A Ventura County, California judge has ruled that the 14-year-old killer of gay teen Lawrence King will be tried as an adult. Relying on past court decisions, a judge ruled Thursday that trying a 14-year-old boy accused of murder in an adult court does not violate the constitution, swatting down legal arguments raised by the boy’s attorney that it was …

The Human Rights Campaign has announced that candy giant Mars Inc. has agreed to pull their new campaign for Snickers. The commercial features Mr. T machine-gunning an effeminate-appearing Olympic race-walker. Earlier this week, AdAge critic Bob Garfield issued an open letter to the head of the ad agency responsible for the ad, calling for its immediate withdrawal. Following conversations between …

As part of Central Park’s 150th anniversary celebration, beginning today you can ride a tethered balloon to a height of 300 feet over over the trees. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Olmsted and Vaux’s Greensward plan — the original design for the world’s most famous park — the Central Park Conservancy and New York City Department of Parks & …

This is looking north on Broadway from 60th Street under Trump International Tower near Columbus Circle.

Reviews of Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin yesterday appear to be mixed, with the New York Times calling it “vague on crucial issues of trade, defense and foreign policy.” However, The Nation loved it, saying, “To much of the world, Bush’s talk of freedom is code for messianism, arrogance and empire. Obama reframed the debate–and reclaimed the word–with his spectacular …

Last night I trekked to Midtown with Aaron for my fourth “oldies” concert in a week, George Michael at Madison Square Garden. Neither of us are particular fans, but while the last George Michael record I bought was probably the 12″ of 1982’s Wham Rap, I’m not not a fan either. Most of my interest in George Michael over the …

Oh, gentle readers, what a twisted, fascinating, maddening, saddening place is this thing called Teh Internets. Remember Cooper? The firefighter gay dad of two adopted boys who pulled his widely-loved blog after an “attack” of malicious comments and emails from the readers of this blog? Causing me to get extremely bent of out shape and offer Cooper a heartfelt (really) …

Gawker is reporting that People Magazine paid $300K for the exclusive rights to the photos of “pregnant man” Thomas Beatie’s baby girl. No word on whether he’s giving the money to charity, but doesn’t Beatie kind of deserve to keep it? Bidding on Angelina Jolie’s baby pictures approached $20 million, and even D-listers Nicole Richie and Jamie-Lynn Spears managed to …

Excellent news. Yesterday the Massachusetts house passed a bill approving equal Medicaid benefits for married gays. Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to sign the bill, which was passed by the state House on July 15. The lawmakers’ actions defy the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which bans legally wed same-sex couples from receiving federally provided benefits such as Medicaid, the …

More dumbassery from the McCain camp as they pander to Florida’s powerful Cuban vote. The truth is, there’s no love between Obama and Castro. The Castro advertisement actually uses the foreign leader’s words against Obama. But the quote is misleading in regards to the actual political dynamics in play. For starters, since Obama became the de facto nominee, Castro has …

Los Angeles chief of police William J. Bratton supports gay marriage and has made a personal donation to the fight against Proposition 8. LAPD Police Chief William J. Bratton has come out — in favor of gay marriage. As a wedding gift to friend and celebrity publicist Howard Bragman and his longtime partner, Chuck O’Donnell, Bratton made it official: He …

Vince Sandoval, a 25-year-old gay New Yorker, is going without sex for 100 days in a “social experiment” to find things to do in and around New York City that are “better than sex”. From his email to me: I started it a little more than a month ago as a social experiment and a way to explore the art …

Via Queerty: According to a new study, 40% of gay men in New York City, who have had sex with other men, hide their sexual orientation from their doctors. The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, and looked at data from 2004 to 2005 from the Centers for Disease Control National HIV Behavioral Survey. In the survey, …

The 21st century’s Anita Bryant, Oklahoma pol Sally Kern was caught attempting to bring a gun into the state Capitol Building yesterday. State Rep. Sally Kern says she’s an “outdoors girl” who’s done some shooting but didn’t intend to bring her pistol into the state Capitol on Wednesday. Kern, who made national headlines earlier this year when she said the …

“As a former Marine and patriotic American, I am deeply disturbed that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is discouraging young patriots from joining the Military at a time when our country needs their service. I am horrified that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” forces trained and ready troops to choose between serving their country and living openly — a choice I myself …

Via Nancy Pelosi’s YouTube channel, here’s freshman Rep. Patrick Murphy’s (D-PA) most excellent grilling of Elaine Donnelly of the anti-gay Center For Military Readiness about her opposition to the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, followed by the testimony of openly gay Iraq veteran Eric Alva, who lost a leg in combat. Chris Johnson live-blogged the hearing on HRC’s BackStory. …

Directly across from yesterday’s Morning View on Central Park South is the 43-story Essex House, which was built in 1931 as the Park Hotel during Gotham’s explosion of art deco landmarks (Empire State, Chrysler, etc.) The Essex is currently under renovation as more of its hotel rooms are being converted to zillion-dollar condos. Trivia: Angelina Jolie owns the penthouse. Gruesome …

What was the last full-length CD you bought?

The U.S. Olympic Committee wrote to the Seattle-area Northwest Bears Club to protest their calling this year’s camp-out the “Kamp Kodiak 2008 Olympic Village” on grounds of trademark infringement. (They also didn’t like the name “Big Ass Bear Olympics with Dr. Bob.”) Brendan McDonald, the event’s organizer, responded with this bit of hilarity: It is with bewilderment and amusement that …