be sexually abused and that the man abusing me was the high school chaplain and beloved priest. The school would never believe me, I thought, and I feared I would be expelled if I revealed the abuse. I was 14, with no voice, except the one in my head saying, "You can never tell the truth about what is happening."

Roughly a month after the abuse started, I attempted to commit suicide. I took a bottle of my mother's pills. I lined them up one-by-one on my maple dresser. I took them all and lay on my bed hoping to just fade away and die. My sister, Patsy, came home and found me. It was the day before her 18th birthday. She saved my life that day just by merely coming to my room to say, "Hi." She saw the pill bottle and went to get ipecac, which made me throw up.

My parents were terribly upset by my actions. Father Jeff was told I tried to kill myself. All agreed I just needed more counseling. Father Jeff's exact words were, "You have so much to live for." I felt so cornered, and I had nowhere to go and no one to run to. I just became numb to the abuse. "This too shall pass" is one of my favorite religious sayings. The abuse did pass, but it left me so insecure about who I was.

When I was in college, another boy, Michael Goles, came forward and reported his abuse at the hands of Father Jeff. I knew I could help Michael if I, too, revealed Father Jeff's abuse, but out of a feeling of self-preservation, I remained quiet. Michael wasn't believed, and his case was thrown out of court.

Nearly 20 years after the abuse started, I became strong enough to go back and confront what had happened to me. I was strong enough to tell my family the truth. I was strong enough to report it to the archdiocese. And I was strong enough to call Michael Goles and tell him, "I am sorry," and that I believe him because it happened to me, too.

Together, we were strong enough to see our abuser finally admit his crimes. Father Jeff was charged with 10 criminal counts of child sexual abuse in relation to my case. He asked for a plea and admitted his guilt in court. He was sentenced to five years in jail but only served 10 months. He was released early to serve eight months in home detention.

This story is so layered. For a long time, I couldn't talk about it without crying. But a year ago, CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper and CNN Senior Producer Charlie Moore approached me about telling and following my story. I was scared. I was scared of being so honest and televising this journey.

What would people think? Would I ruin my career? But I came to the conclusion that I will not be scared anymore. I will not be scared of telling the truth because it might be uncomfortable for people to hear.

If this story compels even one person to seek help for being sexually abused, then it is all worth it. All it takes is telling one person. From there, strength grows and you can tell a second person and so on. Then you can finally have control of your life back.

Happy Monday from the desert! It's beautiful here. I was still on the San Diego portion of my vacation when I learned of Roger Federer's shocking loss at the Pacific Life Open last night. For tennis fans (especially my friend, Henry), this is devastating because Federer was on the verge of making history. His loss snapped a 41 match winning streak. He had not lost since August and if he had won the tourney here, he would have had the longest winning streak in the history of the game. I will have to console myself by watching hunky second-ranked Rafael Nadal (below) progress through the draw. He's wearing his sexy Capri pants again. I love 'em!

It's Greg's spring break! Since I'll be in Palm Springs attending the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament, the blog will be mostly dormant for much of next week (but I reserve the right to post here and there). Just in case, I've gone into the "Out In Hollywood" archives and selected some posts for you to either read for the first time or revisit. I'll be back with a vengeance (and a really good tan) by St. Patrick's Day!

An In-Depth Look at Being Out in Hollywood
Miss Cleo Comes Out!
Greg's Top 10 Guy Movie Kisses

Billy Bean Goes His Own Way
A Chat With Miguel Marquez of ABC News
Greg's Coming Out Story
Martina and Billie Jean A Pair of Aces

Oh How We Still Love Lucy
Dante's Cove: The Profiles
Outie Awards: Day One and Day Two
Greg's red carpet interview with Isaiah Washington
Tony Tripoli: Dishing on a D-Lister

Photo Gallery of Out Heroes
Wedding Wars: The Red Carpet w/Stamos and McSteamy
Greg's Oscar Lunch w/DiCaprio, Wahlberg and Jennifer Hudson
Oscars 2007: Red Carpet Recap and Backstage Recap

The DGA's: From Scorcese's Win to Sobieski's Wardrobe Malfunction
Thomas Roberts: Out on the Airwaves
Greg's review of Dreamgirls and a Second Opinion

John Amaechi: Out on the Court
Meet Marco Dapper
Greg's night w/the Designing Women

As i prepare for a week-long vacation, I realized I still had some unused material from my interview with former NBA player John Amaechi who I had a nice lunch with last month. Here is some of what he had to say about the practice of outing closeted famous people:
"It is reprehensible with one exception:If you are a closeted person, man or woman, and you make it your mission to make the lives of gays and lesbians worse with your words and your deeds, you're asking for it. If you are a politican who consistently votes for anti-GLBT ordinances, you're asking for it. I don't condone [outing] but I couldn't damn it in that respect. But when it comes to Lance Bass from NSYNC or T.R. Knight, no. Let them have their own personal journey.the same way each one of us expects to be allowed that. I'm pretty sure nobody destroyed Perez Hilton's personal journey to coming out so why destroy somebody elses? It's such a massive transition."

Is this why he left any juicy tidbits out of his boo, "Man in the Middle"?
"If I named names, that would make me as bad as Perez Hilton. I'm a private person. The editors and publishers wanted me to go into more detail. but the fact is, most of it wasn't that titilating and those that were important to me, I didn't want to discuss."

So is he in a relationship now?
"Nope! I'm far too difficult for that."

How has he changed since leaving the NBA?
"I'm not a different person than I was. That's the key, I'm just not. I was gay, all my life. I was certainly gay six months ago, I'm hoping I'll be gay in 10 year's time. So, it doesn't change although people may change their perception of me. But since when should i allow other people's perceptions of me to change who I am?"

On pro athletes like Billy Bean and others who came out before him: "Each person who's done it has brought a different thing to the table, a different aspect. I believe I'm bringing a pretty cerebral approach to this that cuts through a lot of the emotive crap and allows us to discuss the real issues. And that's my place in this. I'm never going to be fuzzy. Fuzzy and warm I am only with children. That's [Bean's] role in this. He is an emotional connection to this for people whereas I doubt very much that I am an emotional connection because I sound too detatched. It's who i am, it's how I interact."

TGIF! Friday, March 10, 2007 was a day of record traffic for Out In Hollywood! 15,481 hits in a single day!!! I don't know about you, but I think it's time to celebrate!!!

I am sure that it would be overly optimistic to think that Ann Coulter, who has written and said so many cruel things over the years, is doing any soul searching over the controversy swirling around her right now. I'm not convinced she has a soul, quite frankly.
This piece from Editor & Publisher gives some terrific insight into what some of the newspapers who plan to continue running her column are thinking right now:
At least seven of Ann Coulter's approximately 100 clients dropped her column this week, meaning more than 90 are keeping the feature -- at least for now. Editor & Publisher called some newspapers to find out why they've opted to continue publishing her in the wake of Coulter's March 2 "faggot" reference about former Sen. John Edwards (and her previous incendiary comments).
"She didn't use that language in her column," said Michael P. Clark, editorial page editor of The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. If she had used the F-word slur in her Universal Press Syndicate feature, he added, "we would have edited it out."
Clark declined further comment, except to conclude: "We plan to keep her column."
The Casper Star-Tribune also plans to continue publishing Coulter. "I don't like Ann Coulter, but many of my readers do," said Clark Walworth, editor of the Wyoming daily. "And I resent being lectured to by people who don't even subscribe to my paper."
Walworth was referring to the liberal MediaMatters.org site posting the names of Coulter's clients and suggesting that people contact those papers. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a gay-rights group, has also urged people to contact some of the conservative Coulter's clients.
David Hampton, editorial director of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., reported that his newspaper received about 3,000 e-mails since last night due to the MediaMatters.org listing. "It's the most mail I've ever gotten on anything," he told E&P, adding that he has also received some calls from local readers criticizing Coulter.
Like Walworth, Hampton is not a Coulter fan. "I've never agreed with anything that woman has uttered or written," he said. But Hampton is keeping Coulter, at least for now, because he wants a wide variety of commentary in The Clarion-Ledger. "She's loved and hated by many people in our region," Hampton added.
Hampton did emphasize that Coulter's use of the word "faggot" was "terrible, offensive, and out of line" -- and that her column is "really on the edge" of what his paper accepts. "We do monitor her column closely -- more than our other columns," he said, resulting in some of her past pieces either being spiked or edited.
"I think her popularity will continue to wane," concluded Hampton. "I believe ideas rise and fall on their merits, and I haven't seen much depth in hers."
The Associated Press reported that another Coulter client, the Elko (Nev.) Daily Free Press, decided Friday to keep the columnist after soliciting the opinions of readers.
On Thursday, the Free Press had posted a note reporting that it received thousands of e-mails generated by the HRC campaign, but said none of the e-mails were local. So the paper asked local readers to weigh in.
"As of this morning we had received nearly 60 phone calls or faxes, and about nine out of 10 wanted us to keep running Ann Coulter," said Free Press Managing Editor Jeff Mullins, as quoted in a Friday story in his paper.
Mullins added: "Many callers said they thought Ann Coulter had a right to express herself, and they did not want us to be swayed by those seeking her removal."

The photo (right) of tennis legend Billie Jean King was taken at Wimbledon in 1982. She was 38 years old and a year earlier, had been outed by her former female lover who was suing her for palimony. King, with her then-husband Larry and her parents at her side, had at an emotional press conference and bravely acknowledged the relationship which had taken place for several years in the mid-1970s. What I find amazing was that when all of this became public, Billie Jean's career was thought to be all but over. But she got herself into shape, went back on tour, and upset reigning U.S. open champion Tracy Austin to make it to the Wimbledon semifinals. She may have lost a close three-setter to Chris Evert in the semis, but she reminded the world that she was still a great player. Billie Jean was back in the top 10, won some tournaments and made it to the semis again at Wimbledon (where she held a record 20 titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles) again in 1983 before retiring.
Billie Jean, long one of my great personal heroes, recently talked to The Advocate about that time in her life, about former doubles partner Martina Navratilova's coming out, and about Renee Richards who became the first transsexual to play on the women's tour.
On Renee Richards, who has a new memoir out: "No Way Renee: The Second Half of My Notorious Life": "I think she should be so proud. Every generation passes the baton to the next. It had to be horrible for her. But you do have to live your truth; that's what Renee did."
On being outed: "Both Martina and I were still closeted at the time. Martina told me, 'I knew when I was born I was gay.' I said, 'What?' You did?' I didn't know at all; I didn't have a clue. Martina and I were both going to be outed. I was outed, but she was going to be, and that's the reason she came forward. She was not going to do it otherwise, believe me. It was really rough times for us."
On athletes coming out: "It's the gay guys that have it even rougher. We need quarterbacks of football teams stepping up and saying, 'This guy's gay, suck it up, get over it.' I saw [former NFL commisioner] Paul Tagliabue at a Patriots game and he said: "Guess what? My son's going to be head of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.' He was so excited, so sweet. One person at a time. Little steps. Little shifts."

One of my favorite features in The Advocate each issue is its "Big Gay Following" page where a straight celebrity beloved by gays is interviewed. The March 27 issue features Rachel Griffiths who we first got to know as the bride's best friend in "Muriel's Wedding" then as Brenda in "Six Feet Under" and now as big sister Sarah on ABC's "Brothers & Sisters."
Here is some of what she had to say:
On co-starring in "Ned Kelly" with Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom: "A very good day at work. I got to make out with Orlando and get tied up by Heath. It was fun."
On "Brothers & Sisters" gay character, Kevin, Sarah's younger brother: "I'm proud to be on a family drama that's totally mainstream and can integrate a gay character who's in no way "other" and who's not deprived of any of the joys and difficulties that his straight siblings go through."
On a homophobic fan: "This lady told me she loved 'Brothers & Sisters' then said, 'But I hope you pass this on to the producers, that we could really do without all that gay kissing.' I told her a story my grandmother told me: She went to Paris in 1932 and saw a black man holding the hand of a white woman, and she felt so horrified she almost threw up. My grandmother told me she knew that reaction was wrong, but it was the way she had been brought up. So I told this lady, 'Maybe when you're 98 you'll tell your granddaughter how you saw two men kissing one day, and how you felt, but you know that's wrong, and that was just how you were brought up.' She was shocked. I said, 'So I'm not going to tell the show's creators that. that's for you to work out.'"

Wow. I think Rachel's big gay following just got even bigger!

So it was pay raise time over at "Grey's Anatomy" which has had almost as much drama off-screen lately as it has on-screen. Ellen Pompeo, who plays the title character on the show, will now make nearly $200,000 per episode. SAG winner Chandra Wilson, a far more talented actress in my opinion, was given a raise to about $125,000 per show - the same amount that James T. Pickens Jr., who plays the chief of staff on the show, will be getting. Hottie Justin Chambers and openly gay T.R. Knight are close to new signing new pacts for the same amount as Wilson and Pickens.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, terms of the new deal are retroactive, going back to the first episode of this season. There are 22 episodes in a season. You guys do the math. I'm figuring they are making a lotta cash!
The contract status for Isaiah Washington was not clear. It has been rumored that he might continue on the show without a raise in light of the recent controversy surrounding his use of a homophobic slur, but his communication with the show's producer, ABC TV Studio, has been kept under wraps.
Yet to close new deals are Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh and Katherine Heigl. Details on Heigl's stalled contract renegotiations were leaked to the media late last month making it clear that she was not happy with whatever bump she was being offered. Apparently the supporting players headed into the renegotiation process as a group that quickly dissolved, leading to individual contract talks between each cast member and the studio. Clearly they are not as tight a group as the cast of "Friends" which always, without fail, negotiated as a group, and got so rich that even if none of them ever have another hit, they are more than set for life.

After meeting J.P. Calderon last night, I suddenly became interested in "The Janice Dickerson Modeling Agency," the reality show on which the former "Survivor" contestant is competing. Here is a shot from a recent episode. Whaddaya think? I say J.P. has 'em all beat!

I posted some pictures of Chris Evans earlier this week from his cover spread in Boston magazine. Some people complained that he simply had too many clothes on. And so, here are a few shots to satisfy you readers who seem to be so smitten with shirtless guys. What is WRONG with you people?
He is awfully cute tho...

I'm still filled with regret over missing the Brothers & Sisters panel Monday night at the Paley Television Festival and provided you all with my lame summary cobbled together and a few pictures. Founds tons more shots on the terrific site A Socialite's Life and picked out the best of the bunch for you. Isn't Sally Field (above) just lovely? Was she really Gidget 42 years ago? I love her! And what about the enormously talented and appealing Matthew Rhys (below) whose Kevin Walker is the most wonderful gay character to come along on network television - ever.

And, of course, you could never have enough pictures of the ageless and oh-so handsome Rob Lowe...

Below (left) is the enormously talented Patrica Wettig of whom I am a big fan...and the terrific Calista Flockhart whose character has come together after an iffy start. She only gets more appealing every week and her chemistry with Lowe is sizzlin!

Finally, two more siblings: David Annabale (yum) and the brilliant Rachel Griffiths:

Blogger Kenneth in the (212) has a darn good eye for guy candy. He posted these nice black and white pics of the very appealing James Marsden today and I felt compelled to share with you all...

If you are a fan of the BBC's "Footballers Wives" show, then you will know that these pictures are of Ben Price, season three's remarkably Beckham-ish bisexual soccer stud Conrad Gates. Kenneth in the (212) posted scores of sizzling pictures of this gorgeous guy on his blog today. Most of the pictures I cannot post myself being part of a family newspaper and all. But I share with you what I can.

Price currently stars in "Casualty" as Nathan Spencer and was recently voted one of the 10 actors most likely to succeed in Hollywood by Stage and Screen magazine. Price appeared on the July 2006 cover of Out magazine .

I start a week-long vacation tomorrow and have two freelance stories to turn in before I depart. So, my head was splitting last night, I felt overwhelmed. So what did I do? I went to a party! It wasn't just any party, it was a major shindig at Boulevard 3 in Hollywood thrown by Time-Warner Cable celebrating the launch of MTV's LOGO throughout Los Angeles.
It was a star-studded affair charmingly emceed by Wilson Cruz and featured remarks by LOGO President Brian Graden. Bruce Vilanch arrived a little late and missed the red carpet but Joan Jett, Lance Bass, Chynna, the band Erasure, Jai Rodriguez, Jason Stuart, J.P. Calderon, Beth Grant, Tony Tripoli and Doug Spearman were all on time and most took a few minutes to gab with me.
I gotta say, Lance Bass is far more attractive in person! Pictures don't always do him justice. He was very sweet and told me that he would love to be involved in LOGO somehow, "maybe producing a few things." Lance has just announced that he is working on his autobiography, "Out of Sync."
Wilson Cruz, who I profiled for Frontiers magazine last year, told me he has just filming an indie movie called "Ode" and is busy developing a new series "for a network to be disclosed." Hmmmm. Wilson was in the second season of "Noah's Arc" which was recently announced as a feature film: "I don't know that I'll be in the movie since my character sort of wrapped up his storyline. But I would love to be!"
Wilson came out way back in 1995 when he was 19 and starring in ABC's "My So-Called Life."
"I think it's pretty amazing that we now have a gay network on 24 hours a day. In 1995, I would have never imagined that we would have a network to tell our stories by us and for us."
Actor Jason Stuart, whose most recently starred with Cruz in the indie fave "Coffee Date," has been on several LOGO comedy specials and when he's not performing, he watches the network plenty:
"I'm thrilled! Gay TV all the time! I want to watch my peeps." Stuart is especially excited about LOGO's acquisition of the BBC show "Bad Girls."
"A lesbian prison show from England! I can't get enough of lesbians in prison."
"Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" cast member Jai Rodriguez says of LOGO: "I'm amazed and proud that a network like LOGO can succeed. And what I really like about LOGO is that the programming is diverse enough to also capture some of the straight audience."
Handsome "Noah's Arc" star Doug Spearman is especially grateful to LOGO because "as an actor, it's given me a TV show and made me a lead. It's every actor's dream. And now they're gonna make me a movie star! Also, as a gay man, LOGO gives me something to watch."
Also gabbed with Tony Tripoli, another one of my past story subjects for Frontiers. Tony came to the public eye as one of Kathy Griffith's "gays" on her "Life on the D-List" show but has since become a busy actor whose most recent gig was a fun guest spot on the CBS comedy "Two and a Half Men."
"I didn't expect to fall in love with Charlie Sheen," Tony told me. "But the entire week, he was right next to me and he was just the sweetest guy." But he laments his wardrobe on the show: "Purple is officially over now. I wore so much purple that the color is now banned on CBS on Monday nights."
And I save the hunkiest for last.
J.P. Calderon, the "Survivor" contestant who came out a few months ago on "Janice Dickerson's Modeling Agency" and has appeared on the cover of Instinct. He could not have been sweeter (or hotter!). I asked him what life has been like since he took the brave step of coming out in such a public way.
"It's been great. I'm in such a happier place now, so much more excited about life. It's about being happy with who you are as a person."
Calderon, a college graduate who played men's volleyball, says he is focusing on modeling and hopes to also do some acting: "I was too afraid before to do it. Now I feel like I can conquer the world!"

It was great to see Doug Spearman ("Noah's Arc") and Tony Tripoli ("Fashion House") last night at the party Time-Warner threw to celebrate the LA launch of LOGO. We were gabbing about this and since I'm such a nosy bitch, I asked these two gorgeous guys if they are an item! They're not. But they want to play former boyfriends on TV! While Spearman is slated to appear in the big-screen version of "Noah's Arc," he wants to maintain a presence on the small screen. So he and Tripoli have pitched a show to LOGO called "Hot Guys With Guns."
OK, that title along had me at hello. They describe it as two exes who work together solving crimes who have that "Moonlighting" Cybill Shepherd-Bruce Willis sexual tension between them.
"It the 'will they or won't they?' thing," says Tripoli.
Tripoli worked with Morgan Fairchild on the MyTV Network's soap "Fashion House" playing a designer working for a firm run by Bo Derek. He and Spearman met with Fairchild to try and convince her to take a role on the show.
"You're not really gay until you've had lunch with Morgan Fairchild!" Tripoli jokes.
Personally, the whole thing sounds really intriguing and I wish them luck it getting it off the ground!

Filming of Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd," a feature film version of the classic Broadway musical, was halted this week due to the illness of star Johnny Depp's daughter. Lily-Rose Depp has been released from the hospital after nine days of treatment for what is thought to have been a serious case of blood poisoning.
Depp’s spokesperson Robin Baum confirmed that Lily-Rose is now “doing much better” and has been taken back to the London hotel.
A representative from the Sweeney Todd production said: “We have adjusted the schedule to accommodate [Johnny’s] needs at this moment. We understand that [Lily-Rose] is improving. Obviously, everybody at the studio is certainly with them in their good spirits.”
Depp plays the main character in the film, which is a screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s macabre musical about a vengeful London barber in 19th-century London. It marks the sixth time that Depp and Burton have joined forces, with past movies including ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ ‘Ed Wood,’ ‘Edward Scissorhands’ and ‘Sleepy Hollow.’
The story of Sweeney Todd is of a wrongfully imprisoned barber in Victorian England who sets out to seek revenge on the judge who imprisoned him. He is helped by Mrs. Lovett, who bakes Sweeney's victims into "the worst pies in London."
The film also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen and Christopher Lee with the stars doing their own singing for the film, which is scheduled for a late 2007 release. Carter has the role of Mrs. Lovett which was originated by Angela Lansbury on Broadway in the late 1970s and won her a fourth Tony Award. The great Patti Lupone played the role in a Broadway revival of the show last season and was Tony nominated for her performance.
Carter has some mighty big shoes to fill.

What would a day be without a couple of Rosie O'Donnell items?
Rosie makes the world so much more interesting. Sometimes, I worry that she goes to far but overall, I share many of her sensibilities.
On her blog, Rosie had a litte something for "American Idol" producer Nigel Lythgoe who her remarks about his being show being racist and weightist "absurd," "ridiculous," "self-promotional" and "without thought or knowledge."
This is from Rosie.com:
what can u say really
from the coca-cola red couch

i call it as i see it
nigel l - sam r
same same same
1985 - 2007
blah blah blah blha
blha blha blah blha

Rosie appears to be equating Lythgoe with Sam Riddle ("sam r"), the producer of "Star Search," where O'Donnell got her start by winning several weeks in a row.

On Friday's episode of "The View," which was pre-taped earlier in the week, was devoted to women and depression and Rosie shared that she began treatment for depression after the Columbine school shootings and hangs upside down for up to a half-hour a day to improve her mental state.
When teen gunmen killed 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, O'Donnell said she felt as if it had happened to her children.
''I couldn't stop crying,'' she said. ''I stayed in my room. The lights were off. I couldn't get out of bed and that's when I started taking medication.''
She says anyone concerned about the stigma of taking medication for depression (like her one-time boy crush Tom Cruise?) should know that ''it saved my life,'' she said.
When she began taking antidepressants, Rosie says she began yoga and ''inversion therapy,'' where she hangs upside down by a swing for 15 to 30 minutes a day. She demonstrated it on the show.
O'Donnell said she also has seasonal affective disorder, often called SAD, the wintertime blues that can strike when the days grow short. SAD is characterized by recurrent major depressive episodes during the fall and winter. She says she is ''instantly happy'' on sunny days but feels as if she's being tortured when it's cloudy. She feels the most important thing to do when you're feeling depressed is to get up and move.
''Like in 'The Wizard of Oz' the color goes out,'' she said. ''That is what happens in depression. Everything gets gray.''

Or is Brad Pitt hotter than ever since he became a daddy? Pitt, pictured here in New Orleans with two of his kids, is the Out In Hollywood hunk of the day!!!

So am I reporting this because I enjoy it or because it is legitimate news? Let's say a little bit of both...
Editor & Publisher reports that at least two more daily newspapers -- The Oakland Press of Michigan and The Mountain Press of Sevierville, Tenn. -- have dropped Ann Coulter's column. A daily in Pennsylvania had dropped the column two days ago and the Shreveport Times dropped it yesterday.
Boo hoo.
Oakland Press Editorial Page Editor Allan Adler said Coulter's use of the word "faggot" in a Friday speech was "definitely a factor" in his newspaper's decision. He also read a statement from his paper that went as follows:
"When we picked up Ann Coulter, it was because we felt we needed a conservative columnist ... and we knew she had a following. She certainly no longer represents conservatism and apparently is more interested in being a celebrity. We are searching for a new columnist and will no longer be running Coulter."
In a story today on its W