One Life To Live / ABC

This won’t go down well with the LGBT community. One Life to Live stars Brett Claywell and Scott Evans—who play gay couple Kyle and Fish—are being written off the show and will be gone by mid-April.
“We are concluding the story that we set out to tell with Kyle and Fish,” says executive producer Frank Valentini. “We are very proud to have broken new ground with a same-sex couple on daytime.”
Word is, the decision to drop the duo didn’t come easily. Kish has been a big success with the media and the show’s gay fans, and gay-advocacy groups have showered OLTL with awards for creating the trail-blazing couple. But sources at the network say the duo failed to resonate with the mainstream audience. Ratings for the ABC soap were particularly dismal in late 2009 during the weeks that Fish came out of the closet and he and Kyle officially became a couple. Also playing simultaneously was a sprawling plot that had Robin Strasser’s character, Dorian, pretending to be a lesbian in order to win the gay vote in the Llanview mayoral race. A case of gay overkill? Perhaps.
Here are the plans for the Kish wrap-up: Spoiler Alert! On the March 29 episode, Fish will learn for certain what viewers have known for quite a while—he’s the biological father of baby Sierra Rose, via his drunken one-nighter with psychotic stripper Stacy Morasco (Crystal Hunt). With Stacy now dead, there are rumblings of a custody battle with Stacy’s sister Gigi (Farah Fath) but, ultimately, the law is on Fish’s side and the two dads will blissfully start a new life with the baby.
A show rep says the characters will not actually leave Llanview and, because Fish is a cop, he may pop up in a crime-related capacity down the line—but no promises are being made.
from TV Guide
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Ray Gosling

UNITED KINGDOM – A Vereran BBC presenter will be interviewed by detectives after he told TV viewers he carried out a mercy killing on a former male lover who was suffering from Aids.
During a pre-recorded show which was aired on Monday night, award-winning documentary maker Ray Gosling, 70, revealed he smothered the unnamed man as he lay in hospital “in terrible, terrible pain”.
A spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire Police yesterday ­confirmed the force was not aware of the issue until the broadcaster made his revelation on BBC East Midlands’ Inside Out programme.
She said: “We are now liaising with the BBC and will investigate the matter.”
The BBC said it would “co-operate fully” with the police investigation.
Mr Gosling, who refused to reveal the man’s identity, said he was not “making a cause” of assisted dying but said there was a case for changing the law.
Yesterday he said: “Sometimes doctors do it on their own. Sometimes people do it on their own.
“And if it happens to a lover or friend of yours, a husband, a wife – and I hope it doesn’t – but when it does sometimes you have to do brave things and you have to say – to use ­Nottingham language – bugger the law.”
During the 30-minute programme, Mr Gosling said: “Maybe this is the time to share a secret that I have kept for quite a long time.
“I killed someone once… He was a young chap, he’d been my lover and he got Aids.”
Strolling through a graveyard, he broke down as he recalled: “In a hospital one hot afternoon, the doctor said, ‘There’s nothing we can do’, and he was in terrible, terrible pain. I said to the doctor ‘Leave me just for a bit’ and he went away.
from The Daily Express
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Armani Valentine's Ad

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Here’s the thing with CBS (CBS)’s decision to allow Focus on the Family to run  a pro-life Super Bowl ad featuring Christian college football star Tim Tebow: It is now difficult for the network to reject Mancrunch.com’s bid to advertise its gay internet dating ad in the same slot (video below). Which means that FOF’s ad may have opened the door for the first proper gay ad on the Super Bowl. Unintended consequences!
Clearly, CBS* would like the Super Bowl to be a controversy-free mass audience exposure for brands that want to entertain. Having allowed FOF inject politics and religion into the event, CBS could now expose itself to accusations of hypocrisy and discrimination if it declines to run the Mancrunch ad. CBS says:
“The ad is still under review, the process takes a little while. We still have a lot of ads we have yet to review.”
According to Fox News:
The 30-second spot shows two men excitedly watching the game, before their hands brush as they both reach into a bowl of chips. Suddenly, the two begin making out, much to the shock of a guy sitting close by.
Mancrunch’s tagline is, “Where many many many men come out to play.”
CBS has already rejected one gay-themed ad from the game, by GoDaddy.com. That ad features a fictional retired footballer, “Lola,” who uses his post-career riches to launch his own line of lingerie. Lola is shown mincing like a fashion designer throughout.
The forgoing suggests the network is a lot more comfortable with conservative Christians than it is with homosexuality, which is not the impression the network wanted to create going in.
And finally: Doesn’t the Super Bowl feature a lot of gigantically muscled men hugging each other and slapping each other’s butts? Just sayin’.
And finally, 2: If the Mancrunch ad airs, it won’t be the first gay kiss to air in the big game. That honor belongs to a Snickers spot, which showed two men locking lips over a chocolate bar in 2007. The ad was criticized for being sophomoric and homophobic.
from BNET/CBS/Jim Edwards
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Old clip from Mad TV 2005.

Still funny if you haven’t seen it before.

Sorry slow news day.

Garibaldi Gay

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Amanda Simpson

The Human Rights Campaign — the  lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization — did not find find a David Letterman joke Tuesday night about the appointment of transgender Amanda Simpson to a senior position at the U.S. Department of Commerce funny.
The group sent a letter today to Letterman and CBS Corp. expressing disappointment and asking for a public apology.
In a skit during Letterman’s opening monologue, the Late Show host announced Simpson’s historic appointment and revealed that she is transgender, displaying a photograph of her.  The show’s announcer, Alan Kalter, then feigned “trans panic,” implying he had some prior relationship with Simpson but was not aware of her gender history, and ran yelling from the stage.
In the letter, the Human Rights group writes:  “You may not be aware that the punch line in your skit has been used as a defense in nearly every hate crime perpetrated against transgender people that has come to trial.  For example, the ‘trans panic’defense was infamously used by Allen Ray Andrade, who was convicted in 2009 of beating 19-year-old Angie Zapata to death with a fire extinguisher after learning of her gender history.”
Simpson, 48, who started her job yesterday as senior technical advisor to the Department of Commerce, has said the fact she was “Mitch” before becoming Amanda is relevant if only to illustrate the need for greater equality.
from USA Today
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Collin O'Neal

FLORIDA – I honestly have no idea why you’d want to see a video on a CNN website about last week’s South Florida storms, when, you know, you could have just looked out your window. But if you did, you might have your citizen journalism weather report brought to you by Collin O’Neal, a gay porn star.
iReport is CNN’s citizen journalism initiative, in which almost anyone can upload self-made video news content. The best videos are tagged, featured on CNN.com and occasionally show on air. Like this one by O’Neal on the flooding in Hollywood, Florida. He’s also contributed videos on his experiences in Colombia, and France’s perception of Americans since the 2008 election. His reports often get special status, as opposed to the “not vetted by CNN” warning (maybe Anderson Cooper has something to do with that…).
Everyone from Gawker to Glenn Garvin is getting a chuckle out of the gay porn amateur newsman. But he’s not an idiot. He claims to have a bachelors in international relations with a focus on Middle Eastern affairs from Florida International University, and a masters in public administration from the University of Miami. Plus, he seems to be well traveled, as evidence by his travel-themed gay porn site WorldofMen.com (NSFW).
Plus, if you’re a gay porn star and website proprietor you probably have a lot of free time on your hands and easy access to video equipment.
from Miami New Times / Kyle Munzenrieder
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Click Her To See The Collin O’Neal Weather Report

Collin O'Neal

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE -  Investigators say a 4-year-old boy was found roaming his neighborhood in the night, drinking beer and wearing a little girl’s dress taken from under a neighbor’s Christmas tree.
The child’s mother, 21-year-old April Wright, told WTVC-TV that the boy “wants to go to jail because that’s where his daddy is.”
Wright said she and the boy’s father are going though a divorce.
The boy, found outside his house in Chattanooga on Tuesday, was taken to a hospital and treated for alcohol consumption.
Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Janice Atkinson said the incident is being investigated but the department declined to release the report.
The boy’s mother said she met with child protective services and was told she will get to keep custody of her son.
from MSNBC

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Andrew Grande

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA — A man who was tased by Bay County Sheriff’s deputies choked to death on a “large bag of marijuana,” sheriff’s officials said Friday morning. Part of the incident was caught on video recordings.
Authorities said Andrew Grande, 23, of 219 Placido Place, was running away from deputies at the Executive Inn on Front Beach Road after they responded to a physical disturbance there about 2 a.m. Friday. The deputies made contact with Crystal Amber Cronnon, 22, of 103 Dana Way, who identified Grande as the person who assaulted her. Officials said Cronnon is a friend of Grande’s and that the two had argued while Cronnon was driving in the area. Grande pushed her several times and then got out of the car near the Executive Inn, officials said.
A man, who identified himself as Cronnon’s father at the home on Dana Way, said she no longer lived there and would not talk to the media about the incident. He described her as very distraught.
Attempts to contact Grande’s family were not successful Friday.
When deputies confronted Grande, they were able to place a handcuff on his wrist, and during the struggle they observed Grande attempting to place something in his mouth.
The rest of the incident is caught on two video recordings for Tru TV and on a sheriff’s dashboard camera. A three-person crew was riding with deputies during the incident and caught most of it. The Sheriff’s Office released the recordings Friday. Tru TV officials did not return calls seeking comment.
One of the recordings opens with a deputy shouting, “Spit it out.”
The recording shows Grande on the ground while three deputies hold him down.
He is wheezing.
One of the Bay County Sheriff’s deputies is heard talking by radio with a dispatcher.
“He swallowed something,” the deputy says. Grande tries, desperately, to talk. The deputies have Grande’s right hand behind his back. He attempts to get up.
Deputies tell him to stop resisting or they will tase him, but he gets to his feet. They tase him and he immediately rips the stun gun’s prongs out of his chest.
He falls to the ground. While seated, he puts his hand in his mouth and down his throat in what appears to be an attempt to vomit. When that does not succeed, Grande slaps his hand against the concrete and then both of his hands against his chest.
“I can’t breathe,” he says. “I can’t breathe.”
The deputies perform the Heimlich maneuver, but they cannot get the object out of his throat.
“Let us help you, man,” one of them shouts. “Hang in there.”
After emergency medical technicians arrived, they removed the bag of marijuana from his throat with forceps, officials said. Grande was taken to Bay Medical Center and pronounced dead at the hospital, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release. An autopsy was performed Friday afternoon and the preliminary cause of death is asphyxia due to obstruction of the airway by a foreign material, officials said.
Bay County Sheriff’s officials said three deputies were involved in the incident, Sgt. Billy Byrd, Deputy Rick Williams and Deputy David Higgins.
At a press conference Friday afternoon, Sheriff Frank McKeithen said he felt bad for Grande’s family and for the deputies involved.
“These guys watched this person die and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it,” McKeithen said.
He said the deputies did not realize at first that Grande was choking and they initially believed he was overdosing. McKeithen said Grande likely only faced misdemeanor charges if he had just complied with the deputies.
“It could have been handled by compliance,” McKeithen said. “It pretty much ended up with him taking his own life.”
Officials said Grande had a minor criminal history, including arrests for battery and trespassing.
The deputies have been placed on administrative leave, and McKeithen has asked Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the incident. Both of those actions are common after a death that involves a deputy. None of the deputies have been reprimanded in their history with the Sheriff’s Office, McKeithen added.
from The News Herald
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Rachel Maddow Interview With Richard Cohen On ‘Kill The Gays Bill’ In Uganda

It’s long, but worth the watch.

A lesbian ripping an ex-gay a new asshole.
Cool
G.G.

via Blabbeando

Related Post: Suspect Arrested In Brutal Slaying Of Gay Man In  Puerto Rico