Deborah Howell had her work cut out for her this Sunday. The Washington Post ombudsman had to explain why her paper did not mention fallen American soldier Major Alan Rogers‘ homosexuality.

Rogers died in Iraq early this year and, according to his friends, begrudgingly hid his homosexuality under the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Those same friends say Rogers would have wanted his untimely death to highlight our army’s unfair treatment of gays.

Howell explained yesterday, however, that the original story did include Rogers’s homosexuality, but Executive Editor Len Downie made the call to excise that tidbit because “there was no proof that Rogers was gay and no clear indication that, … Continued…

HX Media and its lawyers must be celebrating today. “A Boston judge issued an injunction against a new Boston LGBT newspaper on Monday
after the parent company of troubled weekly In Newsweekly filed suit against its former associate publisher for allegedly stealing his former employer’s advertising database for his new publication. Bill Berggren, publisher of N’Touch New England, allegedly solicited ads for the publication while still working at In Newsweekly.” Berggren’s backstage machinations reportedly led HX Media CEO Matt Bank to give him the ax. [Boy in Bushwick]

Canadian fag rag Fab just found a new sugar daddy: “Xtra publisher Pink Triangle Press has signed a deal to buy Fab, Toronto’s bi-weekly gay lifestyle and entertainment mag.” The sale will be final on February 25th. [MIC]

Canadian Neil Smith never imagined he’d become a professional writer. Sure, he liked writing and all, but dismissed it as a hobby - until his marvelous short stories started getting published.

It wasn’t long until an agent contacted Smith and persuaded him to publish a collection of nine thoughtful, profound tales, Bang Crunch, which Vintage Contemporaries recently republished in paperback form.

Our editor chatted with Smith this morning and got the scoop on his literary process, the inevitability of melancholy and how he discovered his own imagination. Read all about it, after the jump.
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Randy Lovely tops all of America’s gay news editors.

It’s a historic day in Gayville! From Box Turtle Bulletin: Today marks a very important milestone in LGBT history. Fifty years ago today, on January 13, 1958, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its first ever pro-gay ruling in ONE Inc. v. Olesen, a landmark decision that allowed a magazine for gays and lesbians to be sent through the U.S. mail.
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the Supreme Court issued its short, one-sentence decision on January 13, 1958 without hearing oral arguments. That decision not only overturned the two lower courts, but the Court expanded the First Amendment’s free speech and press freedoms by effectively limiting the power of the Comstock Act to interfere with the written word. Good thing, … Continued…

The boys over at Out are all sorts of ready for summer - they’ve just completedy their annual swimsuit issue.

The gay glossy includes a feature on nude yoga, foodie food secrets and, of course, a generous Nino Muñoz shot spread of gorgeous guys. Look for it on January 15, baby!

It’s a sad, sad day in the media world.

Details magazine announced that it will no longer include the “Gay Or…” back page. The four-year old feature caused many a controversy, perhaps none as memorable as their Gay or Asian piece which, as Ad Age’s Nat Ives points out, hinged on a plethora of stereotypes: “White T-shirt: V-neck nicely showcases sashimi-smooth chest,” one entry on the page said. “What other men visit salons to get, the Asian gene pool provides for free.” In another spot: “One orders take-out sushi, the other delivers it.” That is just vile - forgetting Mexicans like that!

Details EIC Daniel Peres promises the mini-scandals had nothing to do with the … Continued…

Legendary and litigious music producer Danny Fields will appear on Michelangelo Signorile’s Sirius radio show today at 4:30 to discuss his ridiculous lawsuit against Out magazine.

In case you don’t recall, Fields claims the gay glossy tarnished his name by implying he used his punk rock powers to woo young boys.

As we and Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici pointed out, however, Fields once bragged about doing just that. In Please Kill Me: Uncensored Oral History of Punk, Fields recalls fun-loving days at Max’s Kansas City: You could have sex with all the bus boys… Anybody who walked into that room, you could fuck, because they all wanted to get into the back room. And you would say, “You’ll have … Continued…

There will be no gay education in Jamaica. The education minister denied a newspaper story insisting a pro-gay book would be added to the nation’s curriculum. The news shouldn’t surprise any one, of course - Jamaica’s become quite the homophobic nation. Nor should anyone be surprised by the Jamaica Observer’s lede: The education ministry moved swiftly yesterday to quell fears among teachers and parents that it had hit rock bottom by endorsing a school textbook that apparently promoted same-sex unions and homosexuality. Maybe the homophobes in Warrensburg, Missouri should head on down to Jamaica.

Ridiculous has a new name, and it’s Steve Wiegand. The Sacramento-based journo spent some ink this week decrying poking fun at SB 777, the anti-bully bill Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed earlier this month. Wiegand’s analysis is at once hilarious and frightful: …Today’s topic: The injustice of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger having signed Senate Bill 777, which was authored by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who is widely known to be a lesbian. Which is like a homosexual, only female.

Anyway, folks, this here SB 777 should have been numbered 666, since it is truly the devil’s work.

What this bill would do, according to Kuehl, is clarify, codify and make more orderly a law that has already been … Continued…

It’s been two months since we heard about Larry Craig’s disorderly conduct arrest in Minnesota. In honor of this blessed anniversary, CBS News sat down with Idaho Newstateman’s Dan Popkey, the dedicated journo who spent nearly a year delving into Craig’s reported faggotry. As the dust settles around Craig, Popkey’s got one hope: that America’s learned its lesson.
This story is a very big deal, but not only on a political level. I think it has enormous cultural consequences. And I hope that there will be some positive change because of it. I think that some people who may have had closed minds about whether a gay person can serve well in a high office … … Continued…

The Idaho Statesman had senator Larry Craig running scared earlier this year. The local paper had been investigating Craig’s long-rumored homosexuality and, apparently, Craig didn’t approve: Months before his arrest at a Minneapolis airport, Sen. Larry Craig was considering a lawsuit against an Idaho newspaper and hired an attorney he later retained to represent him in the sex-sting case.
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[Craig] hired Washington lawyer Billy Martin and public relations executive Judy Smith in late January or early February, spokesman Dan Whiting said Wednesday.

Craig hired Martin and Smith because he was thinking of suing The Idaho Statesman newspaper for “harassment” over its investigation into Craig’s sexual orientation, Whiting said. Craig’s team stopped working with him on … Continued…

So it continues…

Author Terry McMillan’s got plenty to say, especially when it comes to her ex-husband, Jonathan Plummer. As Plummer plugs his unimaginative “novel”, McMillan sits down with Uneq magazine to offer her two cents on Plummer’s one-track mind.

You’ll have to buy the current issue of Uneq to read the interview. The mag’s press flack, however, did pass along a long-winded, explosive and very angry statement from McMillan. Here’s a sample: …He doesn’t care if he ever goes back to Jamaica. It is the main reason he went on television to announce his homosexuality. He wanted the people in Jamaica to be embarrassed and to hate him so that in the event that our marriage were annulled - his goal was to use the self-generated hatred sure to come from Jamaica so that he would qualify for asylum and be able to stay in this country if his citizenship were revoked or in jeopardy. This is how slick he is. Read the rest of McMillan’s statement, after the jump.
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Australia’s gay glossy DNA can’t contain its excitement over their newest issue. Staffers are so excited, in fact, that they wanted us to pass along some Troy Philips and Akimitsu Sadoi shots of model Patrick. No last name required or desired…

See some more shots after the jump…
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