MTV's "Real World New Orleans," which aired in 2000, featured darling Danny, whose new love, Paul, was in the military. Because being recognized could lead to Paul being removed from military service - or worse - his identity was masked by an oval blur for the five months of the series. The couple is still together, although media exposure for Danny finally pushed Paul to leave the military. All this week, MTV News is airing an interview - "Out in the Real World" - with the two that explores their lives and the impact of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on gay servicemembers. The MTV website has some background on the guys, as well as a photo of the mysterious Paul. Cute, but he's even better looking on the broadcast.

MTV

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Armin Miewes, the gay German who advertised for a willing victim for him to murder and eat is not legally insane, a psychiatrist has told the court trying him. Miewes used the Internet to advertise for a lover to kill and eat. After auditioning up to four men, Miewes settled on Bernd Juergen Brandes. Dr. Heinrich Wilmer acknowledges that although he doesn't think Miewes is psychologically unbalanced, the defendant could use some therapy.

Yahoo!

Filed in: Gay | LINK

If nothing else, Charlize Theron hopes playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos will make people forget the orange dress. The form-fitting gown she wore to the 2000 Oscars apparently was so memorable that Theron believes that it actually hurt her career. "I can't tell you how many times I've auditioned for a role, only to have my agent come back and say, "Listen, Charlize, they saw you in the orange dress and they don't think you can do it." Patty Jenkins of "Monster" never saw the orange dress. And that proved fortunate for Theron, who was just nominated for a Golden Globe for her remarkable performance, in which she plays a woman who murdered men to support her girlfriend.

Daily Herald, dress photo

Filed in: Lesbian | LINK

The eternal debate continues about whether self-respecting gay people can be Republicans in good conscience. Log Cabin Republicans' Patrick Guerriero says the gay group tries to work for change within the party, but it's not a popular plan with everyone. "They have been seen by many people as willing to trade civil rights for lower taxes," says Michael Alvear, author of "Men Are Pigs But We Love Bacon." Gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, says Guerriero has shown signs this year of steering the organization in a new direction. "He inherited a group that was essentially just shilling for the Republican Party," Frank says. "But under Patrick, they seem to be saying, 'We'll support you, but it's not a gimme.'"

Sun Herald

Filed in: Gay | LINK

A new British TV series revealing secret history of the last 50 years includes information about chemical weapons and spy schools. But let's skip to the good part. In 1969, the Royal Navy did a little survey in which it found that half of naval servicemen had had sexual contact with other men. Also revealed were secret criteria for uncovering lesbians in the military: Security officers would go through the gals' record collections. Anyone found with more than one Joan Armatrading album was deemed to be of a Sapphic persuasion. "The Labour government of the day under Harold Wilson spent hours fretting about such matters," says the series' executive producer.

thisisDevon

Filed in: Lesbian | LINK

Pretend lesbians Yulia Volkova, 18, and Lena Katina, 19, of Tatu are running against Vladimir Putin in a bid to become joint presidents of their native Russia. The Sun, our favorite British tabloid next to the Mirror, has included a photo of Yulia with her hand on Lena's breast. ... Frankly, we've seen more passionate mammograms. At any rate, with their music career in the dumper, the pair have decided to collect signatures to get more publicity, er, get on the ballot.

The Sun

Filed in: Lesbian | LINK

Iowa Judge Jeffrey A. Neary has amended his Nov. 14 order in which he granted a divorce to two lesbians who had been joined in a civil union in Vermont. In his new two-page ruling, Neary says Iowa courts do not have jurisdiction to grant a dissolution of marriage from a Vermont civil union. He vacated his earlier dissolution decree but ruled that the civil union was terminated. Neary declared the women "single individuals with all the rights of an unmarried couple." An earlier stipulated agreement regarding division of property between the women remains in effect. Conservatives are still unhappy, but the women still get to go their separate ways.

GlobeGazette.com

Filed in: Lesbian | LINK

A gay police officer in London has been awarded the MBE - which is something about Queen Elizabeth, a lovely medal and the New Year - for helping modernize police attitudes toward diversity. Inspector Paul Cahill, 32, says the situation has dramatically improved in the past five years. When he joined the police in the 1990s he said it was "virtually not acceptable to be gay." Now each London division has an officer to liaise with the gay community and the Gay Police Association, of which he is chairman, has 1,000 members. BBC

Also honored was Edinburgh, Scotland's Anne Patrizio, who works with a hotline for parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children. "This award is very exciting," she said. "... When my son came out about 15 years ago I rang the helpline and it was the best thing I could have done. It is not because I was anti-gay, it is that when your child comes out you don’t know how to help them." Scotsman.com

British MBE honors

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Massachusetts' highest court has ruled that the Legislature did not violate the state constitution when it refused to vote last year on a citizen initiative to bar gay marriage in Massachusetts. A chorus of boos and cheers rained down from the packed House balcony in July 2002 after the Legislature voted 137-53 to adjourn, rather than consider the proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The move prevented opponents of gay marriage from getting the constitutional amendment on the statewide ballot as soon as November 2004. Cape Cod Times

The New York Supreme Court won't hear an appeal of the case brought by Paul Priore, who sued the New York Yankees for $50 million. By not hearing the reversal, the Supreme Court gives a victory to the Yankees. Priore had said several Yankee players made anti-gay remarks and played jokes on him, and that he was fired in 1997 because he was HIV-positive. The Yankees had said that Priore was fired for stealing. Workforce.com

Today's Short Takes

Filed in: | LINK

Samantha Fox, long a pin-up girl in Britain, later a pop singer, came out as a lesbian in 2003. At one time, she was one of Britain's most photographed women, coming third after Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher. She released four albums, all of which did respectably. When the hits dried up she tried her hand at acting, appearing in three films. She recently recorded a new album, "Watching You Watching Me," currently only available for sale in Germany, France and on her official website. Fox is currently in a relationship with her manager Myra Stratton and is No. 3 on icWales' Where Are They Now? list.

icWales

Filed in: Lesbian | LINK

Courteney Cox and David Arquette won't have to worry about hiring a nanny when their baby comes. David's drag-queen brother, Alexis, has moved into the couple's Hollywood Hills home to help care for the tot. Alexis - who moonlights in high heels as Eva Destruction - let slip during a taping of "The Sharon Osbourne Show" that the 39-year-old "Friends" star is expecting in October. New York Daily News (second item)

Tammy Faye (Bakker) Messner says she may pick up some make-up tips from the drag queens she'll appear with this Friday. Tammy Faye will host Drag Bingo in Durham, North Carolina, to raise money for the Alliance of AIDS Services Carolina. Tammy Faye says plenty of drag performers "do a better job of me than I do." WIStv

The ironically named Rev. Sandra DePriest has become the first Mississippi Episcopal to step down to protest the ordination of the church's first openly gay . DePriest says she can no longer actively serve as a priest until the gay issue is resolved, though she apparently weathered the uproar a few years ago over ordaining women somewhat better. SunHerald

Former Lansing, Michigan, mayoral candidate Melissa Sue Robinson filed Monday to seek election to the 69th District of the Michigan House of Representatives. Robinson, a transsexual, ran her first campaign as Charles Staelens Jr., her birth name, when officials refused to alter the ballot. Lansing State Journal (last item)

Terrance Curtis, who attacked Canadian legislator Andy Scott over the issue of gay marriage, is to be sentenced next week after pleading guilty Monday to assault and uttering death threats. A psychiatric assessment revealed Curtis suffers from "bipolar syndrome as well as slight psychotic tendencies," his lawyer Lisa Keenan said Monday. east.com

Today's Short Takes

Filed in: | LINK

A new bar in Leesburg, Florida, hopes to use the last hours of the year as the beginning of a successful business. Coyotes Lounge is scheduled to open its doors at 6 p.m. New Year's Eve. The club has not determined exactly what its image will be. Different music will be played each night for some time, as managers feel out the community’s tastes. But one change is certain. "This used to be a gay club, and one thing we want to be certain of is that people know it isn't going to be anymore," he said. "It’s a straight club, open to everybody." Because "everybody" is straight.

The Daily Commercial

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Olivia Watts, an Australian Wiccan healer who is also transsexual, is at the center of a religious war due to be played out before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Watts alleges religious vilification, which began when she decided to run for public office. The City of Casey's Rob Wilson issued a press release claiming that a satanic cult was about to take over the city. Meaning Watts. Since then, her business on the city's outer suburban fringe has collapsed; she has been physically attacked; and her home and car vandalized.

The Age

Filed in: Transgender | LINK

Are they or aren't they? Well, the probably aren't, but at one South Florida school, the chic thing for young ladies to do is to kiss other girls, usually at the urging of boys. It's rebellious, it's attention-getting and it seems to have no real social consequences for the girls. Boys don't have that same freedom. "It's all fine and good for women, but if a guy is experimenting with a guy, he'll feel the consequences," says student David Sternberg, who is gay. "Someone could really hurt you or make a point of humiliating you."

Sun-Sentinel

Filed in: Bisexual | LINK

In 1970, Jack Baker and Michael McConnell went to the county clerk's office in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to get a marriage license. When they were turned down because they are both men, Baker sued, lost, appealed and lost. Gay activists at the time said pursuing marriage rights would only antagonize the non-gay public; only the "lunatic fringe" could be interested in something like marriage. But then the world changed. Two factors that affected how same-sex couples saw themselves and their families were a big part of that change: the emergence of HIV/AIDS and a lesbian baby boom.

Newsday

Filed in: Gay | Lesbian | LINK

The Israeli Knesset has passed the first reading of a bill granting common-law couples the same legal recognition as married partners when claiming compensation. If passed in final reading, the law will require the NII (National Insurance Institute) to treat these couples the same as married couples in cases of accident. The initiators of the bill, the Shinui party, say the present law does not specifically designate common-law couples as partners. Thus, they say, it is necessary to clarify in law that the term "partners" includes common-law, gay and lesbian couples. The bill also redefines "spouse" to include same-sex partners.

Israel21c (fourth item)

Filed in: Gay | LINK

The federal Children's Internet Protection Act helps schools pay for Internet access, with strings attached: The schools must try to shield students from objectionable material. Cleveland, Ohio, officials have gotten several complaints lately about censored words or sites. A search for "gay" or "lesbian" invokes a "Forbidden" message in school libraries. "My right to information as a student is being violated," says Jared Fox, a library aide at James Ford Rhodes High School and head of the district's first Gay Straight Alliance, a student group.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Ray Leuenberger is not comfortable visiting most senior centers or talking about his partner of 10 years while there. But Cleveland's newest senior center is different. The senior center convenes Wednesdays and Fridays at the Lesbian Gay Community Center on Detroit Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. Its full name is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Senior Center. Ohio has nothing else like it, said Ron Hill, executive director of the Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging, which oversees senior services in five Northeast Ohio counties. "This is a place where we can go, and it gives us a chance to be with other people who are gay and lesbian," says Leuenberger, 71. "We weren't getting out into the community before."

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Lesbian comedian Rhona Cameron believes the Lotto is a curse following the death of a relative who won a fortune. The Brit now refuses to play the game because her beloved (non-smoking) aunt was struck down by lung cancer just months after scooping hundreds of thousands of pounds. "Now I feel quite strange about the lottery," says Cameron. "I feel she was jinxed by it." Her father and an uncle have also died young. Cameron - who has done her share of reality shows, including the British version of "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" - has just published "1979: A Big Year In A Small Town," which deals with her sexuality and the death of her father.

Sunday Mail

Filed in: Lesbian | LINK

The National Trust, Britain's biggest charity, is to open up its historic properties as the stage gay weddings. (Be sure to check out the pictures.) Five of its grandest locations are to be made available for blessing ceremonies for gay couples in a move that throws the weight of one of the country's most respected institutions behind the gay rights movement. The decision paves the way for the Trust to open the doors of more than 200 properties as venues for legal same-sex marriages. It remains to be seen how the Trust's conservative patrons will react.

ThisisLondon

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Lesbian columnist Deb Price writes this week about Amanda Blair and Stephanie Haaser, two heterosexual girls who decided to take a stand for their gay peers. Blair decided to take a female friend to the prom to protest homophobia in her Wyoming town. Police stopped them at the door, and although Blair missed her prom, she got the rules changed with a little help from the ACLU. Haaser decided to buss one of her friends on top of a cafeteria table to protest homophobia at her Maryland high school. It was part of a class assignment to commit a non-conformist act. She and her friend were suspended from school, but she says the change she sees in fellow students' attitudes made it worthwhile. Watch out when this generation is running the country, says Price.

Detroit News

Filed in: Lesbian | LINK

Canadians are still appalled by legislator Larry Spencer's declaration that gay sex should be a criminal offense, but now the Canadian press is looking into U.S. attitudes to see where the American expatriate could have gotten this stuff. Forty-one percent surveyed in the U.S. think gay sex should be illegal, and 44 percent think we could be heterosexual if only we'd try a little harder. Yeah, our countries are a wee bit different on social issues. "You can be a social conservative in the U.S. without being a wacko. Not in ," says McGill University economist Chris Ragan.

Vancouver Sun

Filed in: Gay | LINK

After legalizing gay marriages earlier this year, Belgium is moving closer to granting same-sex couples the right to adopt children. Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's own Dutch-speaking Liberal Party said it will table a bill to parliament to do away with the legal uncertainty surrounding children in such unions. "Research and the practical experience of countries which already allow adoption by same-sex and bisexual couples, show that children raised by same-sex parents are not affected in a negative way," the VLD party said in a statement on its website.

Al Jazeera

Filed in: Gay | LINK

The reindeer candlesticks are on the mantel, the bar is stocked with vodka, and decorations festoon the snug Alexandria, Virginia, townhouse where Eric Nelson and his Russian partner are celebrating their 11th Christmas holiday together. Their love transcends cultures; now it just has to survive U.S. law. That's because Nelson's partner, Andrei, is a man living here on a work visa. If Andrei were a woman, Nelson could marry him and sponsor him for permanent U.S. residency. With that route closed, Andrei might have no way to stay in the country when his visa expires in two years. They may move to France to stay together.

Washington Post

Filed in: Gay | LINK

The pope is still trying to rally the world against same-sex marriage: "In our times, a misunderstood sense of rights has sometimes disturbed the nature of the family institution and conjugal bond itself," he said this week. The Boston Channel

The First Church of the Nazarene in Texarkana, Texas, doesn't seem to mind that gospel singer Kirk Talley is gay; he's singing there on January 4. Talley was recently the subject of a blackmail attempt by a man he met on the Internet. Texarkana Gazette (see "Music")

Today's Short Takes

Filed in: | LINK

10 years ago, the brutal rape and murder of Brandon Teena, a transgender person in Falls City, Nebraska, propelled an activist movement to demand civil rights for the transgendered. Since then, a few large companies and a few states have included transgender rights in their anti-discrimination policies. Nebraska's attempt at an anti-discrimination law, which did not include protections for transgender people in 1997 law was found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme court. Although Falls City and Nebraska have received national attention for the case through news and the movie "Boys Don't Cry," many residents still blame Teena at least partially for what happened to him.

Sioux City Journal

Filed in: Transgender | LINK

Chief Inspector David Lyle of Lothian and Border, Scotland, is urging gay policeman to come out. Lyle is the coordinator of the Gay Police Association (GPA), the fourteen year old organization which represents the needs of gays and lesbians in the force. He believes that at least 10% of the force is gay, and if more of them came out, they would help end discrimination and also encourage the reporting of homophobic crimes. Lyle wants to reverse the belief that being gay and in the police force is incompatible. The GPA, which has members in all 52 United Kingdom police forces, is holding a seminar this year to discuss gay issues in the service.

BBC

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Michael Carnes and Bob Lavis will celebrate Australia's first state to officially recognize same-sex couples this week by registering as a couple. Tasmania, once thought of as a homophobic state having only recently legalized homosexuality, has now offered a wide public registry that includes rights for same-sex couples, two elderly friends living together, and for a caregiver and an invalid. Carnes and Lavis have been together for seventeen years, but they are taking this public step to support gay and lesbian young people around Australia who still face discrimination.

The Australian

Filed in: Gay | LINK

A straight man in KwaMashu, South Africa, was stabbed and assaulted for the work he has done with the gay community. Celokuhle Myeni has worked with the Lesbian and Gay Community Centre, organizing educational campaigns; one of his role models is AIDS Activist Zackie Achmat. Myeni alleges that a man came up to him while drinking with friends and insulted him for working with the gay community. When he tried to protest, the man pulled a knife, ripped off his shoes and pants, and stabbed him. The police are investigating the assault, and the gay community hopes the government will take a clear stand to prevent discrimination.

IOL

Filed in: Gay | LINK

In Cleveland, Ohio, seniors have a new place to go to socialize, to receive services, and to feel a part of an open group. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Senior Center is the first of its kind in Ohio, says Ron Hill, who oversees senior sevices in five Ohio counties. Many gay seniors do not attend senior centers for fear of the same discrimination they have faced their whole lives, but they still need the services such centers provide. Amber Hollibaugh, the advocacy director for Seniors Aging in a Gay Environment, or SAGE, hopes that more centers will follow Cleveland's example. As the baby boomer generation ages, the increasing numbers of openly gay, lesbian, and transgender people will demand such services.

The Plain Dealer

Filed in: Transgender | LINK

Police commissioner Christine Nixon of Victoria, Australia, has promised to pay police officers who march in uniform in the upcoming Gay and Lesbian Pride March. She insists this is necessary to show support towards the gay and lesbian community and is similar to when she offered the same policy for Women's Day and Remembrance Day. Critics claim she is wasting taxpayer money and supporting "political or social groups that have an agenda." The officers themselves have argued over the appropriate use of the uniform, whether the uniform should support a particular cause. David McCarthy, of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, praised the decision, saying, "The police understand they need to be part of a community to police it."

Herald Sun

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Two men, Michael Cohn and Greg Lewis, are suing Casitas Laquita for discriminating against them based on their gender. Casitas Laquita is a Palm Springs resort that largely caters towards lesbian women. The two men are suing based on California's anti-discrimination laws, seeking $4,000 for each time the resort allegedly ignored and denied them reservations. Cohn and Lewis state they tried to reserve a room in the hotel on two different occasions and were twice denied because of their gender. The owners said they don't recall talking to the men but that the hotel has served gay men, straight men, and transsexuals, as well as the lesbians who are their most common guests.
Desert Sun

Filed in: Gay | LINK

In Washington, D.C., police are seeking help from local gay residents in an investigation into the killing of Tymon "Tymex" Birchett, a gay music promoter whose body was found inside a duffel bag in his Dupont Circle apartment. United States marshals called police to the apartment after they discovered his body while removing his belongings during an eviction. The medical examiner’s office disclosed he had been strangled and beaten. Detectives say Birchett was last seen alive on Sunday night, December 7th, at Lizard Lounge, a weekly gay dance party. There were no signs of a forced entry into the apartment. The killings of more than a dozen gay men in D.C. over the past decade remain unsolved in probable pickup murders. In each case police found the victims dead in their homes with no evidence of forced entry. There is not yet sufficient evidence to classify this case as a pickup killing.

Washington Blade

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Gay serial killer Andrew Cunanan, whose killing spree ended with the death of fashion designer Gianni Versace, will be the subject of a musical theater piece to be developed next year for an eventual premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in California. Director Michael Greif, writer Jessica Hagedorn, and composer Mark Bennett will work on the project under the terms of a $35,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant. Cunanan, a scholar-athlete at The 's School in La Jolla in the mid-1980s, earned a reputation as a gay playboy before embarking on a murderous 1997 journey that had Hillcrest friends fearing for their lives and the FBI involved in a national manhunt.

Sign On

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Christopher Brownlee found her hanging in the garage from a thick black rope used to walk the dogs. Christopher and his mother had long since accepted Ben as Tesia Samara - a girl who, in her own words, was "trapped in a 'male' body." The pressure of being different in the small town of Rockdale, Texas, proved too much for her. Now, more than a month after her suicide, the press is taking notice now that her mother, Karen Johle, has decided to find out what really happened. Tesia had been in counseling, her therapist believed her thoughts of suicide had lessened. While her family accepted her as Tesia, school was another story. Tesia was in contact with a transgender guest she had seen on Oprah and was determined to begin hormone therapy and have a sex-change operation. Johle believes something happened after school that day that led to Tesia taking her own life. There are rumors that some classmates had assaulted and urinated on her. Police believe it is just a rumor, but Johle feels differently.

Texas Triangle

Filed in: Transgender | LINK

A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll that surveyed 1,004 adults found that 79 percent of all Americans believe that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military. In the 18-29 year age range, 91 percent said that gays should be allowed to serve openly. Seventy-three percent of men, and 85 percent of women, responded affirmatively. In August, 2003 a Fox News poll found 64 percent of the public believed that gays should be allowed to serve openly in the military. Previously, a 2001 survey published by MIT Press found that 56 percent of civilian respondents believed the same. "After ten years of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the public understands that discrimination undermines military effectiveness," said Geoffrey Bateman, Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military. Proud Parenting

Filed in: Bisexual | Gay | Lesbian | LINK

According to their latest press release, the Boy are heading back to the Supreme Court, hoping the powers that be will review a Connecticut state employees case in which the were excluded from a charitable fundraising campaign based upon their homophobic and discriminatory practices against gays. Earlier this year, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the removal of the from the charity list on the grounds that Connecticut did not "require" the Boy to change its anti-gay views, but merely required the Boy to "pay a price" for "exercising its First Amendment rights."

Yahoo

Filed in: Gay | LINK

A growing group of biblical scholars believe Christ may have had at least one gay lover. Reverend Theodore Jennings Jr. and Dr. Morton Smith claim Jesus was at least bisexual, and Dr. Rollan McCleary of the University of Queensland, in Australia, says he's discovered three of his disciples were indeed gay. A fragment of manuscript found at the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem in 1958 alludes to Jesus' sexual relationship with a male youth he raised from the dead.  Jennings writes that the reference in St. John about "the disciple Jesus loved" was actually a reference to Jesus' boyfriend. Jennings also claims the centurion's servant who was healed by Jesus actually was the centurion's boyfriend and that Jesus did not denounce their relationship.

365gay.

Filed in: Bisexual | Gay | LINK

In Vancouver, British Columbia, the schism within the Anglican Church over gay and lesbian marriage has led to a drop in financial support for the region, forcing certain funding decisions such as the elimination of hospital chaplains. The Globe and Mail

Today's Short Takes

Filed in: | LINK

On behalf of everyone here at Queer Day we wish you the very happiest of holidays, whatever it is you're celebrating. Our news department will be taking a break, but we will return with all the queer news from around the world that's worth knowing. Until then, be good to yourselves.

Filed in: | LINK

Celestia's Big Night Out: Anne Heche and husband Coley Laffoon were supposedly spotted at a Nova Scotia casino recently, at which Heche began making out with some blonde woman every time she won at roulette. The next evening, Heche, hubby and the blonde were reportedly spotted at a gay club in Halifax getting hot and heavy on the dance floor. Well, Heche and the blonde were. After a while, Laffoon reportedly dragged Heche off the dance floor, telling her that she had had "quite enough!" Heche didn't agree and wanted to stay with the blonde, but lost the fight.

GayWired.com

Filed in: Bisexual | Lesbian | LINK

The owners of Lucky Cheng's - a Manhattan restaurant that features waiters in drag - is suing the Zagat restaurant survey for rating its food quality as "low." As if anyone goes there for the food. The restaurant's lawyer, Ravi Ivan Sharma, said his client is suing Zagat for libel and negligence. Besides $10 million dollars in damages, the restaurant is suing Zagat for $30,000 a week for alleged lost business since October 2003, and $250,000 for loss of reputation. Zagat rated the food a 9 out of a possible 30.

CBS 2

Filed in: Transgender | LINK

GayWired interviews RuPaul, who points out that "Everyone who steps on stage is in drag; that is not the person who wakes up and rubs their eyes in the morning. Taking it a step further, we’re all in drag. We're all little kids playing these grown up roles. ... We all are drag queens. We are born naked, and the rest is drag." What would surprise people most about Ru? "I think that I’m really a 'to myself' person. I really don't have a lot of people I hang out with. I have a handful of people I hang with. Friends who I talk to, and call. Maybe that wouldn't surprise people. Anyone who is so flamboyant and out there in public life, I think that’s pretty much how it goes."

GayWired

Filed in: Gay | Transgender | LINK

Former "Coronation Street" actor Chris Bisson will play a bisexual Muslim in a new British drama, "Shameless." His character has a love affair with his underage assistant Ian, played by Gerard Kearns. Bisson says playing gay love scenes was tough. "Kissing Gerard was the hardest thing I have had to do in my acting career," he said. Pobrecito. "The worst thing was his stubble. I have now promised my girlfriend that I will always be clean shaven for her from now on, as I now know what stubble rash feels like." Smooth, pointing out the girlfriend.

Ananova

Filed in: Bisexual | LINK

Considering the conservative pall hanging over the country, it's amazing that 2003 became the most definitive year in terms of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender culture in over a decade. Winnie Stachelberg, of the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, marveled at all of the unexpected landmark moments by summing them up as her "Big Fat Gay Summer." Turns out Winnie should have waited, because it just kept going. LA Weekly revisits Our Big Fat Gay Year, including an amusing photo illustration.

LA Weekly

Filed in: Gay | LINK

An isolated community in rural Wales has been thrust into the limelight by TV's newest gay character. Irreverent comedy sketch show "Little Britain" has introduced the public to Daffyd, "the only gay man in Llanddewi Brefi" - and the village is now set to become a household name. Once we figure out how to pronounce it. Daffyd is not exactly fashion-forward, wearing PVC hot-pants and a see-through vest. He spends his time complaining about the fact he is the only gay man in the village, but panics at the first sight of another one.

ic Wales

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Columnist Barbara J. McKee writes, "Christmas is nearly here, and many couples choose this time of year to become engaged. ... But for those in America who are gay or lesbian, an engagement can be a moment of truth. The announcement may be met with greetings of good fortune and congratulations, or deadly silence and recriminations. To be afraid to announce what should be one of the most important and joyous moments in a person's life is not only crushing, it's unconscionable."

Albuquerque Tribune

Filed in: Gay | LINK

An Anglican in British Columbia has ordered a church closed after it refused to support same-sex unions and declared itself independent, 's National Post newspaper said yesterday. Despite the decision by Michael Ingham to close the Holy Cross Church in Abbotsford, the Rev. James Wagner said his congregation would celebrate Mass on Christmas as planned. "As far as the diocese is concerned, we do not exist. We are a nonentity," Wagner was quoted as saying, "but I will not abandon these people." Only the gay ones.

Seattle Times

Filed in: Gay | LINK

Fred Phelps is threatening to sue the city of Boise if it doesn't reconsider his touching monument to gay-hate victim Matthew Shepard's supposed descent into hell. Blah, blah, blah. Idaho Statesman

Remember just yesterday when we told you the National Parks Service was editing gay demonstrators out of promotional videos? Not so after all. It isn't clear whether there was a change of heart after the story hit or if it never was true at all, but there you have it. Yahoo!

Today's Short Takes

Filed in: | LINK

In 1952 a small notice appeared in the columns of the local newspaper, stating that Dr. Elizabeth Forbes-Sempill wished to be known henceforth as Dr. Ewan Forbes-Sempill. The artistocrat, at the age of 40, changed her sex - and a few weeks later married his housekeeper, Isabella Mitchell, the daughter of a local farming family. The Forbes-Sempill sporting estate was recently purchased for £1 million by Ivan Mackay, 27, son of a shipping magnate. He's taking over the 1,100 acre Brux estate which used to be the property of the intersex baronet believed to have always displayed both male and female "characteristics."

Telegraph

Filed in: Transgender | LINK