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I’m going to Los Angeles this weekend to meet my man’s parents for the first time. I’m really excited to get to know the people who created this extraordinary creature I love so much, and it feels super special to have been invited to accompany him on the journey. So romantical!
At any rate, I figured that because I’m spun out all giddy-like on matters of the heart at the moment, it would be the perfect time for the second round of my ongoing interview series about love and relationships, “Queer Celebrities Need Love, Too.” For this edition I reached out to Imperial Teen’s Will Schwartz, original Hole drummer Patty Schemel, TV personality Philip Tetro (from MTV Canada’s 1 Girl 5 Gays), transgender comedian Ian Harvie, New York Times bestselling author (and Madonna’s brother) Christopher G. Ciccone, actor PJ DeBoy, radio talkshow host (and former Playgirl president) Daniel Nardicio, and Sexpop god Mario

Friday morning on Fox and Friends, Geraldo Rivera stated, “I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.” The Twitterverse exploded, pointing out the absurdity of the statement, and he doubled down on O’Reilly Factor later that day. He also tweeted several defensive tweets about the statement. And now has offered a non-apology apology which does not go far enough.
The comments are

When the controversial documentary Bully opens in theaters in New York and Los Angeles today, it will indeed include a rating, just not the traditional MPAA rating that most moviegoers are familiar with. Instead, the posters, advertisements, and other promotional materials will include a new rating: the 13+ rating for the film from Common Sense Media, my national nonprofit organization that provides age-appropriate ratings and reviews of movies and other media titles. This move by The Weinstein Co. represents a bold first step in advancing the need for independent, third-party ratings, and it’s about time.
As both the Bully controversy and last week’s concerns with the violence in PG-13-rated The Hunger Games demonstrate, the MPAA’s ratings system is often too simplistic and too blunt an instrument to be truly helpful to parents, the audience for whom the system was designed to help and guide nearly 50 years

After a full year of efforts by Iran’s human rights diplomats to discredit or ignore the mandate of Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed, 22 members of the United Nations Human Rights Council voted to renew the mandate for another year on March 22.
Shaheed’s insistence on tackling extensive issues pertaining to the systematic violations of human rights in Iran neutralized Tehran’s strategy of denial, deflection, discrediting, and lack of cooperation with the UN. In addition, the votes Shaheed collected from council members led to the unprecedented isolation of the Islamic Republic of Iran within the UN, the political consequences of which go far beyond the Human Rights Council.
The Iranian team, led by Mohammad Javad Larijani, head of the Iranian Judiciary’s human rights council, was left to console itself with 5 nay votes and 20 abstentions.
One year ago, the Human Rights Council angered Iranian authorities by creating a special procedure for the review of the situation of human rights in Iran and appointing a Special Rapporteur. During the past year, despite his repeated requests, Shaheed was unable to receive permission to enter

Politico has a story out Friday, March 30 about how Republicans have “come nearly full circle on same-sex politics” and have backed off from their once-vociferous and loud anti-gay rhetoric. It helps that former Bush Solicitor General Ted Olson considers the American Foundation for Equal Rights’ constitutional fight to overturn Prop 8 the most important case of his prestigious conservative career. It’s a far, far cry from the election-year wedge tactics of Karl Rove in 2004 (after burying his gay father) and the recently revealed national strategy proposed by the National Organization for Marriage.
The Coalition to Protect North Carolina Families, which has been battling the horrific anti-gay Amendment One on the May 8 ballot, has also picked up support from North Carolina Republicans such as former Republican mayor of Charlotte, Richard Vinroot, a one-time conservative nominee for governor, and other notable Republicans who oppose Amendment One.
But something else spectacular is happening in North Carolina: the anti-Amendment-One campaign has reframed the perennial anti-gay “kids” message. According to prominent pollster Celinda Lake, who is working with the campaign, if they can raise the money to air TV ads produced by Chad Griffin and his business partner Mark Armour, Amendment One could be stopped in North Carolina, and this could change the LGBT movement forever.
Celinda Lake allowed her conference call comments to bloggers to be on the

There’s a sweet exhilaration associated with the moment you first realize something you really like has intersected with something you’re good at. I imagine artists or athletes have these moments more often than most, but mine? It was with foosball. The first time I hit a tight, whip-fast shot into the goal against a good defender I almost blacked out from joy. It was in college in the 90s and some girlfriends and I hung out with a group of guys who taught us the

Most of you reading this probably don’t know that the real Todd Manning finally just returned to Llanview after eight years of being held captive by his diabolical mother. Or that his twin brother Victor — who until a few months ago was also presumed to be the real Todd Manning — is not dead, but rather is secretly being held hostage by an equally diabolical Allison Perkins.
But to the millions of devoted One Life to Live fans, the preposterous plot-twists and over-the-top acting are part of our identities. A part that ended abruptly in January after a 44-year run on

Earlier this month, some 28,000 New York City families found out whether their kids gained admission to the city’s top-tier specialized high schools.
Of the approximately 12,500 black and Latino families among them, over 90 percent were disappointed.
Even though more black and Latino kids take the specialized high school admissions exam every year, few of them find their way in despite a slight uptick this year.
Right now at Bronx Science, of 3,005 students only 320 are black and Latino or 11 percent. At Stuyvesant, of 3,295 students, 120 are black and Latino, or under 4 percent. Yet black and Latino students make up some 69 percent of the New York City Public High School population.
What are the admissions barriers for minorities to the specialized high schools? Getting in requires one thing alone: performance on a single test.
Assemblyman Karim Camara and Senator Adriano Espaillat are sponsoring state legislation to change this. They would include several factors: grade point averages, interviews, personal statements, portfolios, and an entrance exam.
Another item to consider is geographic diversity, which could work by reserving a seat for the valedictorian and salutatorian, or the top five percentile, of every public eighth grade class in the city.
While we explore legislative options, the city should do everything currently possible to increase specialized high school

There are 1.2 billion young people on our planet today — more than ever before and the numbers continue to grow with projections of 1.5 billion young people by 2035. Many of them are doing amazing things. They are innovating, they are inspiring and they are driving real impact.
We believe we can learn a lot from their work, their energy and their

Back in February, during an appearance on the Rich Stevens Show, Newt Gingrich had a typically modest suggestion for who could play him in the story of his life: “Brad Pitt … why not?” Why not indeed. However, a cursory glance at his campaign thus far — particularly the past week — suggests a more appropriate silver screen dreamboat for the role: Johnny Depp. As Ed Wood.
Wood, of course, was the notoriously terrible Z-movie auteur behind such “classics” as Glen or Glenda and Plan 9 from Outer Space, played to perfection by Depp in Tim Burton’s 1994

Today marks the second anniversary of an unspeakable horror played out on the streets of Washington. On March 30, 2010, an argument over a missing bracelet spiraled into one of the deadliest mass shootings in the history of the District of Columbia.
The violence on South Capitol Street took the lives of 19-year-old William Jones III, 18-year-old DaVaghn Boyd, 18-year-old Tavon Nelson, and 16-year-old Brishell Jones and inflicted a trauma on the entire city. In the aftermath of her daughter Brishell’s death, Nardyne Jefferies and I made a commitment to work together to create systemic changes that would make such tragedies less likely.
Our work led us to overwhelming evidence showing that unmet behavioral health needs are one of the most significant contributors to later delinquency and antisocial or violent

I have been reluctant to comment on the Trayvon Martin case — the 17-year-old high school student who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain in Sanford Florida that has captured national attention.
It is a high profile story that practically presents new information daily — most of it unofficial. I felt restraint was the best course of action versus succumbing to the strong currents of public discourse, which ultimately are designed to titillate more than inform.
Some have compared Martin’s death with that of Emmett

It is that time of year when academic pursuits are put on hold for one day as culinary competitions sweep through the academy in celebration of the International Edible Book Festival. Forget about the stress of preparing your tenure dossier or finishing your research before spring break. Now is the time let your creative juices flow!
Hundreds of libraries across the world unite in this tasty event that has gained popularity and momentum since 1999 when book artist/librarian Judith Hoffberg and friend Batrice Coron came up with the idea to showcase the work of artists in edible format. Since its modest beginnings in 1999 this event has morphed into an international phenomenon that celebrates books, reading, cooking and well, the creative conjoining of all

I have this friend.
You know the type: effervescent and bright, the California Sauvignon Blanc. Le princesse charmant.
She has also been, for the past 10 years, the centripetal force that pulls me into strange, enterprising, “what-the-hell-are-we-doing” situations, the stretcher and sifter for that elusive thing called

Let us talk of many things, of Cabbages and Kings. Of Ultimate Arbiters. The Court of Last Resort.

Here are two facts that should be attracting a lot more attention than they are.
Over the last decade, nearly two-thirds of new jobs in the U.S. economy came from businesses less than five years old. That’s a big hint on how to rev up job

Music education is an essential aspect of child development. However, because of budget cuts, especially in our inner city schools, music education is among the first things to go. Fortunately, Music Unites, a non-profit organization working towards empowering urban youth through music, is establishing music programs in schools most suffering from today’s budget crunches.
Through it’s Campus Representative Program, a partnership of Music Unites with college campuses nationwide, programs initiated by enthusiastic college representatives bring the wonderful world of music to children of inner city schools.
Here in New York City, Sophia Melon of Columbia University and brothers Daniel and David Bailen of New York University, spearhead one such program. They have been going into Junior High School 52 in Inwood and hosting songwriting workshops for the students

The missives have been coming in all week from the Sonoran Desert, and I have to admit I am a bit jealous. Every spring my father and I used to head down to Arizona for spring training with the Giants, there to bask in the sun, eat too much food, drink too much booze, and then repeat the whole insanity the following day.
There was a certain group that would always make it down, usually during “owner’s weekend,” which coincided with the weekend series with the A’s and had just about every Bay Area baseball fan inhabiting the bars and restaurants of Old Town Scottsdale. In fact, for that one weekend, bars like the Pink Pony and restaurants such as Don and Charlie’s were more San Francisco than Scottsdale. And the two anchors of these journeys every year were my father and Walter Shorenstein.
“Uncle Walt,” as my father called him, was one of those people who find a special place in the hearts of everyone around

We Are the Youth is a photographic journalism project chronicling the individual stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in the United States. Through photographic portraits and “as told to” interviews in the participants’ own voices, We Are the Youth captures the incredible diversity and uniqueness among the LGBT youth population. We Are the Youth addresses the lack of visibility of LGBT young people by providing a space to share stories in an honest and respectful way. Below is the story of Michelle, age 20, from the Bronx, N.Y.
Portraits of Michelle and other We Are the Youth participants are currently on display at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York until May 12, with a reception open to the public on April

1. Have plastic surgery make me look exactly like Cary Grant. Cause I can already do the voice.
2. Go to Vegas, play $2 blackjack and not really care when I’m down $50 at the end of a weekend.

United States Senator James Mountain “Jim” Inhofe has long been a vocal denier of climate change. He has compared concern about climate change to the Third Reich’s Big Lie, and the EPA to the Gestapo. He has called global warming, “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.” He has misrepresented facts about climate change. And, as What on Earth has previously discussed, he is, ironically, a member of the Committee on Environment and Public

Here’s Carson Daly on his radio show Wednesday:
Really listen to those words: “With my luck, it would be like… this is the flight going to Pride in San Francisco… I mean, that would be my colleagues,” he said. “Uh, we’re headed down to Vegas for the floral

Introducing a private screening of his new movie, We Have a Pope, this week, director Nanni Moretti stopped mid-sentence and walked up the aisle to kiss kiss his pal John Turturro. Of course he was speaking in Italian and the gesture seemed so European, the audience including Tony LoBianco, Gay Talese, John Ventimiglia, Michael Musto, and a few non-Italians, Paul Schrader, Tovah Feldshuh, Alex Gibney, Lois Smith, Josh Mostel, Terry George, and Neil Simon, seemed to take the friendly gesture as a matter of course. Through his translator, Moretti, who is now celebrated at the IFC Center with a retrospective of his work, went on to tell a story about the making of this film about the inner doubts of a newly elected pope starring Michel Piccoli.
Without Piccoli, Moretti said, there would be no film. They filmed a scene in a warehouse that was used during the day so their shooting hours were from 7

Jared could hardly contain his excitement as he dashed home to check the mail. His heart was set on Princeton. He had killed himself his entire academic career to win the coveted admission. He was valedictorian of the senior class, captain of the basketball