• Paris Hilton made a press appearance in Korea this weekend. And so did her lipstick smeared teeth.

• Chris Crocker wants us to leave him alone. We will, just as soon as he stops assaulting our culture with his attention-seeking absurdity.

• John McCain's 95-year old mother takes jab at Mitt Romney.

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The gay gods were smiling upon Queerty when we were granted access to Annie Lennox and Out 100 guest Gina Gershon's inner sanctum Friday night. Watch as the girls talk about knowing gay people, why we shouldn't label folk, ENDA, Lennox's Humanitarian of The Year award and South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign founder Zackie Achmat.

[Oh, and be sure to check out Annie Lennox's main and Sing oriented websites!]

There's some trend bucking in Baltimore, where a group of black activists have come out for gay marriage. Under the leadership of Elbridge James (pictured), the Maryland Black Family Alliance will push their peers to join the call for gay civil rights. Says James:

There's a scarcity of information on this issue in the black community. The black press doesn't cover it; talk radio doesn't cover it. … We have this sort of 'don't ask, don't tell policy' in our community.

As James talks gay rights, others question the parallels between gay and black social movements. Politico pastor Emmett C. Burns Jr objects to the correlation:

I get really bent out of shape when you talk about gay and lesbian rights as a civil rights issue. Whites can hide their gayness; I cannot hide my blackness.

First, that's not always true. Second, did Burns just imply that all gays are white?!

Mitt Romney may have met his match yesterday.

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Did Brokeback Mountain really change the way Hollywood - and the world - deal with homos? This "Brokeback Jeter" clip and some startling evidence say "no".

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The Republicans' actions and words at this weekend's Values Voter Summit prove one thing: the party simply refuses to evolve. Editor Andrew Belonsky explains why the Grand Old Party needs to embrace change, look beyond the walls of social conservatism and expand its definition of family values.

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It's a case of first degree discrimination down in Chile, where two coppers say they were forced to quit after colleagues found out they're gay lovers.

The two policemen, Victor Rivas and Armando Salgado, say superior officers threatened to out them unless they signed resignation forms. Police authorities, in contrast, claim the two resigned voluntarily.

The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Freedom (MOVILH), Chile’s leading pro gay rights group, described the case as an example of “brutal discrimination.”

“Here you have two [coppers who were forced to quit their jobs just because they’re gay. It’s brutal discrimination,” said MOVILH President Rolando Jiménez. “We have proven evidence of similar cases in the past and we know that the Carabineros internal investigative branch has looked into presumed homosexuality among officers, treating such sexual orientation as a crime.”

Jiménez and his allies have already held talks with police officials and plan on discussing the matter with President Michelle Bachelet.

MOVILH also took on coppers in February, when two men said cops verbally abused them for cuddling in public. One officer allegedly said they weren't born, but were shat: "You are the scum of society You two weren’t born, your mothers shit you out.” Charming.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard probably won't be overturning his ban on gay marriage, but insiders say he's planning on offering gays some rights:

…Howard could announce within days a new policy to eliminate discrimination against same-sex couples in legislation.

Speculation is mounting that Mr Howard is set to announce changes to give same-sex couples the same rights of access to a partner's superannuation as are enjoyed by married and de facto couples.

As tensions build in Australia, Senator Bob Brown blasted Howard's stagnant policies: "I think he panders to homophobia in our society because he thinks it's been a vote winner and I think he's wrong."

It's a good day for homophobic Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. A Russian judge ruled that Luzhkov has every right to call gay people "satanic," as he did earlier this year.

The judge, who is leading the almost completed draft list of most homophobic judges in Russia… maintained that Mr. Luzhkov used the term “satanic gathering” towards the gay parade event and not against its organisers or other people.

According to the judge, this was a personal subjective point of view of Mr. Luzhkov.

We're sure Luzhkov's control of the city's courts had nothing to do with this favorable ruling.

A gay/straight activist super team took to Greenville, South Carolina's mean streets Monday night. After marching to city hall, the group set up camp in the popular Piazza Bergamo to remind pedestrians that gays face discrimination.

Participant Susan Craine told NBC affiliate WYFF, "They're human just like us. Why wouldn't we stay out for them? This is the last civil rights frontier."

Craine and her allies joined hundreds of others in for the Soulforce-sponsored straight-led, seven-day protest extravaganza, Seven Straight Nights For Civil Rights. Alright!

Despite their best efforts, Oregon's anti-gay activists did not get enough signatures to block the state's domestic partner laws. Social conservatives launched their effort earlier this year after the legislature voted for the trimmed down nuptial rights.

State election officials say opponents failed to turn in enough signatures to block Oregon's domestic-partnership law for same-sex couples.

State elections officials reported Monday that the effort fell 116 valid signatures short of the 55,179 needed to suspend the law and place it on the November 2008 ballot for a popular vote.

That means that as of Jan. 1, Oregon will join eight other states that have approved spousal rights in some form for same-sex couples: Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maine, California, Washington and Hawaii. Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay couples to marry.

Basic Rights Oregon's executive director John Hummel celebrated the petition's failure, saying, "In refusing to sign these petitions, Oregonians showed that they aren't interested in rolling back our anti-discrimination laws." Hummel may be getting ahead of himself. Another petition's circulating to take down anti-discrimination laws, but insiders also suspect that lacks the signatures.

Gibraltar's under the gay gun again. Activist Peter Tatchell took aim at the overseas territory last week when he blasted their allegedly anti-gay discrimination.

Now, European Parliamentarian Michael Cashman's hoping to strike down Gibraltar's uneven age of consent laws - and plans on bringing in the big names, like England's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown:

I will be raising the issue personally with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is a passionate supporter of equality. We have given the Gibraltarian government long enough - now is the time to change the laws.

Those laws grant 16-year heteros the right to fool around, while homos have to wait until they're 18.

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Good news for Colombia's queers:

Gays in Colombia may add their partners to health insurance plans, the nation's highest court has ruled, building on an earlier decision granting inheritance rights to same-sex couples.

Friday's ruling by the Constitutional Court cannot be appealed.
…
Colombia Diversa, which defends the rights of sexual minorities, says the country has 300,000 gay couples.

The government's still pondering pension rights. Gay rights activists, however, haven't given up the good fight. Says Virgilio Barco, “It looks like the only way for us to enact this last provision will be through another appeal to the Constitutional Court." Regardless, Friday's ruling pushes the South American nation in the right direction.

Peter Tatchell took a trip to British overseas territory Gibraltar - and he didn't like what he saw.

Speaking during a press conference yesterday, the ever-outspoken activist blasted the government's anti-gay actions:

Many people I have met recalled instances of discrimination, harassment and other abuses. However, they all expressed their unwillingness to report officially or publicly discuss the human rights violations they had suffered, out of fear of retribution from state officials.
…
The people of Gibraltar are wonderful, but the government appears to be drifting towards autocracy… It is failing to respect the human rights of its own citizens, especially gay people, the disabled and immigrants.

It's shocking to hear that Gibraltar, that famous rock over which the Spanish and the Brits have warred, would have backward policy. Spain and Britain are both very gay friendly nations. Perhaps Gibraltar's government's using repression to assert its self-determination: never a good move in the political arena. And tacky, too.

Here's a reason why HRC - and everyone else - should oppose the newly revised Employment Non-Discrimination Act:

Lambda Legal's preliminary assessment of the revised version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act shows the bill to be riddled with loopholes in addition to failing altogether to protect transgender people against discrimination.

"Leaving out protections for transgender people is unacceptable, and passing a bill riddled with loopholes will make it harder to achieve equality on the job," said Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director at Lambda Legal. "You can't be fired for being a lesbian or a gay man, but you can be fired if your boss thinks you fit their stereotype of one."

What's more, the new version offers even more outs for religious organizations. Besides allowing churches and the such to sack gays, faith-based hospitals and colleges are given more room to flex their anti-gay muscle.