Gaiety
A British commercial for Heinz mayonnaise has caused a bit of a stir, and Heinz has pulled the ad in response. Viewers reportedly complained that the gay kiss was offensive and unsuitable for children.
American pundit Bill O'Reilly also commented on the commercial in an entirely reasonable and respectful manner. Just kidding, he was a total dick as usual.
Weirdly, this is almost a total inversion of the controversy generated by last year's Snickers commercial, which was pulled due to protests from gays. In this case, British gay rights group Stonewall is calling for a boycott of Heinz for not continuing to air the mayo ad.
Heinz pulls mayo ad with men kissing after complaints [USA Today]
A self-titled "Gay Circus" is premiering at the EuroGames in Barcelona this July.
"For the first time in the world, a circus created for lovers of high-quality shows and of a culture for the emotional and sexual diversity, a contribution to the normalisation of homosexuality," said promoter Irene Peralta.
Finally! If I have one complaint about Cirque du Soleil, it's that it's just so damn straight.
"Gay" circus premieres in Barcelona [Pink News]
A recent Swedish study has found that gay men and straight women have similarly shaped brains, and so do straight men and lesbians. This possible evidence for a biological source of homosexuality might not be the good news it appears to be, however, at least not according to writer William Saletan, who suggests that hormonal intervention as a way to prevent homosexuality in children is a very real possibility.
If the idea of chemically suppressing homosexuality in the womb horrifies you, I have bad news: You won't be in the room when it happens. Parents control medical decisions, and surveys indicate that the vast majority of them would be upset to learn that their child was gay. Already, millions are screening embryos and fetuses to eliminate those of the "wrong" sex. Do you think they won't screen for the "wrong" sexual orientation, too?
The Gay Culture War Is About To Turn Chemical [Slate]
This was featured on Youtube's front page yesterday, and I sort of can't stop watching it. Inspired by his book The Underminer, performance artist Mike Albo portrays a passive-aggressive health enthusiast who's just full of helpful information.
After a long stretch of experimentation with quantum metaphysics, scientists have at long last succeeded in making High School Musical even gayer.
While watching Disney's wildly popular made-for-TV sleeper hit, your gaydar would have to have a pretty big blind spot not to pick up on the character of Ryan, the fashionable Drama Club co-president with chameleonic hat-wearing abilities. In the stage version of the movie, however, the implied sexuality of Ryan is even more overt, thanks to out playwright David Simpatico and interestingly progressive Disney producers. Simpatico comments:
"I wanted to present Ryan as something from my own past, a version of me, I guess -- though he's a lot better dancer than I ever was!" David says. "In the movie, the character has a gay tint. But in the stage version, I wanted to more fully articulate that tint and say, hey, this kid is who he is. Yes, I consider him a young gay guy without ever having to say it. I'd rather say it with behavior and action. And we do."
"High School Musical" Character Outed in Disney Stage Production [AfterElton]
Way to go, Norway! Yesterday they became the sixth country in the world to give gays the same marriage rights as heterosexuals. Then they worshiped Odin and...um...rode on a longship?
I do not know a whole lot about Norway.
Gay marriage in Norway! [Queerty]
A TV adaptation of Perry Moore's gay teen superhero book Hero appears to be go for launch. Stan Lee himself is backing the project, and two networks have made offers to produce the series, described as a sort of amalgam of Lost and Heroes.
This could be a truly groundbreaking show if it ends up happening, but I think they'll probably name it something other than Hero, unless they want people to confuse it with Heroes.
Is America's First Gay Superhero Coming to TV? [Vulture]
Happy Pride Month! Amazon.com is kicking off the festivities with a big gay sale that includes discounts on movies, music, and jewelry.
Points of interest (my interest, anyway) include the complete series of My So-Called Life for nearly half off, and gems like Angels in America, Shortbus, and Paul Morrissey's Flesh.
Author Christopher Poole has written a pretty interesting-sounding book about a gay hitman who, among various other things, battles jaguars. Also, aliens and vampires?
Renaissance Killer is out now, and I think I may definitely have to read it at some point.
High school is rarely kind to gay teens. It's bad enough dealing with homophobic peers, but when faculty get in on it as well it's just plain outrageous.
The principal of a Tennessee high school kept a list on display of all known student couples; an idiotic practice to begin with, but it resulted in the outing of a young gay couple, which in turn led to a smattering of verbal harassment from students and teachers alike.
The ACLU is representing the couple, and is charging the school with violation of the students' constitutional right to freedom of association.
Principal Outs Gay Student Couple [365Gay.com]
Kudos to Goblin over at Pink Kryptonite for tipping me off to this one. Singapore's not really known for being terribly open-minded in the first place when it comes to the gays, but fining a TV station over ten thousand U.S. dollars for airing a gay-friendly episode of Find and Design seems rather overkill. That's an A&E show, by the way, in case you were wondering why you haven't heard of it.
Boo on you, Singapore. In the words of Margaret Cho, I hope you enjoy crafts.
MediaCorp fined for 'Find and Design' [Variety]
I'm not even really sure how to describe what I'm looking at here. It's fairly NSFW, first of all, and it's definitely Japanese. As far as I can tell, it's a series of very surreal sketches and collages with a recurring...motif.
The subject matter is pretty risque, but I gotta admit, some of these are sort of interesting-looking.
And girls who like girls who like stuff!
Clip of the Week
It was 1980 and disco was dead, but not in the UK!
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