Nick Gruber

NEW YORK – Nick Gruber has left town and entered rehab — and sources close to the 22-year-old are buzzing that his former ex-beau Calvin Klein is picking up the tab.
The insiders confirm that Gruber, who split with the 69-year-old fashion mogul in January — headed to an undisclosed rehab program in Arizona on Wednesday after being arrested Tuesday morning for hiding cocaine in his underwear.
A visitor to Gruber’s apartment building at 666 Greenwich Street on Wednesday was told that the former erotic model “moved out this afternoon and doesn’t live here anymore.”
On Thursday morning, a doorman at the building — which has counted Monica Lewinsky and, more recently, Blake Lively among its residents — told us that Gruber “is not coming back” to the address.
As we reported Thursday, Gruber was supposed to move to California on Wednesday to pursue a career in reality television but was busted the morning before his departure after allegedly punching New Jersey resident Calvin Swint, who appears from his LinkedIn page to be an intern for New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Cops later found a stash of suspected cocaine in Gruber’s underwear, sources said.
The shaken stunner was released Tuesday after bail bondsman to the stars Ira Judelson posted a $10,000 bond.
Another source who saw Gruber after he was sprung from jail says the former erotic model was nursing a shiner and a swollen hand.
“He looked pretty scared,” says the source.
Shortly after Gruber got out of jail, two sources say he informed them that he’d fled the city for a rehabilitation center in Arizona.
The sources also tell us that Klein, who underwent his own rehab stint in 1988, has come to his former beau’s rescue, and is picking up the tab for Gruber’s treatment and his legal expenses.
“Nick has no money,” said one.
Gruber’s top-of-the-line defense attorney, Benjamin Brafman declined to comment on his client yesterday.
A spokesman for Klein also declined to comment.
Klein and Gruber split in January, but sources close to the couple say the two men have seen each other a few times since their split.
from The New York Daily News
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Calvin Kleins Ex-Boy Toy Arrested For Coke Possession

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – An Irish priest at the center of a gay porn controversy has asked to leave his parish and take sabbatical leave from the priesthood, he said Sunday.
The Catholic Church in Ireland had launched an investigation after reports Father Martin McVeigh accidentally showed pictures of naked men to parents of children preparing for their First Holy Communion.
The incident happened at the start of a PowerPoint presentation at a grade school in Pomeroy, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland in March, said the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady.
Parents said in a statement they were “horrified” by what they saw and called for action to be taken against the priest.
The church reported the incident to police, who said no crime had been committed.
In a statement Sunday, McVeigh apologized “for the hurt caused” and “his failure to check his presentation in advance.”
However, he insisted he “was not responsible for the presence of the offending images and in this respect I ask you to accept my innocence.”
Bishop: Vatican should rethink celibacy
The priest also confirmed he had destroyed the memory stick that contained the images.
He said: “After the images were inadvertently shown, I immediately removed the memory stick from the laptop. In my shock and upset and in my concern to ensure that the images would never be shown again, I destroyed it later that evening.”
McVeigh described the past month as “the most difficult” of his life and said he would be taking a break.
“In the hope of bringing resolution and healing to the division and pain within the parish, I have taken the decision to ask Cardinal Brady to allow me to leave the parish of Pomeroy and to take sabbatical leave,” said McVeigh, adding: “The memory of this awful episode will remain with me for the rest of my life.”
Brady said he accepted McVeigh had no advance knowledge of the pornography.
In a statement Sunday, Brady said it had been “a traumatic time for the whole parish community and for Father McVeigh personally.” The cardinal also apologized for the incident.
He issued an update on the church investigation, saying other computers used by McVeigh had been “forensically examined by an independent technical expert and no inappropriate imagery has been found.”
Brady added an additional laptop stolen from the local church sacristy since the March 26 meeting “did not form part of the technical examination.”
The cardinal said he had accepted McVeigh’s request for leave on the understanding he would return to the diocese on its completion.
The latest controversy comes after a series of child sex abuse scandals involving Catholic Church clergy in Ireland. The government-backed investigations say thousands of children have been abused by priests and other church figures over the last 80 years.
In March, the Vatican released a major report into the problem, begging forgiveness from victims. However, victims hit out at the report’s finding that new safeguards are working.
from CNN
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CHINA – A female scooter rider killed a man by squeezing his testicles over a parking dispute, in Haikou City, Hainan Province, China. The 41 years old woman rode her scooter to an elementary school in Meilan District, to pick up her child. When she tried to park her scooter in front of a shop, she was rejected by the 42-year-old male shop owner. The two parties soon fell into a quarrel, and then the physical confrontation began. The furious woman called up her husband and brother to come help her, which resulted in a fight. During the fight, the middle aged woman managed to grab the man’s testicles, and squeezed them till he finally collapsed on the ground. The man was immediately rushed to the hospital, but unfortunately died.
from China News 24

UNITED KINGDOM – The GMC has reminded doctors of their duty to avoid discrimination, after a survey of gay and bisexual men showed that their health needs are often neglected. Respondents reported higher than average levels of domestic abuse, mental ill health and use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs, but said that services tended to focus purely on sexual health.
Stonewall had responses from 6861 gay and bisexual men from across Britain to its health survey, the largest ever conducted. This showed that a third of gay and bisexual men who have accessed healthcare services in the past year have had a negative experience related to their sexual orientation; and a third of gay and bisexual men are not out to their GP or healthcare professionals – they are more likely to be out to their manager, colleagues, family and friends than their GP.
Unmet health needs are common among gay and bisexual men. In the past year, 3% of gay men and 5% of bisexual men had attempted suicide, compared with 0.4% of men generally. One in six gay and bisexual men aged 16-24 have harmed themselves in the past year.
The survey also showed that:

Only one in ten gay and bisexual men have ever discussed prostate or bowel cancer with a healthcare professional and only 3% have ever discussed lung cancer
Only one in ten have ever discussed heart disease with a healthcare professional, and only one in five have ever discussed high blood pressure or high cholesterol
Two-thirds of gay and bisexual men have smoked at some time in their life compared with half of men in general
42% of gay and bisexual men drink alcohol on three or more days a week compared with 35% of men in general
Half of gay and bisexual men have taken drugs in the past year, compared with one in eight men in general
One in four gay and bisexual men have never been tested for any sexually transmitted infection, and three in ten have never had an HIV test
Only a quarter said that healthcare workers had given them information relevant to their sexual orientation
Half of the men surveyed had experienced domestic abuse from a family member or partner, compared with 17% of men in general.
Stonewall’s chief executive Ben Summerskill said: “Britain’s 1.8 million gay and bisexual men are being let down by health services which often see homosexuality and bisexuality purely as sexual health issues. As a result hundreds of thousands of gay and bisexual men are in dire need of better support from health professionals.”
The GMC’s chief executive Niall Dickson (pictured) said: “This survey highlights examples of poor treatment and care experienced by gay and bisexual men from doctors and other health professionals. Instances such as these are completely unacceptable.
Our core guidance, Good Medical Practice makes it absolutely clear that doctors must never discriminate unfairly against patients.”
The GMC has produced with Stonewall an information leaflet that explains to lesbian, gay and bisexual patients what they should expect from their doctor.
from On Medica

Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Jesse Tyler Ferguson spends each week making people laugh on TV, but there’s a message to his comedy, as well. As one half of the lovable gay couple on Modern Family, the star says that the Emmy-winning ABC show has the power to push social progress — or at least get people talking.
“I think it’s informing people in a different way. I think they’re seeing Cameron and Mitchell in a light and thinking okay, ‘I’m not feeling quite so strange about them being together, why is it so different for Bob and Joe down the street?’” the actor told The Hollywood Reporter at THR and Google’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner Pre-Party. “It’s definitely a pop culture touchstone for that issue, I do know people’s minds are being changed, I dont know how much we’re doing for marriage equality in the long haul, but I do know people are discussing it and using it as a reference point.”
Quite instantly, the actor responded that if he could be president for ten minutes, and could pass one law, he’d enact marriage equality. But he isn’t just a one-issue man; Ferguson is in Washington DC this weekend to advocate for the Creative Coalition, hoping to save funding for arts funding.
“I’m not a politician in any way, shape or form, but it’s very inspiring to meet people who are running our nation, and it’s different than Hollywood, that’s for sure,” he said.
from The Hollywood Reporter
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Chris Colfer

When “Glee” star Chris Colfer was 8, he began writing a novel. He wrote two pages, called it the first chapter and proudly showed it to his grandmother.
“She said, `OK, could use some development,’” laughed Colfer in a recent interview.
That memory was worked into his script for the movie “Struck by Lightning,” which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Colfer wrote and stars in the movie. He plays Carson, an ambitious high-school senior who blackmails his fellow students into helping him get into Northwestern University.
The 21-year-old actor came up with the idea for the story when he was a teen as a way to vent about his teachers and classmates. He then taught himself how to write a screenplay.
“I would go to my local Borders in Fresno (Calif.) and I would study Sofia Coppola’s `Marie Antoinette’ published screenplay. I’d sit there – `cause I couldn’t afford it – and I’d read it and I’d read it and I’d teach myself how to screenwrite and how to, you know, frame everything.”
Allison Janney plays his mother, and Colfer says he always pictured her in the part.
“I always had her voice in my head for some reason. Always, always,” he said.
Janney said she was unaware the part was written for her, but loved it immediately.
“I was blown away by Chris’ script,” she said. “The writing has always been the most important thing to me, and I had an instant connection to his script. The characters were funny and flawed, especially the part of his mother. Then I met with him and was completely charmed by him. … How can he be so talented and accomplished and charming and be so impossibly young? I can’t wait to see what’s next for him. Maybe directing?”
Dermot Mulroney, Christina Hendricks and Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family”) also star in the movie.
Colfer has just finished a psychological drama he hopes to shoot independently this summer. He also adapted a pilot for the Disney Channel based on Florence Laughlin’s children’s book “The Little Leftover Witch.”
He also inked a deal to publish two children’s books. “The Land of Stories,” which will be in bookstores in July, is essentially the completion of that story he began writing when he was 8.
“It came from me being a young, curious kid holding a book in my hand and wishing with all my heart that I could just fall into the book and go on these adventures with all the characters,” he said.
Colfer said he told his parents when he was growing up that he was going to write and act, and he has made good on those bold declarations. His portrayal of gay teen Kurt Hummel on the Fox show “Glee” has earned him a Golden Globe Award and two Emmy nominations.
Despite the opportunities he’s had since “Glee,” Colfer says he cannot ever really get used to fame.
“I don’t think anyone can prepare you for it. … You find different ways of dealing with it and getting used to it, but it’s not something you can totally settle your mind into. For me, I always feel like I have this massive responsibility because of the kind of platform that `Glee’ gave me. I can never do anything that disappoints anyone. That’s my biggest fear – disappointing those people who look up to me.”
from The Associated Press

Chanse Dunn

Chanse Dunn, a senior at west high school is being awarded a prestigious scholarship, not only for his academics, but also for embracing who he is as an openly gay student. Instead of letting his sexuality define his high school experience, Chanse Dunn spoke up and stood out. He’s a Senior at Sioux Cities West High School, and openly gay.
He’s now being awarded with the Matthew Shepard Scholarship, partly due to his courage to take a stand, but he admits, it wasn’t always easy.
“People would walk by and be like…they would know my name but they would be like ‘oh there’s that gay guy… to me it was like, I’m more than that… you don’t know who I am,” says Dunn.
During sophomore year,  Dunn made the difficult decision to tell his dad he was gay. But before he did, he got some advice from his guidance counselor. It was then, that she mentioned the Matthew Shepard Scholarship, it’s named a man who was killed in a violent hate crime more than 30 years ago.
“She brought it out and told me everything about the program and she said ‘they have scholarships for people just like you Chanse…I automatically got really really happy.”
Dunn says education is the key to helping people understand the gay community. And ultimately end the bullying and hurt.
“I have a lot more I want to do, and it’s just foolish of me to want to let someone interfere with that. I have these goals that I want to reach and I cant let one person get me down, when my goal is much bigger than they are…”
Dunn is pursuing one of his goals next Fall, when he’ll use the the scholarship towards his college education at Iowa State University.
He told me he’ll be working towards a degree in studio art and human recourses.
from KCAU TV

It’s been 17 years since notorious cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer was brutally murdered in a Wisconsin prison … and now, the man who beat him to death is shopping a tell-all book about the killing.
TMZ has learned … a rep for Christopher Scarver has reached out to high power book publishers … claiming the 42-year-old wants to explain why he felt compelled to bludgeon Dahmer to death with a broomstick in 1994.
Sources say … Scarver — who’s currently serving multiple life sentences for multiple murders — wants to reveal all sorts of details surrounding the Dahmer killing … including Dahmer’s last words.
We’re told Scarver plans to reveal the “sick, sadistic mind games and practical jokes” Dahmer played on prison officials and other prisoners during his time in the pokey.
Sources say … Scarver also wants to share the life lessons he’s learned since the killing.
No word if anyone will bite.
from TMZ
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photo / James Freeman / LGBT Weekly

CAMP PENDLETON – Balloons, signs, tears, and joy may not be unusual sights on military bases when family and friends await their returning veteran’s safe return home from a long deployment, but a wedding proposal by a boyfriend to his Marine boyfriend is. That’s what happened Tuesday at Camp Pendleton, when San Diego resident, Cory Huston, himself a Navy veteran once assigned to the Marines as a hospital corpsman asked Marine Avarice Guerrero to marry him. It is believed to be the first proposal of marriage and engagement between two gay men – not  to mention two war vets – on a US military base. In an exclusive, San Diego LGBT Weekly was there to photograph the historic proposal.
April 24, under a bright Southern California sky at Camp Pendleton’s Camp Del Mar near Oceanside, Calif., a full two hours before his boyfriend’s return from the badlands of Afghanistan, Cory Huston waited nervously. Huston, who was discharged under the former Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, chain smoked as he rehearsed the simple proposal he would deliver when Guerrero would arrive.
He told LGBT Weekly that by popping the question, and assuming Guerrero would say yes, he would not only be changing his and his beau’s lives forever, but also the landscape of marriage among gay servicemembers.
“This is a huge step for me,” Huston said while pacing and scanning the crowd of fellow friends and family members of returning Marines.
Finally, luggage in tow, Guerrero emerged with a smile on his face. Upon seeing Huston, Guerrero dropped his bags; aimed a kiss toward Huston’s lips; and opened his arms to his boyfriends waiting embrace. The time and distance of 10 months’ separation evaporated in a public show of affection that less than a year ago would have been cause for court martial. After a few minutes of emotional holding and kissing, Huston went anxiously down on one knee; looked up at Guerrero, who was dressed from head to toe in military fatigues; and produced an engagement ring and the time-honored phrase, “Will you marry me?”
Huston’s mild tremble, a result of hours and days of anticipation about this day, was quickly quieted by the one word every hopeful fiancé wants to hear: “Yes.”
“I was blown away,” Guerrero said, staring at the shining ring on his finger shortly after the proposal. “I was shocked that after all we’d been through, he would honestly want to spend the rest of his life with someone like me.”
from The LGBT Weekly

Streaming video platform Hulu has just announced the inclusion of 4 new shows to its lineup of original content, and now the company has unveiled its new Gay and Lesbian genre category.
Hulu presently offers GLAAD-recognized, award-winning titles like Paris is Burning and Frida, as well as documentary The Times of Harvey Milk and now-defunct Showtime drama Queer as Folk in its new category, which is comprised of roughly 100 titles. Other films on the list include Were The World Mine, A Marine Story, Judas Kiss, Latter Days, Adam & Steve and Another Gay Movie.
Hulu will host the Auraeus Solito’s critically acclaimed Boy in May, and Hulu cites that it looks forward to expanding upon its new LGBT community library.
from Web Pro News

Reverend Szymon Niemiec

21st April 2012 in Warsaw, Poland Christian United Church had General Conference. Delegates of the church (laity and clergy) decided to join United Ecumenical Catholic Church as an affiliated member and elected Rev. Szymon Niemiec for office of Bishop of the Church. Rev. Niemiec will be first bishop in Poland who is openly gay. His consecration was set up for August 2012 in Portsmouth UK.
Rev. Szymon Niemiec, Polish photographer, gay rights activist, journalist and clergy, was born 5 October, 1977, in Warsaw, Poland. Szymon was raised in a Roman Catholic family and was strongly drawn to the church as a child. While serving as an altar boy in his mother’s congregation he became disillusioned noticing that money and gifts were more important for clergy then people and congregation. His feelings of being called by God for ministry were crushed when he was 16 and experienced hate speech, condemnation,and blackmail from Catholic clergy. For the next several years he declared himself an agnostic. In 1991, he received a diploma as an instructor of theater. By 1998 he had come out publicly as a gay man, not a common occurrence in Poland at that time.
In 2000 Szymon met the Rev. Ernest Ivanovs from Latvia, who like Szymon was ex-Catholic and and called by God. Ivanovs helped Niemiec recover and understand his Christian faith. In 2003 Ivanovs came to Poland to establish the Free Reformed Church of Poland and confirmed Szymon in that church. The Free Reformed Church in Poland became the first Christian church in that country to openly welcome lesbian and gay persons.
Ivanovs left Poland in 2005 and retired from ministry due to poor health. Niemiec was examined and ordained by the congregation as a Deacon. He attempted to study at the Polish Christian Academy of Theology, but was rejected because he was openly gay. So Szymon decided to undergo informal biblical study. In 2007 this small Free Reformed congregation decided to start the process of registering with the goverment. This was not easy in Poland as it required considerable money and a minimum of 100 signatures confirmed by notary. Niemiec began serving as Moderator of the congregation at that time. On 9 November 2008 the congregation decided to ordain Niemiec to the office of Elder.
Niemiec was the founder of the first Polish Gay Pride parade, held in 2001. From 2000 to 2006, he held the post of Cultural Ambassador of Poland to the International Lesbian and Gay Culture Network. From 2001 to 2005, he was President of the International Lesbian and Gay Culture Association in Poland. Niemiec has been a member of the Left since 2002, and on 6 May 2005 he was elected vice president of Union of the Left party.
In May 2007 he published his first book: “Rainbow Humming Bird on the Butt: An Autobiography” (ISBN 8392419103). In 2008, Niemiec became a member of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association as well as the president of the board of “Friends of Szymon” Foundation.
In 2009 Rev. Niemiec met Bishop Paul David C. Strong of the Christian United Church. Szymon notes that it may seem strange that someone from Poland with Catholic roots who had become a progressive Calvinist minister to be drawn to a more Anglican denomination. Yet Szymon attributes this to his strong ecumenical leanings. At the Christian United Church’s General Conference in 2010 Ks. Niemiec was received as a Full Elder in Connection and his congregation affiliated with CUC. Bishop Strong appointed Ks. Niemiec to the office of Dean of Missionary Conference for Europe where he serves at the operating officer of the church in Europe. At this time the Christian United Church has two congregations in Poland and some others in Europe preparing for affiliation.
from Press Release

Dominic Sheahan-Stahl

MICHIGAN – The keynote speaker for Sacred Heart Academy’s graduation ceremony says the private Catholic school canceled his speech after finding out he is gay.
Dominic Sheahan-Stahl of Mount Pleasant, a third-generation Sacred Heart alum, was scheduled to speak at the graduation ceremony at which his younger brother will be graduating.
A call was made to Sacred Heart Academy Thursday and the Daily News was told administration is currently in a meeting discussing the issue and “hopes” to have a statement by the end of the day.
The news has gone viral and Sheahan-Stahl, who currently lives in New York City and works as an actor, is saddened by the news.
“I’m an openly gay man and have been for 14 years,” Sheahan-Stahl said over the phone. “When they asked me to speak they knew I was gay.”
He said his speech was canceled after the Bishop Joseph Cistone made a classroom visit during which he spoke against homosexuality.
“Some students walked out,” Sheahan-Stahl said.
That’s when Sheahan-Stahl said the Cistone found out he was gay and engaged to marry another man.
Sheahan-Stahl said the principal of Sacred Heart Academy, Denny Starnes, told him he was not aware that he was openly gay.
“I did have a conversation with him. He was very cordial and nice,” Sheahan-Stahl said.
“I’m engaged to a man I love, I have my engagement photos posted on Facebook,” he said.
A voice mail was left for Starnes at the academy.
Mount Pleasant community members are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and even text messages to get the word out and to secure support for Sheahan-Stahl through a petition.
A Facebook page was created earlier this morning “Let Dominic Speak” and has garnered over 1,000 “likes” so far.
Sheahan-Stahl said his speech is about fear.
“My speech is about fear and not letting it get in the way. …right now it’s fear,” he said of why the administration will not let him speak.
Sheahan-Stahl worries what type of message this is sending to students who attend the school.
“They don’t know what this is doing for kids dealing with sexuality.”
Although his speech was canceled he still has a message for students at Sacred Heart Academy.
“I want them to know that whatever they dream is 100 percent possible and realize what has come out of this. It’s the love and support I do have,” Sheahan-Stahl said.
from Midland Daily News

For many HIV-positive Americans, and those who advocate on their behalf, these are days of anxious waiting as the Supreme Court ponders President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
This loose-knit community – made up of activists, health professionals and an estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV – has invested high hopes in the Affordable Care Act, anticipating that it could dramatically improve access to lifesaving care and treatment. The act is now in limbo as the high court deliberates on its constitutionality, notably its requirement that most Americans obtain health insurance. A ruling could come in June.
“The HIV treatment community sees the act as a critical step in our fight against the AIDS epidemic,” said Scott Schoettes of Lambda Legal, a national gay-rights advocacy group. “People have been counting on it, making plans based on its implementation, so for it to be pulled out from under their feet at this point would be a tremendous loss.”
Among its many provisions, the health care law has two major benefits for HIV-positive people: It expands Medicaid so that those with low incomes can get earlier access to treatment, and it eliminates limits on pre-existing conditions that have prevented many people with HIV from obtaining private insurance.
Under current policies, low-income HIV-positive people often do not qualify for Medicaid if they are not yet sick enough to be classified as disabled.
In the view of advocacy groups, this creates a cruel Catch 22 – at a stage when they are still active and productive, these people can’t afford the antiretroviral treatments that could help them stay that way. Only when their condition worsens are they able to qualify for Medicaid and get treatment that might have prevented the deterioration.
The health care act would remove the disability requirement and makes Medicaid available to a broader range of low-income adults.
“It will prolong life potentially by decades for literally hundreds of thousands of persons,” said the National Minority AIDS Council in its Supreme Court brief. “Individuals can continue to work and go about their daily lives as productive members of society.”
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, only about 13 percent of people with HIV have private health insurance and about 24 percent have no coverage at all. As a group, HHS says, these people “have been particularly vulnerable to insurance industry abuses” and face barriers to obtaining care from qualified providers.
Under the new law, insurers cannot rescind existing coverage to adults unless there’s evidence of fraud. As if 2014, when the law is scheduled for full implementation, insurers will not be allowed to deny coverage to anyone with HIV/AIDS or impose annual limits on coverage.
Schoettes, who is Lambda Legal’s HIV Project director and is HIV-positive himself, says this part of the law would curtail harmful insurance practices.
“Most private insurers have refused to provide affordable coverage to those with HIV,” he and other Lambda Legal lawyers wrote in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court in March.
“This market failure has caused serious consequences both for individuals with HIV – who suffer unnecessary illness and premature death – and for society generally in higher overall health care costs and lost productivity,” the lawyers wrote. “Virtually all this suffering is avoidable: medical care is available that can turn HIV into a chronic, manageable condition.”
(more…)