Cheryl Jacques fired as HRC Executive Director
Cheryl Jacques, the $225,000 salaried Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign, who resigned her position mid-term as a Massachusetts state senator to take the job, has been fired. While sources wish to remain anonymous, HRC's Board apparently voted to replace Jacques with Hilary Rosen on an interim basis during their emergency conference call last night. Rosen, for those who care, is the partner of HRC's former director, Elizabeth Birch. HRC's Board is rendezvousing in Las Vegas this weekend and HRC staff will be told of the decision sometime today.
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It's no secret that Oliver Stone's Alexander is bombing at the box office, but gossip icon Liz Smith says the bisexual content isn't to blame. "I am also astounded at the notion expressed here and there that Alexander" is not performing better because of an emphasis on his bisexuality. Please! The movie is three hours long, and as excellent an actor as is Colin Farrell, he simply doesn't have the clout to carry an epic. Sex, of any kind, does not play a big part in the film. It's more about how Alexander's nutty mother and loutish father affected his later behavior. Snakes and elephants were really his undoing."
David Sedaris' latest contribution to the New Yorker is a story entitled Old Faithful. "Out of nowhere I developed this lump. I think it was a cyst or a boil, one of those words you associate with trolls, and it was right on my tailbone, like a peach pit. ... My boyfriend, Hugh, and I went to the movies one night, and our tickets cost a total of forty dollars, this after spending sixty dollars on pizzas. And these were mini-pizzas, not much bigger than pancakes. Given the price of a simple evening out, I figured that a doctor’s visit would cost about the same as a customized van. More than the money, though, I was afraid of the diagnosis. 'Lower-back cancer,' the doctor would say. 'It looks like we'll have to remove your entire bottom.'"
There's a move afoot to christen the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge in honor of one of San Francisco's most famous historical residents -- the wildly eccentric Norton I, who dubbed himself the Emperor of the United States and the Protector of Mexico. Last week, Supervisor Aaron Peskin introduced the resolution the Board of Supervisors will consider on December 7. His death in 1880 resulted in San Francisco's largest public funeral and his legacy has also become intertwined with gay history, following famed drag queen Jose Sarria's declaration in the 1960s that he was "Empress Jose I, the Widow Norton" (pictured).
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed his first major gay rights legislation on Monday, requiring insurance companies to provide coverage to registered domestic partners. The law requires insurance companies to treat domestic partners the same as married spouses for health, life, auto, renters and homeowners insurance policies. Before, insurers were only required to offer domestic partners coverage equivalent to a dependent.
The husband of Donita Ganzon is suing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Ganzon's husband, Jiffy Javenella, 27, is being denied legal residency although Ganzon is a U.S. citizen because 24 years ago, she had a little work done. In interviews with immigration agents earlier this year, Ganzon, 58, revealed that she had been born in a male body. She has California paperwork that declares her legally female, but the feds don't care. Somehow, the Department of Homeland Security is involved.
We'll miss Leroy "Roy" Aarons, founder of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. He died of heart failure over the weekend after a long battle with cancer. He was 70 years old and lived in Northern California. We like this photo because it shows the piercing gaze that anyone who knew him, knew him by. A veteran of the Washington Post and the Oakland Tribune, Aarons founded the NLGJA and came out in 1990 after conducting the first-ever survey of lesbian and gay journalists at U.S. newspapers. Aarons is survived by his partner of 24 years, Josh Boneh. Thanks for everything, Roy.
We've spent so many hours scouring the shelves of thrift stores and websites looking for a copy to no avail, and then we discover that Lynne Cheney’s steamy lesbian novel "Sisters" has been resurrected online in its entirety. The tale set in the Old West was thought to have been swept under the carpet; we told you about her earlier attempts to keep it from being republished. Lucky for all of us somebody's being bad, and we deeply and sincerely thank you. 
Two years after becoming the third NFL National Football League player to come out of the closet, Esera Tuaolo is taking on a new career with his life-long love - music. The former football player's holiday single, "Our First Christmas," is coming out this week and the CD, produced by Grammy winner Joe Hogue, features a bonus track - "Silent Night." Pretty exciting, eh? Those of you who want it can find it at BigE98.com, iTunes and his official website. Out.com asked Tuaolo which was harder, playing pro football or recording a CD. "Playing NFL football, because my heart and soul since I was 5 has always been music," he said.
I wouldn't say I was a slut," laughs kd lang. "I was a..." And she tries to think of an acceptable way of describing her behavior back in the early 1990s when women were throwing themselves at her. "I was a... rampant romantic," she finally decides. "Mind you, Madonna did refer to me as the Warren Beatty of lesbians once." Lang had her first affair with her teacher's wife. "I knew we had to keep it private. We had to sneak. Which is soooo sexy. I love sneaking...." So where's she stand on marriage? "I don’t really subscribe to the marriage issue," she says, wrinkling up her nose. "For anyone. Civil union, yes. Civil rights, yes. But I don’t know why we have this attachment to the concept of marriage and especially the terminology of marriage. It’s ridiculous, because it doesn’t work for straight people."
Gay students' visibility is shaking up heterosexist traditions on college campuses, including that of homecoming king and queen. At Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee, Everett Moran (shown) was on the ballot for queen. "We always get Mr. Heterosexual Vanderbilt and Ms. Heterosexual Vanderbilt to be the perfect king and queen," he says. Moran didn't win but he made a lovely appearance on the court in an empire-waisted black dress and red gloves. And we've been telling you all about Fue Khang's crowning at St. Cloud State. Some are still upset. "We believe that the homecoming queen should be a female and that Fue should hand over the homecoming crown," said Kim Ferber, whose daughter lost to Khang. "The town is humiliated."
There was that report that Al Reynolds, aka Mr. Star Jones, went to that super gay Halloween party dressed as a male stripper. His bachelor party, however, had the theme of "The Roman Baths" at New York's Time Hotel. According to Page Six, a spy reported that “you had to sign a confidentiality agreement to get in and then you were sent to the penthouse, where they made you get naked.” At the party, there were about 60 men sitting around in bathrobes when 10 topless female dancers came out. Dish reports, "Now it looks like Reynolds will be forced to stay out of the bathhouse for the next two years. According to Page Six, if the marriage dissolves before then, the couples’ pre-nup states that he won’t see any of Jones' fortune."
Two days after the IOC Executive Board recommended to kick Bulgaria's top sports official out of the elite club, Ivan Slavkov demonstrated optimism and determination to find out who betrayed and supported him. "I expect to retain my position after the IOC summit in Singapore. I am not surprised by the decision. Now I am going to check who betrayed and who supported me," he said before departing for Cairo with the national football team. Taking up a question on the statements of Andrew Jennings, consultant to BBC film, he called the British journalist a "homosexual" like it's a bad thing. Slavkov has violated the ethical principles set out in the Olympic Charter and the IOC Code of Ethics, thereby "seriously tarnishing the reputation of the Olympic Movement, the IOC Executive Board decided." The definitive expulsion of Slavkov requires a vote by the full IOC in Singapore next July.
Look out Sydney - Melbourne's new deputy mayor-elect wants the "gay capital" of Australia title. Gary Singer, who is gay, says luring pink dollars is among his priorities. "We can be the gay capital," he told the Herald Sun in his first interview. But here's our favorite part: "Flanked by his mum and a friend" (of course he was), he says his election is a reflection of Melbourne's diversity. "It's very exciting. I'm very proud of the result and elated by it," he says.
Reggae star Sizzla says there's no way he'll apologize for his lyrics advocating violence against gay men, despite his UK tour being cancelled after protests. "They can't ask me to apologize," he told BBC radio station 1Xtra. "They've got to apologize to God because they break God's law." Sizzla is currently banned from entering the UK over his homophobic views. "Why must I apologize to corruption? How can I do that?" he said. The singer who denies he is a threat to gay men and lesbians advocates "fire burn for homosexuals." 
More details emerge re: the 20/20 episode in which Matthew Shepard's killers say they didn't target him because he was gay. "He was pretty well-dressed, had a wallet full of money,'' Aaron McKinney said of meeting Shepard at a Laramie bar in October 1998. ''All I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him." And here's one we've heard before: When the three were in the car, McKinney says, Shepard grabbed his leg. Needless to say, we're not the only queer people annoyed by this. GLAAD is none too happy.
Xtra's John Webster likes the new Rufus Wainwright CD. A lot. "This may well go down in the history books as the first great gay album. No out gay artist has ever reflected the emotional complexity, the longing and the admiration of beautiful male love so exquisitely. With grand sweeping string and horn arrangements backing up Wainwright’s melodramatic delivery (that can spin from bitchy to pining in a second), Want Two has an intoxicating laidback spirit. It may seem not so special at first but read that lyric sheet and the album will hit you in the gut. It definitely casts its spell with the words. The words make the music soar." And there you have it. 
"It is the fault of homosexual fashion designers that women are forced to wear clothes which are too tight." This is the public proclamation of Swedish ex-Moderate Party leader Ulf Adelsohn, who now runs Swedish Railways. He apparently was provoked by the new Karl Lagerfeld collection for H&M and "the gang of French homosexuals" that rules the world of fashion. Defending fashion was Swedish drag queen Christer Lindarw, pictured. "It is gay men's desire for women to be beautiful objects which influences women's fashion," he says. "... Today women want to be curvy, they want a nice bottom. He has no idea."
Edinburgh, Scotland's first gay rugby team is gearing up for its "best ever" open day this weekend. Deputy coach of the "Caledonian Thebans" - they were named after a gay regiment of soldiers in the Greek Army (but don't tell those attorneys who are suing Oliver Stone over "Alexander") - Scott Watt says: "We are confident of getting an uptake [in membership] in double figures. ... The advent of gay rugby teams around Britain has also helped get us better known though in setting out our stall we want to spread the rugby message to all players regardless of whether they are straight or gay." 
Here! TV, the new gay network, and Time Warner Cable of New York and New Jersey have announced that beginning this month, up to 30 hours of here! TV Movies On Demand content will be made available each month to Time Warner Cable digital customers. This is the second major agreement here! TV has secured in the past three weeks, providing wider availability of here! TV's diverse programming. On October 25, here! TV announced an agreement in the Los Angeles market.
Let Mianne play! Having competed in Australia and now in Europe, transsexual golfer Mianne Bagger may make the U.S. women's tour her next stop. The LPGA Tour is going to reconsider its policy of women-born women only, now that Bagger is part of the professional women's golf scene. The LPGA says the International Olympic Committee's decision to allow transsexuals to compete is also a factor. "That's a subject we are going to look at going forward and may very well take similar action," LPGA Commissioner Ty Votaw said.
We told you about Massachusetts state Senator Jarrett Barrios' wedding to longtime partner Doug Hattaway. Now here's the good stuff. Yes, their sons were there - as ringbearers. The 200-person affair was held at the First Parish in Cambridge on Church Street with a reception in Washburn Refectory at Episcopal Divinity School. Cuban American cuisine was served. "It was a lovely ceremony and very sweet - happy times. Good food, too," said City Councilor Brian Murphy. Denise Simmons, who officiated, said, "It was not only moving, because all marriages are, but it was historically moving." Interestingly (or oddly), state Senate President Robert Travaglini, who opposed gay marriage during the Constitutional Convention, gave a heartfelt toast at the ceremony. 
Washington Post readers got a little pre-Thanksgiving holiday cheer in the form of a 16-page advertising insert with articles condemning gay marriage and gay parents. The paper got about 1,000 complaints. Its response? The insert was clearly marked as advertising, and anyway, it wasn't that bad. "We will not allow something hateful to go in the paper," said Publisher Boisfeuillet Jones Jr., indicating he did not believe the insert contained a hateful message. "Gay marriage is a public issue and matter of public debate, and we believed its point of view has a right to be expressed." You can read at least part of it at the linked site below.
The Reverend Janie Spahr has been shaking things up in the Presbyterian Church for decades over this pesky lesbian issue. (She is one.) Spahr married Douglas Potter and Gregory Partridge on a trip to Canada and now she may be facing a church trial. Her home church and governing body in Northern California didn't care; they're used to Spahr, but the Rev. James Berkley of Bellevue, Washington, is up in arms and making a fuss. An inquiry has been launched to investigate the situtation.
The email system for Italian senators was shut down this week because too many of them opened attachments that promised (and delivered) gay porn. The attachment, actually a big fat gay porn worm, downloaded so much gay porn that it swamped the government mail server. Insiders think this has something to do with that guy we told you about who was fired after being seen at a gay club in Rome. It seems hardly fair, particularly after so many senators were obviously interested in a little private man-on-man viewing - on work time no less.
A gay athlete has taken the silver medal at the World Powerlifting Finals, boosting him to the no. 2 spot in the sport's world rankings. Chris Morgan was competing in the finals for the first time, and was representing England. His lift meant he pushed the current world champion and the U.K.'s top powerlifter out of the medals. This makes Morgan one of the most successful gay athletes competing at an international level today.
The battle over a gay-straight alliance T-shirt stretched beyond the southwest Missouri town where it started and reached federal court on Tuesday. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in Kansas City on behalf of Brad Mathewson, a junior at Webb City High School, and asked for a preliminary injunction against the school. The lawsuit argues that Mathewson has been denied his First Amendment right to freedom of speech and should be allowed to wear gay-pride shirts. "This has got nothing to do with money or attention," Mathewson said Tuesday evening by phone. "I just want to wear my shirt."
Angelina Jolie has defended talking about 
Red carpet diva and author Steven Cojocaru has a genetic condition that will require him to undergo a kidney transplant. "Cojo," a correspondent for "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider," said he has polycystic kidney disease. In true entertainment journalism style, he revealed his illness in an interview with Mary Hart. The condition turned up doing a routine checkup, and the doctors say his prognosis is very good. Family and friends have volunteered to be tested as organ donors.