A Eurovision blogger snarks about the selection: Formed last June, the group has written that it hopes “to produce a fresh sound to the music scene both locally and internationally.” Their number is definitely fresh for the Mediterranean. But it’s less novel in places like the Louisana Bayou, Applachia, and large parts of honky tonk land in the United States. …

Just days after he declared that he was leaving New York because Gov. Cuomo doesn’t like “extreme conservatives,” Sean Hannity has put one of his Long Island mansions on the market for $3.6M. The gated 2.05-acre home comes with a pool, observation deck and stairs to the beach, says D’Agostino, who is co-listing the property with Joyce Mennella. “You can …

Yesterday dozens of LGBT activists were arrested across Russia for staging pro-gay demonstrations. While in custody, one of the activists arrested in Moscow’s Red Square tweeted that Russian police had beaten them and threatened them with sexual assault. Which the IOC apparently has no problem with. The International Olympic Committee has said Russia was acting in accordance with its laws …

Sports Illustrated reports: Former Russian figure skater Irina Rodnina was given the honor of lighting the Olympic flame at Sochi 2014′s Opening Ceremony on Friday, but she has started receiving attention for a racist photograph she tweeted last September. Rodnina tweeted a doctored photo of President Barack Obama and his wife. When asked about it at the time, she said …

“This is black genocide. Let me put it bluntly. If you are for the legalization of homosexuality, you are for the acceptability of homosexuality, you are for the normalization of homosexuality, you do not care about black males. You have no compassion in your black heart for black males because they’re being decimated by HIV/AIDS. So why am I opposed …

LGBT ally Lily Allen is back with a new video from her coming third studio album to be released next month. The new track doesn’t have the social commentary we usually see from Allen, as in her 2013 dig on female beauty standards in Hard Out Here.  If you’re unfamiliar with Lily Allen, you might start with Fuck You, her …

American bobsledder Johnny Quinn had to bust out of his Sochi hotel bathroom today after the door got stuck. Quinn told TODAY.com that he started out just banging on the door, in an attempt to alert his teammates. It didn’t work. “I started hitting it, and eventually saw daylight so I kept going until I could get out,” Quinn said. …

Deadspin has what may be the biggest scoop of last night’s opening ceremonies of the Sochi Olympics, noting that NBC edited out IOC president Thomas Bach making a “strong statement against ‘any form of discrimination’ and in favor of tolerance.” Everybody else in the world heard Bach’s statement, but Americans did not.  Below is the edited-out portion of the speech. …

The artist, who goes by the handle ida4, tells me on Twitter that the image can be seen on Newcastle’s Scotswood Road next door to the Eagle nightclub.

Yesterday’s Dilbert comic strip outed the long-running Indian intern character Asok in panels that criticized India’s recent recriminaliztion of homosexuality. As several JMG readers noted, the gay-themed strip did not appear in some newspapers around the country, where older strips were rerun. The Sandusky Register yesterday wrote about the substitution: Today and Saturday, the syndicate distributing “Dilbert” — in an …

“Dear Joe, Governor McAuliffe’s auditors are still bearing down on your Public Advocate. As you might have heard, ever since our protest of Virginia’s gubernatorial inauguration Public Advocate has become the center of a media storm. As a result of our activism, Public Advocate has been targeted by bureaucrats for the first time ever. In addition, the allies of the …

Their performance didn’t make it into NBC’s edited coverage of the opening ceremonies, but yesterday the Russian Ministry Of Internal Affairs Choir (yes, there’s such a thing) covered Daft Punk’s global smash Get Lucky. Truly bizarre. Entertainment Weekly has a amusing set of screencaps. Watch the performance at NBC’s Olympics site.

Earlier today ten LGBT activists were arrested for waving rainbow flags in Moscow’s Red Square. According to text messages from the arrested Russians to a Swedish activist who was also arrested but was released first, the police beat two of the activists still in custody and threatened them with sexual assault. A text message transcript via Buzzfeed: Me:: “We didn’t …

After her moving and eloquent speech about homophobia went viral, a campaign was launched to name Irish drag queen Panti Bliss as the grand marshal of Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. But the chance of that happening appears to be slim. Organisers have said that the process to select who leads the parade “is well underway and this year’s Grand …

GLAAD cheers via press release: Earlier this week we saw the first gay families included in a Super Bowl ad, and tonight we see the first gay families included in an Olympics Opening Ceremony. “Chevrolet has nailed it with ads that truly reflect the fabric of our nation, which today includes gay and lesbian families,” said GLAAD President and CEO …

Details.

Via Huffington Post: Canadian bobsledder Justin Kripps says his personal website has been censored in Russia. Kripps tweeted Friday that he could not access his site from Krasnaya Polayna, where some of the Sochi Olympic events are being held. Others who tried to access the site from Russia got the same message, which says it has been blocked because of …

Perhaps having noted the action of Britain’s Channel 4, one of Sweden’s most-read dailies has rebranded its logo in rainbow colors in solidarity with Russia’s LGBT people. From the editor: “Inauguration ceremonies for the Winter Olympics have begun in Sochi. We will be watching the competition, but we also want to show that we do not like that the organizers …

As part of Channel 4’s Project Rainbow campaign during the Sochi Olympics, Ben Cohen has recorded a new message about bullying. Note Channel 4’s logo.

Pop star Annie, who I once described here as Norway’s answer to Kylie Minogue, has released a new single in support of Russia’s LGBT people. Via Pitchfork: The Sochi Olympics kick off today. Norwegian singer Annie and Norwegian visual artist Bjarne Melgaard have shared “Russian Kiss”, their protest song and short film aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and …