Jerry Curl

The Washington Blade reports : A fundraising event to benefit an LGBT community center in Lebanon last week took a surprise turn when stunned audience members were shown graphic photographs of beheaded corpses and images purportedly depicting U.S. soldiers preparing to execute gay Iraqis. Two gay Iraqi refugees, who declined to use their real names, delivered a presentation at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters July 24 in which they detailed alleged abuses of fellow gay Iraqis while calling on their audience to donate funds to Helem, a Lebanon-based center that works to address the plight of LGBT people in the Middle East. One of the Iraqis, who goes by the name “Hussam,” showed the audience of about 80 people gruesome images, including shots allegedly of a beheaded man who was gay and another of the victim’s twin brother grieving over the severed head. While asserting that anti-gay violence in Iraq is often committed by Iraqis, Hussam also said U.S. service members were involved i...

(Via Made In Brazil )

The producers of 9 to 5 delivered word this afternoon to the cast that the show will close at the Marriott Marquis Theater on Sunday, Sept. 6, after 24 previews and 148 performances, according to a statement. No reason was provided for the closing of the musical, but the economics of Broadway offer obvious explanation. The show’s initial capitalization exceeded $10 million and its weekly running costs — to pay for the large cast (led by Allison Janney as Violet), several sizable sets and other expenses — were in the high six-figures, according to several people involved with the production. During many weeks the show did not gross enough to cover that weekly nut (let alone earn money back for its investors). For the eight performances from July 20 through 26, “9 to 5” grossed $694,650 and played to a house that was, on average, about 70 percent full. The start of the fall season is usually a tough time for ticket sales, compared to a summertime New York full of tourists, so the closin...

By Gary Varvel

At least 82 gay men have been killed in Iraq since December, according to Iraqi LGBT. The violence has raised questions about the Iraqi government's ability to protect a diverse range of vulnerable minority groups that also includes Christians and Kurds, especially following the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities last month. Mithal al-Alusi, a secular, liberal Sunni legislator, is among those who blame the killings on armed militant groups such as al-Qaeda and the Mahdi Army militia. By targeting one of the most vulnerable groups in a conservative Muslim society — people whose sexual orientation is banned by Iraqi law — the militias essentially are serving notice that they remain powerful despite the U.S. and Iraqi militaries' efforts to curtail them, al-Alusi says. The militants "want to educate the society to accept killers on the street," al-Alusi says in an interview. "Why did Hitler start with gays? They are weak. They have no political cover...

Adam as featured on Vision Models .

Steve Rothaus reports : Broward Health and HRC invite the LGBT community to learn how best to seek hospital care for you and your family and to prepare you for medical emergencies. A panel of experts will discuss Domestic Partner, child visitation, and patient care policies; travel-safe preparations; and what to do if you encounter personnel or policies which seem to discount the nature of your family and ignore the validity of your legal paperwork. Details : Saturday, August 8 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Broward General Medical Center Private Dining Room (Valet parking is available) 1600 S. Andrews Ave. Fort Lauderdale, FL Tickets: $10 (includes brunch) More information can be found here .

From space walks to solar eclipses, MSNBC has compiled an excellent slide show of July's cosmic occurrences. Click here for more.

MSNBC reports : Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food, according to a major study published today. Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said consumers were paying higher prices for organic food because of its perceived health benefits, creating a global organic market worth an estimated $48 billion in 2007. A systematic review of 162 scientific papers published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years, however, found there was no significant difference. "A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, but these are unlikely to be of any public health relevance," said Alan Dangour, one of the report's authors. "Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority." The results of research, w...

Iranian police have arrested mourners who had gathered at a cemetery in Tehran for a memorial to those killed in post-election violence, reports say. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi tried to join mourners at the graveside of Neda Agha Soltan, whose death became a symbol of post-election unrest. But reports say he was forced to leave the cemetery shortly after his arrival. Other witnesses said that mourners clung to his car, chanting "Mousavi we support you". Opposition supporters allege the 12 June election results were rigged in favour of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Reports also say police used batons to disperse several hundred people who had gathered at the cemetery. Witnesses said about 150 police as well as members of the Islamic Basij militia were in the cemetery, with a number surrounding the section where Neda is buried. (Via BBC )

Towleroad reports : Tru Blood, the preferred synthetic blood drink of integrated vampires in HBO's Alan Ball series True Blood, is coming to a store near you in September: "The blood-orange carbonated drink has a slightly tart and lightly sweet flavor that is sure to taste better than the O negative blood consumed by the show's fictional vampires. Crafted to replicate the appearance of the synthetic blood beverage preferred by the undead in the series, the real-life drink will also be called Tru Blood." Ball introduced the beverage at Comic-Con: "[Ball] joked that the drink was a mixture of 'wine, vodka, Vicodin, Viagra and Ecstasy' and that it was 'completely illegal.'" Tru Blood will cost $16 for a four-pack. It can be pre-ordered here .

By David Fitzsimmons

Video: Channing Tatum and Charlyne Yi Cinemash "Dirty Dancing"

Dror as featured on DNA .

ArtsBeat reports : Glee , the high school musical that Fox so fiendishly teased viewers with in May, will have its fall premiere a week earlier than expected. The new date to mark on the back-to-school calendar is Sept. 9, Fox announced Tuesday, as it shifted a number of its fall show debuts. In an unusual sampling strategy, Glee had its premiere in May after American Idol , to capitalize on the lyrical links between the two shows. Fox succeeded in generating buzz around the show: one of the performances from the first episode was ranked on the Apple iTunes charts. The network is betting that viewers will still be interested in “Glee” when it’s time for the fall TV season. Below, a muscial clip from the upcoming season:

Since January, the remains of 17 horses have been found in Miami-Dade County, slaughtered and abandoned on or near rural roads. In May, two horses -- their throats cut and flesh stripped from their legs -- were found in a field in Miramar in Broward County. "The majority of the found carcasses exhibit signs that the horses were butchered and meat removed," said Capt. Scott Andress, commander of Miami-Dade police department's Agricultural Patrol Section, one of the agencies investigating the incidents. Police believe the killers carrying out these malicious acts are motivated by money. While it is legal for a person to slaughter his or her own horse and eat the meat, it is illegal to sell horse meat in Florida, police said. "We've received anecdotal information from horse and livestock owners that there's a black market demand," Andress said. "We're attempting to confirm that such a market exists and, if so, to what extent." The gruesome dis...

MSNBC reports : Maytham Hamzah cast his eyes toward the remains of King Nebuchadnezzar's guest palace in Babylon, one of the world's first great cities. He smiled, bitterly. "They destroyed the whole country," Hamzah, the head of the Babylon museum, said of U.S. forces in Iraq. "So what are a few old bricks and mud walls in comparison?" U.S. forces did not exactly destroy the 4,000-year-old city, home of one of the world's original seven wonders, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Even before the troops arrived, there was not much left: a mound of broken mud-brick buildings and archaeological fragments in a fertile plain between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. But they did turn it into Camp Alpha, a military base, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Their 18-month stay there caused "major damage" and represented a "grave encroachment on this internationally known archeological site," a report released this month in Paris by...

As the Obama administration struggles to fulfill a pledge to close the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba, the Irish justice minister, Dermot Ahern, said Wednesday that his country would accept two prisoners from the facility for resettlement, one of the few European nations to do so. In a statement in Dublin, Mr. Ahern said the decision followed a visit to the camp by Irish officials last week. The agreement was confirmed Wednesday when Mr. Ahern met the newly arrived American ambassador, Dan Rooney, the Justice Ministry said in a statement. Mr. Ahern said he had been the first European official to call for the closure of the camp. “In making this decision I am conscious of the intention of the United States to close the center at Guantánamo Bay, in part by transferring detainees, no longer regarded as posing a threat to security but who cannot return to their own countries, to other countries willing to accept them.” (Via NYT )

Bloomberg reports : Tanning beds are as certain to cause cancer as smoking, according to a new risk assessment. Sun beds and all types of ultraviolet rays are now ranked in the highest risk group by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, putting them in the same group as plutonium and radium, researchers said in a paper published today in the medical journal Lancet Oncology. Sun beds and UV rays are now considered “carcinogenic to humans.” Using a tanning bed raised the risk of developing the type of skin cancer called melanoma by 75 percent in users that started tanning before the age of 30, researchers led by Fatiha El Ghissassi of Lyon, France-based IARC said in the study. “Some people feel the need to tan to compete. My advice to them is: don’t do it with a sun bed, don’t even go get the tan outside,” Vincent Cogliano, the head of the IARC Monographs program, a World Health Organization unit, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

As expected, the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, by a vote of 13-6. The nomination now goes to the Senate floor, next week. Soon she will be Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Oval colleague Joan Biskupic reports from the hearing room: "All Democrats voted for Sotomayor, President Obama's first nominee to the high court who would also be the bench's first Hispanic justice. All Republicans except Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, opposed." Graham said he was backing Sotomayor partly because he believed Obama, having won last November's election, deserved wide latitude to make appointments within the judicial mainstream. Graham deemed Sotomayor "well qualified," of "good character" and within "the mainstream." (Via USA Today )

Apple has won the right to say that its apps are available "only on the iPhone" in the UK despite complaints that other handsets such as Google's G1 phone also offer similar ranges of software. Ten viewers complained to the UK's Advertising Standards Authority that Apple's ad campaign?which tells viewers via on-screen small print "Apps sold on apps store? Only on O2"?was misleading as apps are available elsewhere. In response Apple argued that its app store is unique, has far more apps than any competitor (50,000 compared to Google's 2,100) and is available in 88 countries. The apps shown in the ad weren't exclusive to the iPhone, but the company argued its central claim?" an app for everything, only on the iPhone"? isn't misleading. The ASA agreed and threw out the complaints, ruling: "We therefore considered viewers would understand the claim? to refer to the range of apps available and the user experience of the App Store an...

Luiz Galli as featured on Made in Brazil .

NBC6 reports : Penn State has replaced UF as the top party school in the country, which we are sure will insight crazy co-ed theme nights and weekend-long keg parties in Gainesville at the beginning of the next semester. In the battle for party school supremacy, one cannot settle for second best. The 2009 Princeton Review survey of 122,000 students released Monday went with Penn State because of its football tailgating and sorority and fraternity life. And we all know how wild football head coach Joe Paterno can get during those victory parties. Clearly, the students surveyed were not allowed to entertain the "Tim Tebow" factor, which by most accounts would have put the Gators over the top again. It's the first time Penn State has finished first in the nation and it's unclear if it will now be included in Paterno's recruiting speeches. But don't fret Gator Nation. You are still eons away from becoming the BYU of the collegiate world. The Cougars were named the...

The Miami Herald reports : Key West is hoping to join Miami and two other U.S. cities as ports of entry for travel to Cuba, 50 years after Key West-to-Havana flights ceased when Fidel Castro took power in the island nation. Key West International Airport director Peter Horton said restoration of the once-popular route is "long overdue." Last week, he sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control requesting that Key West be declared an entry port. "Up until recently, the travel restrictions to Cuba were pretty onerous," Horton said yesterday. "Those have been relieved quite a bit. We hope this is a trend that will continue, and eventually all travel restrictions to Cuba will be lifted." Travel from Key West to Cuba already is allowed via boat for those who qualify. Such travel requires a special permit from the U.S. Coast Guard. Upon reentering the United States, travelers by water have to clear Customs, just as the...

Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, said divisions among the world’s 77 million Anglicans over gay clergy and same-sex unions could divide their church into a “two-track model” yielding “two styles of being Anglican.” The formula could avert a formal breach between liberals and conservatives but bring new strains in the relationship between the global Anglican Communion and American Episcopalians who resolved this month to open the door to ordaining openly gay bishops and to start the process of developing rites for same-sex marriages. Archbishop Williams insisted that the issue should not be debated “in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are — two styles of being Anglican.” In a lengthy message published yesterday on his Web site, the archbishop offered a detailed and nuanced response to events at the Episcopalian convention in Anaheim, Calif., earlier this month when gay-rights advocates in the United States chalked up major victories ...

Details of Farrah Fawcett's will have surfaced and reports indicate that the 70's television icon left her entire estate to her son, Redmond, and nothing for her longtime partner Ryan O'Neal. The actress updated her will in 2007, after learning her cancer has spread into her liver. The majority of the actress's nearly $6 million estate was placed in a trust fund for her 24 year old son. The Daily Mail reports, "Farrah appointed two trustees to make sure the money supports her son's journey into sobriety rather than giving him the means to destroy himself. Redmond's inheritance will be tightly controlled." O'Neal (who is also Redmond's Father) will not be one of the trustees. Redmond, Fawcett's only child, has struggled with both drug and alcohol addictions. He is currently serving time in a Los Angeles jail, on drug-related charges. Once he is released, he will get a monthly allowance from the fund as well as money to buy a home. Ryan O...

CNN reports : It was the U.S. government's version of the ticker in New York's Times Square, blasting Havana's main seaside strip with anti-Cuba slogans in 5-foot high crimson letters. It symbolized the tit-for-tat diplomatic row between Washington and Havana. But the ticker at the top of the U.S. interests section in Cuba has gone blank, yet another signal the past half-century of animosity between the two countries is easing. The sign -- erected in 2006 by the Bush administration and billed as a way to circumvent censorship and, the administration said, offer hope and freedom to Cubans oppressed by a brutal regime -- fueled a propaganda war with Fidel Castro, who referred to the U.S. interests section as "the headquarters of the counterrevolution." State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the ticker was turned off in June because it was not considered "effective" as a means of delivering information to the Cuban people. The scrolling electronic sign, ...

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee, is expected to win approval today in a near-party line vote of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reflecting the divide over judicial nominees that has taken hold in recent years. All 12 Democrats on the panel have voiced support for the New York judge, while all but one of the seven Republicans have indicated they would oppose her despite her strong qualifications. The lineup signals Sotomayor will win confirmation in the Senate by a comfortable margin and become the first Latino justice, but she will do so without much Republican support. The full Senate is expected to take up her nomination next week. The lone exception to the party-line vote of the Judiciary Committee figures to be Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican. Last week, he said he would vote to confirm Sotomayor even though he believed her record was "left of center." (Via LAT )

The once banned play and recent Broadway smash makes it to film! Frank Wedekind’s controversial and revolutionary 1891 play about a group of teenagers discovering the joys and difficulties of sexuality was banned in Germany after it was written. Its first productions in the United States and London were also closed by censors. It centers on Michael, who is slightly more educated in the mysteries of human reproduction than his sheltered friends. Passing on his knowledge to others has tragic circumstances for Michael in the oppressive society of his day. Directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman, the film version airs this month on here! TV .

Towleroad reports : A mass gay kiss-in is planned for August 15 in cities around the nation in response to the treatment of a couple who were arrested for kissing on a plaza near Salt Lake City's Mormon Temple: "A pair of bloggers, David Badash, of New York, and David Mailloux, of Boston, are behind the plans. They say the events are not a protest against those who oppose gay rights. But they say people should be allowed to freely express their affection." So far events are planned in Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Irvine, Little Rock, New York City, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco San Jose, Seattle with events in Austin, Chicago, Dallas Denver, Erie, Fort Worth, Fresno, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Richmond, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Spokane in the works. Visit the group's Facebook page here for more information.

The Senate approved a defense spending measure that includes most of the weapons program cuts sought by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and an expansion of the federal hate-crime law. The $679.8 billion bill, passed by an 87-7 vote late Friday, allots $130 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Notably, it includes an amendment that the Senate approved on July 17 expanding protections under the federal hate-crime law to those attacked because of their sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability. The provision also would give the Department of Justice expanded authority to investigate crimes under the law when local authorities don’t act. And it would throw out rules requiring victims to have been involved in certain activities, such as attending school or serving as a juror, for the law to apply. The proposal is named after Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered in Wyoming in 1998 who witnesses said was targeted by his tw...

Team Griffin took some time recently to participate in photographer Adam Bouska's NO H8 Campaign for marriage equality, which is growing by leaps and bounds. (Via Towleroad )

Steve Rothaus reports : HBO scored highest among 15 networks for its representation of gay characters last season, according to a report released today. In its third annual Network Responsibility Index, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation found that of HBO's 14 original prime-time series, 10 included content reflecting the lives of gay, bisexual and transgender people. That totaled 42 percent of the network's programming hours, in series such as True Blood , Entourage and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency . By contrast, on NBC and CBS only 8 percent and 5 percent, respectively, of prime-time hours included them, the report said. For the report, GLAAD reviewed all prime-time programming - totaling 4,901 hours - for inclusion of such characters or issues on the five major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW) from June 1, 2008, to May 31, 2009. The study also examined all original prime-time programming - 1,213 hours - on 10 prominent cable networks. The pr...

Marlon as featured on DNA .

If life truly begins at 40, as the old saying goes, then after four decades the giant Comic-Con pop culture showcase is seeing a rebirth of sorts among a new generation of attendees -- families and children. Even as Hollywood travels here to hype their newest comic book movies such as Iron Man 2 , aimed mostly at teen boys and young men, this year's 40th anniversary of Comic-Con has seen older couples dressed as Star Wars characters looking for fun with their little stormtrooper children by their side. The movie studios, videogame companies and comic vendors who hawk their goods at the convention attended by some 125,000 people have responded. This year, the Disney studio chose to promote family-friendly films like Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol , The Princess and the Frog , Toy Story 3D , Beauty and the Beast 3D , and TV series Phineas and Ferb . "Those guys that were going (to Comic-Con) 20 years ago have kids now, and their kids are into this stuff," said Phil...

By Bob Englehart

The New York Times reports : Discouraged by stubborn poll numbers and pessimistic political consultants, major financial backers of same-sex marriage are cautioning gay rights groups to delay a campaign to overturn California’s ban on such unions until at least 2012. Earlier this year, many supporters of same-sex marriage seemed eager to mount a 2010 campaign to overturn Proposition 8, which was passed by California voters in November and defined marriage as “between a man and a woman.” But the timing of another campaign has since been questioned by several of the movement’s big donors, including David Bohnett, a millionaire philanthropist and technology entrepreneur who gave more than $1 million to the unsuccessful campaign to defeat Proposition 8. “In conversations with a number of my fellow major No on 8 donors,” Mr. Bohnett said in an e-mail message, “I find that they share my sentiment: namely, that we will step up to the plate — with resources and talent — when the time is right....

FOX news reports : Authorities have arrested a man on charges stemming from an accident that claimed the life of an American Idol contestant at the Jersey shore. Daniel Bark was charged with reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident. The 23-year-old is from Toms River. Alexis Cohen sustained abdomen, chest and head injuries after she was hit by a vehicle in Seaside Heights early Saturday, authorities said. The 24-year-old Allentown, Pa., resident is best known for her angry yet empowered rejection rant during the show's seventh season. She also auditioned unsuccessfully for Idol last year.

Weekend Top Five: #1 G-Force ($32.2M) #2 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($30M) #3 The Ugly Truth ($27M) #4 Orphan ($12.8M) #5 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($8.2M)

All you Broadway aficionado's rejoice! The producers for Billy Elliot the Musical announced on Monday that the show would begin a national tour next year. In a news release, producers for the show, which was adapted from the 2000 Stephen Daldry film, said that the tour would begin at Chicago’s Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theater, in March 2010. Casting for the touring company was not announced; the Broadway production won 10 Tony Awards including best musical, as well as honors for its director, Mr. Daldry, and its trio of male leads, David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish. (Via ArtsBeat )

Life : Legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt as Camille in La Dame aux Camelias .

The New York Times reports : It was achievement enough that the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra managed to survive the darkest days of the war, when it struggled for supplies and electricity, when its members fled for safety abroad and those who remained practiced in secret for fear of offending militants who considered music un-Islamic. “We were fighting against the impending doom simply by functioning,” the orchestra’s charismatic director and chief conductor, Karim Wasfi, said the other day. Now the orchestra finds itself “out of the bottleneck,” as Mr. Wasfi put it, facing challenges in a post-conflict society that are no less daunting for being less immediately life-threatening. The orchestra is fighting for its budget, only now beginning to solicit corporate sponsorship in a country where the state once controlled all (and still does, if chaotically). Mr. Wasfi is lobbying to build an opera house in a country where electricity, clean water and garbage removal remain scarce serv...

More at theBigGayMusical.com

Towleroad reports : This is the official cover for Madonna's new Greatest Hits collection, called Celebration. The album's cover was designed by an artist called Mr. Brainwash. Via press release: "The songs on Celebration have all been remastered and selected by Madonna and her fans. They cover the expanse of the Material Girl’s extraordinary career of hits including “Everybody,” “Express Yourself,” “Vogue” and “4 Minutes.” “Celebration” will be available in a two-CD set as well as a single CD. There will also be a “Celebration” DVD released simultaneously which includes the video visionary’s best videos including several that have never before been available on DVD." There are two new songs on the album. The first is a Paul Oakenfold collaboration that goes to radio on August 3rd called "Celebration". The Hits collection is out September 28 in the U.S.

Steven Didas as featured on We Love Guys .

The Miami Herald reports : Thousands of fish popped up dead this week in Florida Bay -- possible victims of what might be described as a marine version of heat stroke. The fish kill was unusually large for the waters of Everglades National Park, with floating redfish, snook and other species covering nearly 20 acres in between Buoy Key and the coast, said Dave Hallac, the park's chief of biological resources. "These things happen," Hallac said. "It's just the size of it that was concerning." Some fish kills happen almost every year in Florida Bay. Because much of the bay is shallow, with vast flats only a few feet deep, water conditions can change rapidly with the weather. Cold snaps can kill temperature-sensitive fish such as snook. Extended hot, dry spells can raise salinity and kill sea grass, with a sometimes fatal effect on other life as the decaying plants suck oxygen from the water. While low oxygen is suspected, Hallac said, levels must have dropped ...

Pollution Newsweek has a gripping presentation of some of the worst eco disasters to happen and their continued affects today. Reverting waterways Deforestation