• We've been seriously missing They Might Be Giants. In an effort to satisfy our aural yen, here's "Istanbul".

• University of Texas professor launches hunger strike for domestic partner benefits.

• Tabloid rumors hurt Queen Latifah's feelings.

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Irate islander Eric Selby simply can't stand queer cruises stopping on his beloved Barbados. That's why the irate Selby wrote this editorial letter calling for more public protest:

It is quite disheartening to hear of no dissenting voices in public to the planned stop-over of a cruise ship carrying gay passengers.

Talk about rights! Don't our children not have rights too? Not to be exposed to such immoral conduct which proceeds from these individuals?

A passenger in my car noticed two male tourists kissing on Hastings Road recently. Is this the type of behavior we will condone in our island, paradise and all?
…
There are stories of young boys and girls being enticed into the gay lifestyle. It is not uncommon to see hard-back women buying gifts for young girls and petting them in Town.

We're assuming "hard-back" women is Selby's polite way of saying "bull dykes.

Like so many airlines, Southwest Airlines desperately wants your pink dollar. And, as part of their efforts, the aeronautical company decided to launch a "Gay-Friendly" website. Too bad they can't make friends with Washington Post's Emil Steiner, whose OFF/beat column specializes in "Real, Strange News".

The angry journo uses this piece to dissect Southwest's predictably gay travel destinations (e.g. Miami, San Francisco), travel tips and event suggestions. He then concludes:

…Far from a slick ad campaign, Southwest's hackneyed jargon instead pangs of a nervous heterosexual trying too hard to prove he's not homophobic. The result is unintentional parody that may make readers wonder whether Southwest is being innocently open-minded, pandering ham-handedly or being downright offensive?

Niche marketing's ugly face revealed!

We really love our job, especially when photographers send us pictures of naked models. These Levi Poulter snaps come courtesy of Jason Rowan, who shot them for Key West's Island House. Shameless self-promotion never looked so good!

Get a better view after the jump, but be warned that bum and a bit of penis make this set NSFW.

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Our previous installments of The Home Issue have revolved around design, interior and aesthetic.

We're shifting focus today with an interview between our editor and travel writer Mike Luongo. Luongo's longed to travel since childhood and has traveled around the globe documenting life in Afghanistan, Iraq and Argentina, among many, many others.

The New York-based journalist just edited and released Gay Travels In The Muslim World: an anthology of anecdotes and impressions from and of the Middle East. Though he and Belonsky definitely discuss the book, their conversation veers into religion, the parameters of democratization and the ever-troublesome "other".

Check it out, after the jump.

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Grenada will host the homos. The island's Ministry of Tourism decided not to ban queer cruises from docking on their shores:

[The] statement came yesterday on the heels of heated discussion and several reports that the Spice Island may be moving to ban gay cruises. Tourism Minister Dr. Clarice Modeste Curwin yesterday called the reports inaccurate but admitted they had already resulted in several cancellations.

She reiterated that the island “… will continue to welcome all visitors and we will work along with our population to ensure that their time and ours will be enjoyable.”

The stink came after the Queen Mary 2 and Legends of The Sea ships charted a course to Grenada, whose Tourism Minister wondered whether or not to welcome a population of which they do not approve.

Apparently New York City's looking for even more homos. The Big Apple just launched a $30 million queer tourism campaign, starting with Out magazine's recent Out 100 issue.

Ads will also start appearing soon on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender websites. The city says the demographic is key to the city's tourism because it contains people who have a high level of discretionary income and an interest in travel.

Similar campaigns have worked in Philadelphia, Chicago and Phoenix. The move is another step in the city's efforts to meet the mayor's goal of bringing in 50 million tourists by the year 2015.

Mayor Bloomberg obviously doesn't care about the mental health of this city's resident, who have to fight through throngs of gawking shutterbugs on a daily basis. Thanks, Bloomie!

But, on the positive side, there'll be more imported cock for those of you who have sucked up our supply. You know who you are…

The Grenadian government's playing choose your own gay adventure after hearing that four gay cruises plan to dock in their ports.

Upon hearing the news, Tourism Minister Claris Modeste–Curwen wondered:

As a government our policy is that we do not support [homosexuality], but are we going to put a barrier that says in any port of entry that if somebody is gay they should be debarred from coming to this country…This is my question, what does the Grenadian community want of us.

Catholic priest Sean Doggett says that while he cannot endorse anti-gay discrimination, he wants the gays to know they should behave themselves, "…If they come to promote [homosexuality] among Grenadian people, then that certainly should not be accepted." Ya hear that, homos?

No gay promotion while in Grenada. No gay give-aways, no gay publicity and - for the love of God - no gay agenda.

Fort Lauderdale's city commissioners came together last night after a long summer break. As part of their first meeting since Jim Naugle's now infamous robo-toilet campaign, the Commissioners voted on and passed a new diversity resolution.

Naugle, naturally, held things up a bit.

The resolution says that the city "would condemn any statement or action that shows disrespect for any segment of our population or that violates Our Values" and that the city has a diverse population of "varying races, ethnicities, religions and sexual orientations."

The mayor voted in favor, after he had the words "and families" added to a line that voices support for the county's tourism bureau marketing the city to "diverse groups." Now it reads "diverse groups and families."

Naugle also went on to say that his anti-gay propaganda isn't "hate speech". Funny, it sounds like it to us.

Speaking of hate speech, Naugle supporter Reverend O'Neal Dozier offered this nauseating comment:

God sees homosexuality as an abomination. It is something that causes him to want to vomit… It is just that ungodly and just that nasty.*

Talk about wanting to wretch!

Question: Can God vomit? To vomit, he'd have to eat. If he eats, what's his favorite food? We think Spaghetti-Os or something gross like that. Not that he'd admit it, of course.

Vacation seeking homos may want to check out Buenos Aires. Aside from being one of the world's most spectacular, vibrant cities - and housing Eva Perón's grave - the Argentinian town's announced some "friendly" discounts for the gays. Via Gay News Watch:

Buenos Aires this week introduced a special discount card exclusively for use by gay tourists, almost 1 million of whom visit the Argentinian capital annually. The "Friendly Card" is in response to the fact that between 10 to 15 percent of the tourists to Buenos Aires are gay, and can now save between $50 and 200 by using the card at participating restaurants, hotels and other gay-friendly businesses, including emergency medical aid, attorneys' offices and cell phone rental for use during a visit to B.A.

No crying here…

Perpetual Gawkstar Choire Sicha better watch his blogger back, 'cause an irate Queerty reader's out for blood. The gay drama when Sicha wrote the following:

Advertising and marketing people spent $223.3 million in 2006 to convince the gays to go various places. God, it was so much cheaper 65 years ago when they used to just load them into boxcars.

To the point and, we think, subversively hilarious.

The aforementioned reader didn't think so, 'cause he wrote to us asking why we hadn't launched a war against Sicha: "Why are you not up in arms about this? We all would if some republican had said the same thing!"

We disagreed…

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The shit storm surrounding Jim Naugle just got a fresh gust. Fight OUT Loud just sent a long a press release informing us that Broward County's Tourism Commission will vote tomorrow on whether they should boot Naugle from the board - a move the non-profit whole-heartedly supports:

Fight OUT Loud is pleased to support Commissioner Stacey Ritter’s plan to remove Naugle from the Broward County Tourism Development Council. This motion will be on the agenda for vote on Tuesday, August 28th. The move comes in response to Naugle’s continued attacks on the gay community. Commissioner Stacy Ritter said Naugle's comments have been counter to the board's mission and are cause to remove him before his term ends next spring.
…
Fight OUT Loud applauds Ritter and the County Commission for taking steps to remove Naugle from the Tourism Board, thereby giving him one less platform from which to spew dangerous misinformation and hate. Naugle is on a personal mission to demonize a large segment of the community he represents. By continuing his spread of lies and bigotry for his own personal satisfaction and agenda, Naugle has put the entire region at risk economically as well threatened the safety of LGBT citizens and visitors. He is putting the public at great risk by spreading misinformation about HIV/AIDS and other health issues. The mayor is also endangering the entire community by painting everyday citizens as depraved criminals and “abominations”, in the process encouraging hate and violence against them.

Once thought to be totally brainless, Naugle recently proved his political chops when he enlisted some holy roller friends to support his unholy mission.

Jim Naugle's protracted homophobic campaign against public sex got whipped by Fort Lauderdale's tourism board.

Nicki Grossman of the visitor's bureau urged the maniacal Naugle,

The damage has been done to the destination. We need to get back to work fixing it. The rhetoric needs to stop and the anger, the mischaracterizations and the hurtful mean-spirited rhetoric has to stop.

Naugle replied, "I will not stop until I have convinced at least one million people that gay people are disease carrying monsters who should be burned at the stake." He's well on his way.

Akron's Tourism board nixed a plan to market the Ohio city as "gay friendly".

According to WKSU's Amanda Robbins, some people accused the initiative of being disingenuous, a suspicion Jim Mahone, a marketer who helped launch the campaign, confirms: "Never in any of these conversations did we purport to be a moral compass… It truly was just about a business decision." And with $55 billion travel dollars, gays are always a good business decision…

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