Before you get too excited, be clear that The Advocate’s Anderson Cooper cover story is not a coming out story. Sad, yes, but what can you do? Rather, the fag-rag’s dedicated it feature article on the always attractive silver fox.

And, also, homo-journo Sean Kennedy’s coming of gray age: I first spotted the gray a couple of months before my 30th birthday–three or four strands glistening on my left temple. I leaned into the mirror for a closer look and confirmed my worst nightmare: I was officially old. Sure, there were only a few hairs now, but it was only a matter of time — months, maybe a year? — before I’d be … Continued…

Big news from gay mag The Advocate.

After 15-years as editor, Anne Stockwell has “stepped down,” thus making room for new EIC Jon Barrett, who will apparently be leading the long-running pub in a “new direction.” And here! networks, which bought the PlanetOut periodicals earlier this year, couldn’t be more excited about the regime change. Said honchos Stephen P. Jarchow and Paul Colichman: We are thrilled that Jon Barrett will bring his talent to this important brand and continue the historic tradition of The Advocate. Barrett will provide the magazine with a provocative new perspective around the critical issues affecting the lives of the LGBT community as well as expand Advocate.com into a definitive, daily online news source. Like Stockwell, Barrett’s an industry veteran and previously worked as senior editor at Real Simple, O at Home and Cargo.

Full release, after the jump…
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The gay watchdogs over at GLAAD gave gay news rag The Advocate a media award for “Best Overall Coverage,” thus dashing the hopes of Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek and other mainstream magazines. Now, no disrespect to The Advocate, but they should inherently have great gay coverage, which translates to an advantage. This is like giving the Pope an award for “most prayerful,” or something. Regardless, congratulations! [Gay.com]

The Advocate’s Thomas Roberts piece inspired a list of the out, not-so-out and even more not-so-out homo-journos. Hey, ABC’s Jeffrey Kofmann, call us! [The Sword]

The kids at The Advocate sent us over their article on Kim Cattrall, whose Sex and The City movie soon debuts. While Cattrall’s all well and good, the depth of the piece is - well, minimal. That’s why we suggest you read what Martha Plimpton had to say to journo Brandon Voss. She’s always been one of our favorites and has loads to say about playing gay and just being generally fabulous.

Sappho-journo Kerry Eleveld takes a hard look at Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s campaigns to analyze their approaches to gay politics. And, yes, Eleveld - who has interviewed Obama - discusses criticism that Obama hasn’t done enough gay press: “…Personally, I’m less concerned about whether Senator Obama is talking to local or national gay outlets than the frequency with which he is talking to us.” [Advocate]

There’s rumor that Regent Entertainment’s looking to augment the editorial staff of its recent acquisitions, Out and The Advocate. Our source claims several people will get the ax in the next few days, including Out executive editor Matthew Breen. Godspeed… Update: Now we hear Breen’s safe.

There are new details on Regent Entertainment’s bid to buy The Advocate and Out.

San Francisco Business Times informs us that Regent, which owns gay network here!, gave PlanetOut an initial $500,000 to seal the deal, but the final sale will total $6 million in cash - far cheaper than we anticipated.

The deal now gives PlanetOut more time to focus on its websites, which have been underachieving over the past few years: PlanetOut publishes magazines like Out and Advocate, but wants to return its focus to its web sites gay.com and planetout.com, which have been contributing a smaller percentage of its revenue recently.

The company’s online segment has been contributing less … Continued…

The rumors were true. We hear that Regent Entertainment’s bid for PlanetOut’s magazines will be finalized today. The Los Angeles-based company simply couldn’t resist bringing Out and The Advocate into their fold, which includes gay cable network here! We’ll keep you posted as we hear more of the details.

What perfect timing! Just days after Philadelphia Gay News‘ Hillary Clinton-donating publisher, Mark Segal blasted Barack Obama for not talking to the press, The Advocate announced that it’s about to publish an interview with the presidential candidate that it conducted yesterday. Via Dallas Voice: Michelle Garcia, an editorial assistant for The Advocate, told Dallas Voice on Tuesday that the interview will be posted on the magazine’s Web site Thursday. It marks Obama’s first interview with a gay publication since October, when he spoke to The Advocate in response to the controversy surrounding Donnie McClurkin.
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A spokesman for Obama’s campaign said Tuesday that the interview with The Advocate was scheduled prior to publication … Continued…

It’s been a little over two months since gay media giant PlanetOut put itself on the auction block. So, what’s happening with the company?

First and foremost, book wholesaler Bookazine snatched up a piece of the company’s Publishers Distributing Company, which includes Bruno Gmunder Verlag and Starbooks Press.

Meanwhile, PlanetOut’s magazines, including The Advocate and Out, remain the big mystery, with sources telling us more people were interested in a buy than executives anticipated.

While nothing’s set in stone, there are murmurs that Regent Entertainment, which owns queer cable channel here!, has been circling the gay glossies. One speculator described a sale as “imminent”.

Any one out there hearing more details on these … Continued…

Details ain’t gay, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get a little top left inspiration from the homos at The Advocate. Ryan Seacrest headline does look a whole lot like that Lance Bass teaser, except for girth and length.

On a related note, we can’t help but wonder if, by the glossy transitive property, Details is also looked toward US Open’s Tennis, which The Advocate emulated last September.

What a world! What a world!

Janet Jackson’s long been a gay favorite. No surprise, then, that she did a little pre-album sit down with The Advocate.

Journo Brandon Voss gets into the thick of Jackson’s gay activism, what she would have happened if “Tito or one of your other siblings” came out - “I honestly don’t know,” says Jackson - and whether she thinks of her homos when writing her tracks: BV: Do you specifically keep gay fans in mind during your writing and recording process?

JJ: For certain songs, yeah, for sure I do. I was thinking about ’em when I was making “Rock With You” on the new album—it just has that feel, that beat to … Continued…

Uber-queer Chris Crocker makes an expletive-laden return to YouTube this week.
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There are big changes afoot at PlanetOut