Miller Brewing has announced a “full-scale review” of their promotional activities. In response, the Catholic League’s Bill Donahue says that for now, they are tabling a “serious course of action” they had planned against Miller Brewing. “Today’s San Francisco Chronicle reports that at yesterday’s Folsom Street Fair, ‘couples led each other up and down the street with dog collars and …

To bolster his contention that he is gay himself and therefore not subject to hate crimes embellishments in the murder of Michael Sandy, yesterday three “older” men testified on behalf of defendant Anthony Fortunato, 21, stating that they had hooked up with Fortunato online previous to the Sandy murder. Two of the men mentioned that Fortunato had showed up at …

At 68th Street, the Hunter College pedestrian overpass crosses Lexington Avenue. Hunter, one of the oldest public colleges in the U.S., used to be called Female Normal.

Courtesy of FlyLife and Burgundy Records, this week I have five copies of Chaka Khan’s Funk This, her first all-new studio album in 10 years. Featuring duets with Mary J. Blige, Michael McDonald and Tony Maiden, Funk This is now in stores and available on download services. Click over for a special shout-out from Chaka to JMG readers, followed by …

Via HRC Back Story comes word that HRC has signed the Leadership Conference On Civil Rights’ letter (PDF) calling for a trans-inclusive ENDA. HRC joins 16 progressive organizations including the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU. October 1, 2007 The Honorable George Miller,Chairman Committee on Education and LaborU.S. House of RepresentativesWashington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman …

One interesting ramification of the recent strength of the Canadian dollar is that marijuana exports to the United States are on the decline. Exporters of the famous “B.C. Bud”, one of British Columbia’s largest industries, now profit much less when selling stateside. In the plus column, the decline of the American market means more supply for stoner Canadians, who have …

Major national LGBT rights groups are among over 90 progressive organizations calling on Congress NOT to approve the current version of ENDA, which has been stripped of transgender protections. NGLFT: Please call your Congressperson right now. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3121 and ask to be connected to your representative. When a staffperson answers, say: “Please tell the representative that …

“Gay and lesbian rights are not “special rights” in any way. It isn’t “special” to be free from discrimination – it is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship. The right not to be discriminated against is a common-place claim we can expect to enjoy under our laws and our founding document, the Constitution. That many had to struggle to gain …

Just one of several hilarious spots for the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, which starts October 12th. The spots are written and directed by David Quantic. Also recommended: Drag Queen Workshop.

-NYC taxis get a logo makeover, design geeks take offense. -The fine for stealing recyclables from trash has been raised from $100 to $5000 for repeat offenders, in an attempt to thwart underground trash-picking businesses that prowl in advance of city garage trucks. City officials promise that the new law is not aimed at homeless people. -Daniel Leibeskind is designing …

“If only that Rudy were in this presidential race. That Rudy was a leader. One who didn’t duck challenging issues but faced them head-on. One who didn’t tell people what they wanted to hear to get their votes but what they needed to hear to earn their votes. – Jonathan Capehart in the Washington Post, discussing Rudy Giuliani’s former reputation …

Central Park, Sunday, 2pmCrazy homeless guy: “Stupid-ass ducks! Ain’t got no motherfucking sense, swimming around in that cold-ass water. Quack! Quack! Quackity fucking quack! You ain’t cool. You can’t even sit in no tree. Dumb-ass ducks!”.

Looking across the East River from Astoria, Queens, you see a portion of the Upper East Side. Note the Blackwell Lighthouse at the right of the shot, which is at the northernmost end of Roosevelt Island.

The late afternoon sun turns the Archive Building a lovely shade of orange.

Composer Michael Abels has graciously provided me a clip of Delights And Dances, which debuted at Carnegie Hall last week. Click on the link below to stream the last couple of minutes of the piece. As I noted in my earlier post, I know bupkis about classical music. But I’m sure you more erudite readers can edumacate the rest of …

New York’s downtown art and club scene was rocked today by news that Dean Johnson,45, was found dead in Washington DC last week. Johnson’s body has just been identified and the circumstances surrounding his death have not been determined. A rock star, writer, drag performer, party promoter, and porn actor, Johnson first made his mark on Manhattan’s club scene when …

Reflecting the disunity I spoke of in the post below, 12 LGBT rights groups have signed onto a letter decrying the removal of transgenders from ENDA, including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Empire State Pride Agenda, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, P-FLAG, the National Stonewall Democrats, and …

Over on AMERICAblog, John Aravosis’ readers are discussing a trans-free ENDA. I brought up the issue yesterday, but I think Aravosis’ talking points are worth taking a look at. Kill ENDA if gender identity is not includedThe main argument here is that we shouldn’t leave a portion of our community behind. We’d never pass ENDA if it only included lesbians …

The Minneapolis airport is remodeling the Larry Craig Memorial Tearoom so that the stall dividers go almost all the way to the floor, in the hopes of thwarting any more hot stall-to-stall man-luvin. The airport has more than 80 restrooms, but only the LCMT and one other “busy” john is getting the Craig-proofing makeover. I could see one of these …

Barack Obama has issued a statement urging Dubya to sign the Matthew Shepard Act. “This vote was about who we are as Americans and whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality. Those who commit hate crimes should be punished no matter whether those crimes are committed on account of race, gender, religion, disability, …