Joe.My.God. LGBT News

Yesterday Dubya signed a law expanding the ability of the government to eavesdrop on our international phone conversations and emails without warrants. The law was enacted in order to protect the major telecommunication companies that are now facing numerous lawsuits for having secretly cooperated in previous warrantless wiretappings. These companies have been pressuring the Bush administration to enact legislation freeing …

This is Jingjing, one of the five official mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Disgraced Florida right-wing legislator Bob “Tea-room” Allen, whom you may recall was caught in a park restroom last month, offering a cop $20 for sex, now says he only played along because he feared black men: “This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park.” According to the Orlando Sentinel, …

Here’s a shot taken two blocks from my place on Sunday afternoon. Ah, how empty Manhattan can get on summer weekends. The more touristy areas are still packed, but the nabes can be blissfully quiet.

Friday night, with Dr. Jeff, Chris, and Aaron, I attended the Erasure concert at Brooklyn’s McCarren Pool. The concert was typically fantastic and I walked away as amazed as always at Erasure’s enduring appeal. Many in the crowd could not have been out of diapers when Erasure first started rocking gay dance floors around the world. The massive McCarren Pool …

The New York Fire Department has pulled its 2008 firefighters calendar from sale after revelations appeared on gay blogs that their cover model appeared nude in an episode of Guys Gone Wild. While 22-year old Michael Biserta of Brooklyn Ladder Co. 131 will not be disciplined, since he made the video before joining, an FDNY spokesperson says, “We will no …

Dr. Ramon Torres, a noted HIV/AIDS researcher and former medical director of NYC’s St. Vincent’s AIDS Center, was arrested Wednesday for grand larceny and unlawful practice of medicine without a license. Torres is charged with submitting thousands of dollars of fraudulent Medicare claims and for continuing to treat patients after being suspended last year for drug and alcohol abuse. Torres …

-The soundtrack to Hairspray has edged up to #2 on the Billboard Top 200, but Prince’s debut at #3 with Planet Earth will likely prevent any time at the top spot for Hairspray. – Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal have returned to the cast of Rent, reprising the roles they created. Rent is currently the seventh longest running show in …

Former Village People frontman and songwriter Victor Willis (seen here during a 2006 drug arrest) is planning a tell-all book about his days with the legendary disco group. Willis, who left the group in 1980, begins his musical comeback attempt on August 31 in Las Vegas, with a worldwide tour to follow the launch of his autobiography in 2008. Willis, …

Human rights activists will gather at the UN’s Dag Hammerskjold Plaza at noon today, marching through the plaza and laying a wreath at the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial. LGBT activists including Brendan Fay and Gilbert Baker are calling on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, to ensure the rights of LGBT persons …