On the heels of the judges declaring the first plus size model a winner last season comes news this season will introduce the show’s first transgender contestant.

According to Us Weekly, one of the 11th season’s 14 contestants was born male, and the decision to include her in the program is garnering praise from gay rights organizations including the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

‘My cards were dealt differently,’ 22-year-old Isis told the magazine, though she says she doesn’t necessarily see herself as a role model for the trans community.

‘I like to help people, but I’m here to follow my dreams,’ she said.

According to Showbiz Spy, GLAAD head Neil Giuliano applauds the move, saying it’s a huge step forward for trans rights.

‘[This is] an unprecedented opportunity for a community that is underrepresented on television,’ he said in a statement.

‘We applaud Tyra Banks and [TV network] The CW for making this historic visibility of transgender people possible.’

Isis currently works as a fundraising assistant at a non- profit organization in New York City.

© 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved

Kern, who made headlines earlier this year when a tape recorded conversation was posted to You Tube in which she made comments she equating homosexuality to terrorism, was stopped by security and prevented from entering the building.

“Representative Sally Kern never made it past checkpoint,” an Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman said, according to TowleRoad.com.

The spokesman said Kern was asked to leave the gun in her car, which she did, according to the spokesman.

“As soon as my purse went through the scanner and the uh, gentleman there said, ‘Representive Kern,’ I went, ‘Aw, I forgot,” Kern told the Oklahoma ABC affiliate.

In June, Kern breached security when she made it into the building with her firearm.

According to reports, when Kern realised she’d made it into the building with her weapon, she returned to the security desk and alerted the on site troopers.

Kern received death threats from the comments she made regarding homosexuality, according to reports, but authorities have said her permit to carry the firearm date back to before the incident.

“It has nothing to do with the homosexual situation and I’m just sorry that I forgot to take it out,” she said.

© 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved

According to the statement, the 58-year-old singer was diagnosed with the disease when she went in to her doctor for a routine check up. The liver disease is caused by contact with infected blood.

“I’ve been so fortunate to have learned so much from my past experiences,” Cole said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.

“I am embraced by the love and support of my family and friends; I am committed to my belief in myself and in my abiding faith to meet this challenge with a heartfelt optimism and determination. This is how I intend to deal with this current challenge in my life.”

Cole rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of pop and R&B chart toppers.

The daughter of the late Nat ‘King’ Cole, Natalie Cole suffered years of drug addiction, including an arrest for possession of heroin.

In her autobiography, Natalie Cole admitted to using LSD, heroin and crack cocaine. She has been sober since a stint in rehab in 1983.

Cole has been seeking treatment for the illness at the UCLA/Cedars Sinai Medical Centre.

According to Dr. Graham Woolf, UCLA’s Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Cole is having a “terrific response to her medication and is now virus negative.”

“This gives her an increased chance of cure,” he said, according to AP.

“But, she has also suffered significant side effects from the anti-viral medicine, which is the only FDA authorized treatment for hepatitis C. Her side effects include fatigue, muscle aches and dehydration but she is recovering from these.”

Cole is due to release the follow up to her Grammy-winning, multi-platinum selling Unforgettable, a series of duets with her late father, in September.

© 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.

The 39th anniversary of the New York Pride Parade, the celebration held its first parade in 1970 to commemorate the one year anniversary of the riots, credited as the kick off of the gay rights movement.

This is a particularly memorable year for New Yorkers as newly appointed NYC Goveror David Paterson recently ruled that New York will recognise same-sex marriages from other states.

Legally blind, Paterson drew cheers from the crowd, appearing in the parade one day after undergoing eye surgery, according to WNBC New York.

One of the largest and oldest LGBT events in the world, yesterday’s parade drew more than 500,000 marchers and one million viewers watching the parade pass by.

The parade marches through midtown Manhattan and winds down in Greenwich Village, the hub of New York’s gay community.

New York’s pride parade has taken on many different roles over the years.

Often thought the most politically charged of the gay pride parades, in the mid 1980s, the parade took on an activist role, shining a light on the AIDS epidemic, which had affected much of New York’s gay community.

A moment of silence was observed at 2pm to pay tribute to those the gay community has lost to AIDS.

© 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.

In the book, author Stephen Watts tells of Hefner’s Chicago hook up with another man and a foursome he had with his brother, his wife and his sister-in-law.

The book chronicles the many sexual encounters Hefner has had over the years, including two tales that, as of yet, have gone unreported on the 82-year-old media mogul’s life.

In the book, Watts writes: “Hefner’s thirst for sexual experience became so strong that he even had a one-time homosexual experience.

“One evening in downtown Chicago he was propositioned and, according to Sellers, he ‘thought, what the hell. Found it an interesting experience. As far as I know, the guy just gave him [oral sex].’”

He goes on to tell of his three-way, foursome and group sexual encounters, saying in one four-way, he had sex with his sister-in-law while his brother watched.

Tell alls such as these are frequently done without the consent of the subject, but Hefner has given this book his seal of approval, saying, “it’s all essentially true,” according to Towleroad.

© 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved

After telling the gay press she “was not gay” in an interview a few months back, Simon went on to further explain on Howard Stern’s radio show earlier today.

“Have I made love to a woman? No.

“Now, I have been ‘come on’ to, but I was too uptight. But I wish that I had.

“I think that I’m too old for that (now). I have a fantastic boyfriend now who’s almost a woman.”

Simon wishing she’d made love to a woman in her life almost sounds like your standard Stern Playboy Bunny gimmick, but somehow, Simon kept the conversation serious and above the belt.

But according to Jenny Stewart at Gay.com, when talks turned to her tumultuous relationship with James Taylor, Simon spilled a bit more in the way of graphic details.

According to Simon, the former couple have not said two words to each other in over 30 years, despite the fact that they have a daughter together.

In fact, when their daughter Sally was married at Taylor’s home recently, he wouldn’t let Simon use his restroom.

Puts a lot of those more recent Hollywood splits in perspective, doesn’t it?

© 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved

Less than two months after Winehouse was supposedly on the road to recovery—in rehab at the demands of her record label and all but cut off from seeing her incarcerated husband Blake Fielder-Civil—the signs of a relapse are everywhere.

The footage is old, allegedly obtained back in May of last year, but it surfaces after Winehouse was photographed out on the town covered in bruises and open sores.

She was also photographed wearing adult diapers, leading to rumors the drugs had made her at times incontinent.

In the video, Winehouse and a friend are seen laughing as they supplement racist world with the lyrics to the children’s song, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” Winehouse sings: “Blacks, Pakis, Gooks and Nips, Gooks and Nips! And deaf and dumb and blind and gay!”

Later in the video, she appears to be performing a sexual act on her husband with her hand. When he asks her to perform oral sex on him, she asks, “Are you vidding (videoing)?” Her husband then directs her to wink at the camera.

This is just the latest in a series of legal rows and bad press for the singer.

In January, Scotland Yard obtained video footage of the singer smoking what appeared to be crack cocaine. She was arrested and questioned for nine hours, but charges were never filed.

Sunday night, Winehouse apologized for making the racist remarks from the front steps of her London flat, according to the New York Post.

Winehouse attended rehab but left before her stay was scheduled to end earlier this year.

Together for more than 50 years, the couple will be the only ones saying ‘I do’ next Monday at San Francisco’s City Hall. The city will begin issuing marriage licenses after 5pm on Monday, but according to the San Francisco Chronicle, everyone else will have to wait until the 17th.

“What we want, the narrative coming out of it, is about them and what they represent,” Newsom told the newspaper.

“Their story, their history. This is really where it all started.”

Martin and Lyons were married for the first time in 2004 but were one of the many couples who saw their marriages struck down in the courts.

This time around they will be getting married for real, with the threat of the marriage ban appearing on the November ballot just around the corner.

If approved, that ban would change the state constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Towle Road quoted the San Francisco Chronicle article, saying:

“The photograph of Lyon and Martin’s wedding, at which Newsom officiated at City Hall, has been credited by some as being an iconic image that has influenced how people across the country perceive same-sex marriage.

“The two also were plaintiffs in the recent case in which the state Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal.

“Lyon and Martin first met in Seattle in 1950 and moved in together in a Castro Street apartment on Valentine’s Day 1953.

“Two years later, Lyon and Martin, and three other lesbian couples founded the Daughters of Bilitis, which historians call the first lesbian organisation in the United States. Lyon and Martin have been leaders of the lesbian community ever since.”

© 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.

But then again, the presumptive Republican nominee has never exactly played by the rules.

McCain stopped by the daytime gab fest to chat with the talk show host, and when talk turned to marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, Degeneres wasn’t letting him off the hook easy.

“So lets talk about it,” Degeneres said, coming out of commercial break. “Let’s talk about the big elephant in the room.”

After telling McCain that even before the Supreme Court’s ruling, she and De Rossi had planned to have a ceremony that summer, Degeneres asked McCain to clarify his thoughts on same-sex marriage.

Mc Cain went on to say that despite their difference of opinion, he wishes Degeneres and De Rossi every happiness.

“So you’ll walk me down the aisle,” Degeneres asked.

“Touché,” McCain answered.

© 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.

And while Heroes star Hayden Panettiere insists she’s straight, she says she’d have no problem going gay on film.

Or in real life, for the right girl.

The just turned 18-year-old actress is currently dating her co-star Milo Ventimiglia, but she says she doesn’t mind the speculation about her sexuality, according to The Sun.

Bisexual actress Angelina topped her list of ladies she’d go gay for, but Panettiere went on from there.

“That’s fine with me. If I’m going to be linked with someone, I could do an affair with Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba or Charlize Theron.

“And Kate Beckinsale is gorgeous. There are so many beautiful girls.”

But Panettiere is going to have to wait in line behind a long list of ladies who say they’d go gay for Jolie.

Among the other actresses who’ve named her on their list are rapper Eve, Lindsay Lohan and Janice Dickinson.

© 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved

Wright addressed the National Press Club in Washington D.C., saying he was unapologetic about comments in which he espoused anti-gay rhetoric and blamed the government for creating HIV.

The Chicago reverend, who democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been aligned with over the course of his campaign, said that based on the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment, he has reason to believe that HIV is a manufactured disease.

For forty years between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service conducted an experiment on 399 black men in the late stages of syphilis.

These men, for the most part illiterate sharecroppers from one of the poorest counties in Alabama, were never told what disease they were suffering from or of its seriousness. Informed that they were being treated for “bad blood,” their doctors had no intention of curing them of syphilis at all.

The data for the experiment was to be collected from autopsies of the men, and they were thus deliberately left to degenerate under the ravages of tertiary syphilis—which can include tumours, heart disease, paralysis, blindness, insanity, and death.

“As I see it,” one of the doctors involved explained, “we have no further interest in these patients until they die.”

Former President Bill Clinton apologised to survivors of the experiment:

“The United States government did something that was wrong—deeply, profoundly, morally wrong. It was an outrage to our commitment to integrity and equality for all our citizens. . . . clearly racist.”

At the press club meeting, Wright further explained that he thinks many of his comments are misunderstood by the general public because of a deep misunderstanding of the Black religious experience.

Rev. Wright’s comments caused trouble for the Obama campaign as several minority groups, including the LGBT population, called on the junior senator from Illinois to distance himself from the Trinity United Church of Christ.

Wright isn’t the only controversial religious figure to whom Obama has been linked.

Earlier this month, Obama was linked to Rev. James T. Meeks, whose anti-gay comments have landed him in hot water with gay activists. 

Scientists have reported that in nearly one-fourth of mothers with more than one gay son, X chromosomes were processed in their bodies in the same way. Normally, women randomly process the chromosomes in one of two ways — half go one way, half go the other.

According to Forbes, the research “confirms that there is a strong genetic basis for sexual orientation, and that for some gay men, genes on the X chromosome are involved,” according to the study’s co-author Sven Bocklandt, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Scientists have been debating the issue of genetics and sexual orientation for more than a decade as a few scientists have tried to find genes that might make people gay or straight. In the new study, Mr Bocklandt and colleagues examined a phenomenon called “X-chromosome inactivation.”

“While females have two X chromosomes, they actually require only one and routinely inactivate the other.”

“That way, both men and women have basically one functional X chromosome,” he added.

Men have both an X and Y chromosome, but the Y chromosome plays a much smaller role, he said.

In his study, researchers looked at 97 mothers of gay sons and 103 mothers without gay sons to see if there was any difference in how they handled their X chromosomes. The findings appear in the February issue of the journal Human Genetics.

“When we looked at women who have gay kids, in those with more than one gay son, we saw a quarter of them inactivate the same X in virtually every cell we checked,” Mr Bocklandt said. “That’s extremely unusual.”

And while researchers aren’t ready to say what exactly this means, the writer said he thinks he and his colleagues are moving closer to understanding the origins of sexual orientation.

“What’s really remarkable and very novel about this is that you see something in the bodies of women that is linked to a behavioural trait in their sons.”

“That’s new, that’s unheard of.”

© 2006 GayWired.com, All Rights Reserved

Ms Beiler visited Dr. Hartman’s office in March, 2005 for a routine medical check-up. When her appointment was finished, the complaint alleges Ms Pope-Wright gave Ms Beiler a packet of anti-gay propaganda referring to homosexuality as “sinful” and advising lesbians and gay men to change their sexual orientation.

Ms Beiler’s complaint alleges that Dr. Hartman and Ms Pope-Wright falsely presented their personal beliefs as medical information and provided her with unwanted treatment that has been rejected as ineffective by all major health and mental health organizations.

Ms Beiler is asking CIGNA, her healthcare provider, and the Florida Board of Medicine to take action against Ms Pope- Wright and Dr. Hartman for their unethical conduct.

“When I opened the sealed packet, I was shocked and outraged,” said Ms Beiler. “I was extremely offended and I felt like I had been violated. To this day I dread the thought of ever having to go to a doctor’s office again.”

Ms Beiker claimed that she first filed a formal complaint with Dr. Hartman’s office manager. She said she was then informed that the doctor routinely distributes the anti-gay materials to patients.

Attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation, widely known as “reparative therapy,” have been rejected by every major health and mental health organization in the United States, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

According to the American Psychiatric Association: “The potential risks of ‘reparative therapy’ are great, including depression, anxiety and self-destructive behaviour.” According to Kathleen DeBold, Executive Director of the Mautner Project, the National Lesbian Health Organization, Ms Beiler’s experience is an example of a homophobic healthcare system, one that jeopardizes the health of a medically under-served population.

“Although Ms. Beiler’s courage in telling her story is unique, what happened to her is not,” Ms DeBold said. “Incidents like this are far too common, and the climate of fear they generate causes many lesbians to avoid or delay getting the medical help they need – often with devastating consequences.”

© 2006 GayWired.com, All Rights Revered

The two bills were passed overwhelmingly in the state legislature and will now be sent to the state’s Governor, Richard Codey, who is expected to sign both.

New Jersey is one of several U.S. states that already offer same-sex couples some legal rights as partners, though it stops short of allowing gay marriage.

One of the bills passed on Monday sets out same-sex couples’ rights to inheritance and funeral arrangements while the other deals with health benefits for partners of employees of county and municipal governments, school boards and county colleges.

Voters in 13 states have approved constitutional amendments in the past year-and-a-half declaring that seek to ban gay marriages.

Vermont and Connecticut recognise same-sex civil unions while Massachusetts has legalised gay marriage. Britain introduced its form of gay marriage, civil partnerships last December.

Tuesday was the deadline for the ProtectMarriage group to submit the signatures needed to qualify for the June primary ballot one of two overlapping initiatives that would outlaw same-sex marriage and restrict domestic partnership rights.

Andrew Pugno, the group’s legal adviser, said the signature drive had fallen about 200,000 voters short of the required 591,105 signatures.

Mr Pugno said factors in the group’s decision included the difficulty of raising money in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the dimming prospect that the California Legislature will reconsider a bill legalizing gay marriage next year.

“It boils down to a recognition that a ballot fight isn’t likely until 2008,” Mr Pugno said. “This doesn’t resolve the issue by any means; it merely delays the resolution.”

VoteYesMarriage., the other group seeking to have California join 18 states that have amended their constitutions to ban gay marriage, said they have not abandoned the hope of qualifying an initiative for next November, according to organizer Randy Thomasson.

However, the group has postponed launching its petition drive while raising money to hire professional signature-gatherers, he said.

“Whether for 2006 or 2008, VoteYesMarriage is devoted to giving the people the chance to protect marriage from the clutches of the bureaucracy,” Mr Thomasson said.

Last summer, the California Legislature became the nation’s first elected state body to pass a bill legalizing gay marriage. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the law, but conservative activists warned that without amending the Constitution, it was only a matter of time before either lawmakers or the courts sanctioned same-sex unions.

The festival was to be a weekend of films, plays, exhibitions and seminars on the issue of homosexuality, but police raided the opening reception on Friday night and participants said they were still negotiating on whether any of the events could go ahead.

“They didn’t have permission to hold this event,” said a police official, accprding to Reuters.

But participants said the real issue was the subject matter.

“The attitude in China is still very conservative,” a student attending the event told Reuters. “They say it’s illegal, but what’s illegal about wanting to understand more about these issues?”

Homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder in China until 2001 and even state media have reported the heavy pressure gays and lesbians are under to stay in the closet because of traditional beliefs that homosexuality is immoral.

A gay-themed film festival was forced to shift from its venue at Beijing University earlier this year under pressure from police. Friday’s event also moved venues at the last minute, probably in an effort to avoid being shut down.

“The police think it’s a bad influence,” said Zhao Yongliang, one of several participants who retreated to a nearby restaurant after the raid. “But it’s obviously discrimination.”

Police also briefly detained a journalist covering the event, demanding, “Are you gay?”

This year, Shanghai’s Fudan University launched two courses on gay health and research to try to shatter common stereotypes about homosexuality, but Zhao said many gays in China still did not talk about their sexual orientation. “Most are still a secret, but it’s a secret that gets bigger and bigger,” he said.

© 2005 GayWired.com, All Rights Reserved

Beginning the fifth of December, gay and lesbian couples will be able to formalize their relationships with local authorities under the Civil Partnership Bill. Already, the UK based Out Now Consulting has predicted nearly 275,000 gay couples will take advantage of the new law.

Fiona Jeffery, exhibition director at the World Travel Market show in London, said she believes the travel industry was not prepared for the rise in demand: “Unlike the big banks and the technology companies, the travel industry simply has not planned ahead for the implementation of this bill. There’s no doubt this will trigger a new and completely different demand for tour operators, and the industry has not even got off the starting blocks.”

Gay and lesbian couples have been registering to marry since early summer, but travel agents say the industry has been slow to work toward meeting the new found demands come December.

A report discussing the travel industry’s shortcomings in preparing for the impending explosion of honeymoon travel plans was published online for the media earlier this month. The report suggested travel agents need to buckle down and research popular gay travel destinations, resorts and tour packages.

“Gay honeymoons are going to be booming but the travel industry has to do much more if it is to capitalize on the new developments,” said Ian Johnson, the author of the report.

© 2005 GayWired.com, All Rights Reserved

The dispute goes back to Michigan voters’ approval almost a year ago of a constitutional amendment that made the union between a man and a woman the only agreement recognized as a marriage “or similar union for any purpose.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a legal challenge to the amendment, and in late September, Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk ruled that public-sector employers can offer domestic partner benefits without violating the amendment.

Republican State Attorney General Mike Cox is now appealing that ruling and had asked the appeals court to delay Draganchuk’s decision until the higher court decides the issue.

Cox, with the support of a number of Michigan based conservative groups, argue that the constitutional amendment prohibited Kalamazoo and other public employers from providing same-sex benefits in future contracts.

A spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Granholm was “deeply disappointed” with the delay.

Health benefits were also included in labor contracts negotiated with state employees. Granholm put the benefits on hold while awaiting the ruling but now is asking the state Civil Service Commission to approve them.

The parties’ legal briefs are due in early December.

“It’s possible a decision could be reached by the end of the year,” ACLU spokeswoman Wendy Wagenheim said, according to the Associated Press.

The ACLU, representing 21 gay couples who filed the lawsuit over the issue of domestic partner benefits, argued the stay does nothing to prevent the state or Kalamazoo from providing same-sex benefits because same-sex benefits were allowed before Draganchuk’s ruling.

© 2005 Angelo Pezzote, All Rights Reserved

They expressed particular doubt as to Alito’s willingness to protect the rights of LGBT and HIV-affected people.

Alito’s nomination comes on the heels of hopeful Harriet Miers bowing out of her nomination last week after scathing attacks from the extreme right.

Legal experts and activists from across the spectrum agree that Alito, 55, has been a consistently conservative voice on the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since he was seated there in 1990 by then-President George Bush Sr.

Some have nicknamed him “Scalito” and “Scalia Lite” because his judicial philosophy so closely mirrors that of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. “You can’t get much more conservative than Sam Alito,” legal scholar Jonathan Turley told NBC’s Today Show on Monday.

Unlike Harriet Miers, Alito has a long record of legal opinion and ideology, and 15 years of decisions that may be at odds with gay and lesbian equality, LGBT activists say.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese criticized Bush for choosing to “placate the far right instead of appealing to the fair-minded values of the American people.”

“President Bush capitulated to the howling from the extreme evangelical right and threw them red meat in the form of U.S. Circuit Court Judge Samuel Alito,” said Matt Forman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “”he country will now be put through a wrenching, divisive and damaging confirmation process. One more travesty inflicted on this nation by the president and his right-wing allies.”

Most of the nomination’s harshest critics have slammed Bush for allegedly conspiring with right-wing activists in choosing Alito. The Washington Post reported Monday that Bush consulted the conservative, anti-gay organization Concerned Women for America to ensure Alito was acceptable to them.

The revelation, and the likelihood that Bush consulted other anti-gay organizations, should raise alarm bells for LGBT citizens, said Eric Stern, Executive Director of the National Stonewall Democrats.

“Americans need to know why right-wing activists, the same ones who rejected Miers for not being clearly conservative, are practically salivating over this nominee. These anti-gay organizations are on President Bush’s speed dial,” Stern said.