Lance Bass came out on People. So did Ellen DeGeneres. They didn't need to, of course. We all knew they were flamers, yet the still felt the need to announce it to the world. While we certainly support the famous flamers burning down the closet door, Nick Denton Maggie Schnayerson over at Gawker raises an interesting question: why can't we just call seemingly gay people "gay"?

She specifically discusses could-be queer news anchors such as Bill Hemmer and Anderson Cooper, writing,

…It's 2008 for God's sakes, a news anchor can be whoever he wants to be… Ask the press to call a gay news host like they see one, and all of a sudden demureness is a virtue. For every stab taken at outing a closeted news man, a contradictory report pops up. ABC's Sam Champion made out with a chick! Bill Hemmer was seen loving a lady on the Empire State building! But let's be careful not to point out why both those things are newsworthy enough to be mentioned.

Maggie and her peers then provide five videos of five different news men, all of whom strike us as poofters: Hemmer, Cooper, Champion, Fox's Shepherd Smith and Sean Hannity. Here's our favorite clip of Smith doing his - um - job:

The Gawker kids seem to think that Hemmer's the least likely to take it up the pooper, but we're not so convinced…

We erroneously attributed the piece to Denton, when, in fact, Maggie Schnayerson wrote it. Sorry, Maggie!

If you're a gay New Yorker, you've no doubt seen a shirtless Sam Champion living it up at the gay nightspots. We sure as shit have - and, quite frankly, it's whore-ific!

Considering the body of empirical evidence supporting the GMA weatherman's man loving, we can't help but wonder whether he's turned Scientologist. Consider this piece of Gawker-acquired gossip:

Here's a bizarre sighting of the ABC weatherman with a female date at the Royalton's new restaurant. "Friday January 18th, 9pm 44th and 6th Ave: Sam Champion the weatherman making out with his dining companion at Brasserie 44… AND IT WAS A WOMAN! His 'date' climbed on top of his lap (knocking over the vase on the table) and started sucking face. Drawing audible gasps from the people dining nearby."

We're absolutely faggergasted!

• Poor Maer Roshan can't catch a break: Radar's lost its publisher. Again. [WWD]

• "I know meatloaf," says GMA's Sam Champion. We've no doubt… [Gawker]

• Todd Oldham lends his name to FTD's "Coming Out" rose bouquet. Send 'em to someone gay. And out. [FTD]

• A lady teacher loves sex with underage boys: proof positive pedophilia ain't a gay thing, thanks. [The New York Times]

• Michael Knight from Project Runway's smooching Brandy? That's almost as gross as Hastert's small dick. Almost. [Mollygood]

• John Rechy, queer writer extraordinaire, has declared the winner of the 2006 One Culture Hero Award. No snarky comments, just congratulations. [The Advocate]

• Out Magazine has a new editor, Aaron Hincklin, and Andrew Sullivan heapes glowing praise on the magazine for hiring a heterosexual for the job. "I think it's great that a straight guy is now heading up a gay magazine," says Sullivan. " Integration is now the baseline from which many of us operate. Good for Out for being unafraid to pick talent over identity." We agree it's an interesting choice for a gay magazine to pick a straight editor …except, um, Aaron Hincklin is not straight. Not one bit. He's as homosexual as Big Gay Al and his carrot cake. Sorry, Andrew, wrong YET AGAIN. [TheDailyTransom]

• New York superstar-weatherman Sam Champion's honey-bunny is all over Manhunt; of particular interest to those who are friendly with the fists–and not in the Mike Tyson kind of way. [Jossip]

• Madonna is not her father's favorite singer: "I'm sorry to say it's a tossup between Tony Bennett and Celine Dion." [PRNewswire]

•…Speaking of Esther: Her concerts are so beyond sold out. Buy tickets immediately on Ebay before they're gone. [Ebay Las Vegas] and [Ebay Chicago]

• The Soulforce Riders had so much fun getting arrested at BYU on Monday, they decided to stick around and do it again. This time, they marched on campus and fell to the ground in a staged "die-in" to symbolize gay Mormons who committed suicide. We know they're nutzo, but we're beginning to like these Soulforcers a lot. They're starting to become fun. If you're going to get arrested, you might as well make it a show. [IndyBay]

• American Idol pressuring contestants to stay in the closet. America really needs to get a collective dose of gaydar, so people can just figure these things out on their own and get over it. How did people not know about The Gayken? [Temenos]

• Massachusetts prison officer is in trouble after showing Brokeback Mountain to inmates. Apparently the sex scenes gave the prisoners too many ideas. [BBC]

• Once Marc Jacobs starts a trend, everyone starts to play along: New York superstar weatherman Sam Champion is in love with a rent boy. Known far and wide beyond just the New York metro area, Champion made hearts flutter not only for his nightly weather forecasts, but also his fabled cameo appearances at Fire Island summer parties. We are all devastated Champion is off the market. [Jossip]

• Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders–a.k.a. Patsy and Edina from Absolutely Fabulous–are coming back to TV. All hail the queens! [Zap2It]

• Speaking of our favorite women on TV: Rue McClanahan fights age with sex. Blanche Deveraux lives! [AP]