Courtesy of Def Jam/Island Records, this week’s Swag Tuesday booty is an autographed copy of Rihanna’s hit CD, Good Girl Gone Bad. The CD contains this summer’s smash, Umbrella, which is #1 this week for the 5th week, making it 2007’s longest running #1 single to date. Umbrella was also the biggest hit of NYC’s Pride parade, it seemed like …

Opera legend Beverly Sills succumbed to lung cancer tonight at age 78. More than any other person, she popularized opera with American audiences with her talent, her gracious charm, and perhaps most of all, with her humor. Below is her 1980 farewell performance, where she performs Tell Me Why, the song she always closed with. The song opens, “Time has …

Rev. Brent Hawkes, the Toronto minister who conducted the marriage ceremonies that led to same-sex marriage being legalized nationwide, has been awarded his country’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada. Hawkes has been a minister at Toronto’s MCC for 30 years. In 2001, Hawkes won his suit against the Ontario government, forcing the province to recognize gay marriages. One …

A dozen 7-Elevens around the country have been made over into Kwik-E marts in a promotion for the Simpsons movie. For the next week you can buy some of the products that previously only existed on the show. I’m going to have to run down to the Times Square 7-Eleven to get me a Squishee and a box of Krusty-O’s …

Stephen Dunne, a would-be Massachusetts lawyer, is suing the state bar association, claiming that he just missed receiving a passing grade on his bar exam because he refused to answer a question about gay marriage. Dunne’s lawsuit seeks to have the question removed from future bar exams, claiming it required him to “affirmatively accept, support and promote homosexual marriage and …

Last night we corralled a bunch of the guys at the Dugout and headed uptown for the Body & Soul reunion party at Studio Mezmor (formerly Crobar), the megaclub next door to the Eagle that I haven’t been inside in three years. We walked in and immediately hit the dance floor, where we remained the entire time. The vibe at …

“The only people that hate me are the gays. I don’t know what it is. Maybe they’re jealous or they’re opinionated or whatever, but it doesn’t bother me at all. I joke about it. I’m like, the only people who hate me are the gays and the extreme religious people.” – YouTube celebrity William Sledd, speaking about gays who criticize …

Saturday I went on a long bike ride with Dr. Jeff and the Farmboyz, trekking to the far north end of Manhattan and then into the Bronx. Under the George Washington Bridge is the famous Little Red Lighthouse, which you probably know from the classic children’s book, The Little Red Lighthouse And The Big Gray Bridge. The lighthouse was originally …

Here’s a few more pics from last Sunday’s Pride parade. Somehow I don’t have a picture of them, but one of the highlights of the afternoon was finally meeting JMG commenters Crixi Van Cheek and Dick Zinya, who trekked in from the wilds of Orange, New Jersey to join our merry band. Another group of JMG readers were located in …

I spotted the Oracle of Randomocity working the corner of Crack and Ho, where she stuck her head into my taxi to reveal that this week’s winner of Swag Tuesday is fellow New Yorker, Croft, the 104th commenter, who gets Cyclizen, the new novel by Jim Provenzano. Croft sez: “I’d like to thank the academy, and, wait, I wasn’t finished, …

Is PlanetOut beginning to dismantle? In a self-reported story posted on the Advocate’s site, PlanetOut Partners has announced it is selling its adult publishing division, SpecPub, as it attempts to stem the hemorrhage of red ink. SpecPub comprises four gay adult magazines: Unzipped, [2] Magazine, Men Magazine, and Freshmen. PlanetOut is revamping Advocate, with a planned redesign set to launch …

….stalking yer lunch.

Speaking of London Pride, today the UK Guardian lists their ten favorite songs about being gay: 1 Jet Boy, Jet Girl, Elton Motello2 Michael, Franz Ferdinand3 Homosapien, Pete Shelley4 Can You Forgive Her?, Pet Shop Boys5 BD Woman’s Blues, Lucille Bogan6 Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover, Sophie B Hawkins7 The Man That I Am With My Man, The …

England-based Qsoft Consulting, owner of the gay dating site MyGaydar.com, has filed a trademark infringement suit in Delaware, claiming they own the word “gaydar” after another company began using a similar domain name for their own gay and lesbian dating site. Qsoft’s suit also contends that TDTong Ltd. violated the “Can Spam Act” by sending unsolicted messages to users of …

Fired Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington is pulling out his race card, now claiming that he was canned from the hit show because he’s black. Saying, “Someone heard the booming voice of a black man and got really scared and that was the beginning of the end for me,” Washington says the real reason he got fired is because he …

The day before London Pride, today British police were tipped off about a suspicious car parked on Haymarket Street (in London’s West End) along the route of the gay Pride parade. Inside a Mercedes they found gas containers and a large number of nails, unnerving Londoners who plan to attend tomorrow’s event. Police described the bomb as similar to those …

Originally the Hotel Beverly, the Hotel Benjamin was built in 1927 by famed architect Emery Roth, the man responsible for dozens of Beaux Arts buildings in Manhattan. The hotel fell into disrepair for many years but reopened in 1999 as part of Denihan Hospitality Group, and is now named for DHG’s founder, Benjamin Denihan. Trivia: Back when it was the …

The Trevor Project, the nation’s only 24/7 suicide hotline for gay and questioning youth, has just received the largest donation in its history from actress Jodie Foster. The Trevor Project is in the middle of a fundraising campaign aimed to support the opening of two new call centers. Foster made the donation in the name of the late Oscar winner …

Montreal’s Pride parade is back on, rescued by a new community group called Celebrations LGBTA Montreal. (The “A” in their LGBTA stands for “amis”.) Montreal Pride is now scheduled for July 28th & 29th. In May, Divers/Cité (the group that has put on the parade in the past) backed out, citing wishes to focus on their gay cultural festival which …

Legendary opera diva and gay icon Beverly Sills, 78, is reported to be near death from lung cancer. Sills is in a Manhattan hospital with her daughter at her side. While she retired from performing in 1980, Sills has continued to be a force on the NYC opera scene, becoming the chair of the Metropolitan Opera in 2002. Like many …