Shortly after last call at the Bada Bing, Lady Randomocity finished her lap dance to text me the winner of this week’s Swag Tuesday, Jon of Jersey City, who wins an advance box set of Showtime’s hit series The Tudors and Tudors t-shirt. Jon gushed: “Holy crap, that’s fantastic! You are awesome, Your web site is awesome and I can’t …

You may recall the huge brouhaha a few months ago when complaints arose that the bear-themed hookup site Bear411 was routinely refusing membership to men whom the site owner felt did not meet his personal ideal of “bearness”, namely non-hirsute or smaller guys. Asian men in particular seemed to bear the brunt of the rejections, although some were allowed to …

Remember all the fun we had here last year with photoshopped parodies of the “ex-gay” billboard campaign? Somebody is having fun again with a new campaign from them wacky totally-not-cocksuckers and the doctored version is flying around the web.From the Truth Ministry site: A photo of our Greenville billboard has recently been doctored by someone and posted on a national …

What a strange Pride Month it has been so far for LGBT folks around the world. On the sort of plus side, Colombia tried but failed to grant gay couple similar rights to those of straight couples and Costa Rica is contemplating a similar attempt. On the downside, we’ve got Russia with banned Pride marches, violence against gays, and an …

My UK blogger pal Mike Atkinson, AKA Troubled Diva, has really been making a name for himself as a music journalist. Head over and check out his interview with the rarely heard from Vince Clarke of Erasure, in which Clarke talks about his “monogamous loyalty” to singer Andy Bell and what it’s like to be one of the few surviving …

Bishop Harry Jackson: “Gay activists around the country are getting nervous that they are about to experience an embarrassing political setback. Instead of amending the hate crimes legislation that protects churches in a substantive way, they are simply crying out in a louder, more threatening manner. Gay advocates are not looking for fairness; they are looking for an upper hand. …

“I have my partner here on the phone and he just asked me to marry him. My answer, Madam Speaker, is yes.” – New York State Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-Staten Island), cellphone in his hand, moments after the Assembly passed its same sex marriage bill. The chamber gave Titone a round of applause. One day after passing through the Assembly …

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg threw a huge honkin’ monkey wrench into the presidential campaign today when he stunned politicos by announcing he was no longer a Republican. Bloomberg told the press today that he was now independent after switching his voter registration last week. With a personal wealth estimated at over $5B, he could easily underwrite his own presidential campaign, …

Paging the Conde Nast art department: Father Tony (NSFW) has some mad photoshop skillz, evidenced here by the creamy complexions of Superdaddy and myself. My skin hasn’t looked this baby-smooth since spring break ’81 when I passed out drunk in the Marlin Beach Hotel and awoke to find that my friends had entertained themselves by giving me a cucumber-avocado facial. …

At last night’s Garden Party, the NYC LGBT Community Center’s annual Pride kick-off gala, the audience got a wonderful surprise when Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (above, right) announced a $1 million grant to the center’s capital improvements fund. Nice, huh? But heads really swiveled when City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (above, left) announced an additional $8 million dollar grant …

Sad news. Famed Castro tour guide Trevor Hailey died unexpectedly in San Diego last week. When I lived in San Francisco, Hailey was a familiar sight around the gayborhood as she led enthusiastic visitors on her “Cruisin’ The Castro” tours. More than a couple of times, I happened to be on the sidewalk behind Hailey’s group, eavesdropping as she regaled …

Well, I guess I spoke too soon about John Travolta keeping his crazy to himself. Speaking to W Magazine about the Virgina Tech shootings, Travolta says, “I still think that if you analyze most of the school shootings, it is not gun control. It is [psychotropic] drugs at the bottom of it.” You may recall Tom Cruise’s famous anti-psychiatry diatribe …

The bill to legalize same-sex marriage made it out of New York State Assembly’s judiciary committee today, passing 16-5. The bill must now make it past the rules committee before it is put up to a general vote on the Assembly floor. Over on the state Senate side, majority leader Joseph Bruno (R) has said many times that he will …

The newest addition to the madness of Times Square is Spotlight, a karaoke bar where you are joined onstage by in-house back-up singers and background dancers. There’s even a “green room” with a make-up artist to prepare you for belting out Flashdance. Audience members can send the performers Simon Cowell-worthy snide comments from their tableside interactive consoles. Spotlight also features …

Courtesy of Showtime, this week’s Swag Tuesday giveaway is a special advance DVD box set of the full first season of their hit series, The Tudors, starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Henry VIII. In March, I attended a screening of the first two episodes of The Tudors and I was immediately reeled in by the lush photography and uber-hot cast. Steve …

“Over the next 20 years Pride Festivals will fall out of favor as we move from outward challenges to inward ones. We’ll grow up to understand that pride cannot be given or taken away by others. In our past, we marched to be proud and not ashamed. The next 20 years we convince ourselves.” – Former Log Cabin Republicans head …

Fresh off last week’s victory in stifling a possible reversal of gay marriage rights, Massachusetts advocates are now attempting a repeal of a 1913 law that only allows people from other states to marry in Massachusetts if their marriage would be recognized in their home state. The 1913 law was originally created to slow the spread of interracial marriages. Republican …

We talk a lot about privacy and the internet here, so I’m rather curious what you think about an interesting story out of San Francisco. The owner of Castro porn shop Auto-Erotica downloaded a naked photo of a man from the internet, photoshopped a sex toy onto the bed next to him, and posted the photo in his store’s window …

Newly retired Bob Barker has switched gears and endorsed Rosie O’Donnell to replace him on The Price Is Right, although he cautions that he isn’t sure that CBS is willing to have a female host for the show. On Friday, the now Rosie-less chat fest The View continued its 10-year losing streak at the Daytime Emmys, with Ellen Degeneres winning …