Edmund White spent his boarding school nights crouched in a toilet stall reading Rimbaud, the French poet who gained notoriety for his drunken violence and love of older men. Fast-forward some odd years and White's again thinking about Rimbaud, but under decidedly different circumstances.

No longer the teen clinging to dreams of the big city and loving men, White's made quite a name for himself on the literary scene, a name that led Atlas publishing company to ask the author to pen Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel.

White recently invited our editor into his home to talk about the book, but, as happens, the conversation veered in all sorts of directions - from Rimbaud's drunken days to White's evolving take on gay marriage; from Rimbaud as the "teen top terror" to how France changed White's writing style. It's a potpourri!

Take a peek, after the jump…

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As France's security forces keep an eye on "radical" gay groups, like ACT-UP, Junior Human Rights Minister Rama Yade, seen here looking quite lovely, today pushed the EU and the United Nations to take more progressive stances on women's and gay rights, respectively:

France is to call for a European Union drive to tackle violence against women worldwide and for the United Nations to step up action against homophobia, the French human rights minister said on Wednesday.
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France, as holder of the six-month EU presidency, hopes to "set the criteria for EU intervention" in the fight against violence towards women, including by mobilising Europe's diplomatic networks.

Paris also plans to submit a draft declaration to the UN General Assembly in December aimed at combating homophobia and decriminalising homosexuality, which is punishable by prison in 90 countries and in theory by death in six of them, Yade said.

The European Union, too, could use a bit more gay progress - countries like Turkey and Poland continue to repress the lavender set.

French security forces aren't fucking around when it comes to protecting Pope Benedict XVI from the dreaded irate gays:

French police have placed radical gay militants under surveillance ahead of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to France on September 12-15, the daily Le Figaro reported on Wednesday.

Eager to avoid a repeat of the condom shower that greeted the Pope in Sydney, Australia, in July, certain gay activist groups such as Act Up are being closely watched in the run-up to the visit.

Security forces are also keeping their eye out for Al-Qaeda, a group we find far more frightening than some condom throwing homos.

We'd show more pictures of French photographic duo Exterface's latest offering, "Ether," but there's cock in almost every shot. It is, as they say, not safe for work.

Barack Obama appeared in Paris today to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the men got on swimmingly, according to reports.

While we're sure their platforms and positions are all very intriguing, seeing these two men together gives us a wholly unpolitical itch.

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California isn't the only place loving up on the gays. France and Cuba both made headway - and headlines - this weekend after signing onto International Day Against Homophobia, which took place on Saturday.

Cuba's endorsement of the self-explanatory event comes less than two months after first daughter Mariel Castro (pictured, center) proposed civil union legislation.

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The French fag rags really know their shit. Last week we got an eyeful of the new edition of Têtu, and now the boys at Pref want to show off their goods. Here are some shots from the most recent issue, including snaps from Rick Day, Ohm Phanphiroj and Patrick Mettraux.

The publicist's email, in addition to being in French, failed to say which photographer took which picture, not that you care, of course…

Anti-gay singer Bounty Killer probably wants to kill some gays right about now. Like Beanie Man and Buju Banton before him, Killer's concerts have been felled by the fagalas. From the ever-ready Peter Tatchell's celebratory press release:

Bounty Killer, has had two of his three UK concerts canceled in the last week, following a campaign by the gay human rights group OutRage!

His concerts in Bradford and Birmingham were axed, losing him thousands of pounds in performance fees.

In Germany, Bounty Killer's performance in Essen was canceled and other German concert dates are now in doubt.

The Outrage! campaign extends all over Europe, including France and Belgium.

Bounty Killer previously boasted that the gays would be no match for him. He obviously underestimated the lavender set's determination.

One of the British clubs, however, claim the Outrage! protest had nothing to do with the concerts' cancellations, but because Killer missed his flight from Jamaica. They're now trying to reschedule the contentious event.

Model Michael Macneal strikes an inviting pose for Sean Chang in the most recent issue of French fag rag, Pref. Meanwhile, Rick Day snapped a very handsome cover, while dancer Mickey Friedmann shows off his stuff.

French photographic duo Exterface portray some hot phone sex in their latest visual offering, "Flamingo". We've only included a few images here. The rest are way NSFW - and worth the danger!

Poland
ain't alone! Latvia came out today to protest the European Court of Human Rights' ruling this week that single gays should be able to adopt babies. Two Latvian politicos describes the law as "completely unjustified and unacceptable". The dominant political parties say it refuses to compare gay people with "families". How quaint…

The Polish government continues its anti-gay ways. Officials announced that they will disregard yesterday's historic European Court of Human Rights ruling and will continue denying gay people the right to adopt.

Via UK Gay News:

If a similar judgment dealt with Poland we would still not agree to adoption by homosexuals”, said deputy speaker of the Polish Parliament, Stefan Niesiolowski, a member of the ruling Citizen’s Platform (PO).

“The Court can go on and make a ruling,” he continued. “[But] it still won’t be enforced in Poland. We will defend ourselves because it’s unthinkable that homosexuals would adopt children.”

It's unthinkable that Poland considers it's above EU mandates! Aren't there laws against that? If not, there should be!

The freshest issue of French fag rag TÊTU features scrumptious model Édouard Collin.

As if that's not enough incentive to buy the monthly, the staffers also churned out stories on gay twins and their secrets, offer an analysis of the American presidential election and offer this startling new trend: "Romance is back". No one told us…

France got a judicial spanking yesterday. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the nation discriminated against a lesbian teacher for denying her adoption claim.

A French court decided last year that the single woman couldn't have her dream child, particularly because of a lack of a "paternal referant".

The European Court said, however, that since heterosexual singles can adopt, there's no reason why the unnamed lesbian should have been refused.