Tennis star Martina Navratilova has arguably done more for gay visibility (aka "mainstreaming") than any other athlete or celebrity — and did so at a time when it was particularly inconvenient. So come come she's suddenly become one of the community's biggest problems? Continued »

India may be the globe's largest democracy, but a 150-year-old rule on the books certainly appears to limit individual freedom: the one that makes same-sex sex a crime. Now, an effort to repeal it: "India is one of the few professed liberal democracies in the world that still has such a law. The others are mostly Islamic or authoritarian, and even China lifted its ban in 1997. Successive governments have long argued that Indian society is too conservative to accept repealing Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code — under which sex 'against nature' is punishable by up to ten years in prison. India’s leaders have come under increasing pressure in recent years from activists who say that the law, introduced in 1860, violates civil liberties and encourages the spread of HIV by forcing homosexuals underground. The new Government that took power in May after the Congress Party’s surprise election victory has indicated that it is ready to change the law, which is at present being challenged in the Delhi High Court, according to Indian media reports."

"The black gay community HAS TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET. Whites cannot do that for them. Until more black gays come out and deal with their families and friends more truthfully and openly then the black gay community will continue to suffer more than the white gay community. The HIV/AIDS prevalence among the black gay community is a direct result of more black gays NOT COMING OUT. …
It is everyone's responsibility to help get the message out about safe sex, yet there are some things that people have to do for themselves. Coming out of the closet is one of them." —Daniel responding to "If White Gay Leaders Exclude Blacks From Their Plans, Should They Expect Their Support?"

Yup, it's Michael Urie's business if he's gay or not. But the Ugly Betty actor dodging the question about his own sexuality only acknowledges what the viewing public already knows: Marc St. James is both gay on screen and off. Maybe he's coy about his man-loving not because he's afraid he'll lose out on roles, but because he doesn't want the celeb press prying into his private life? It's a reasonable argument, given most tabs are still willing to play hands off with closeted celebs — but once you come out (Lance Bass, Marc Jacobs, Neil Patrick Harris) the gloves come off. Continued »

THE SHOT — Mariah Carey goes butch on the set of her "Obsessed" music video at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Continued »

OH SNAP — Who was Star Trek (and possible blind item) star Zachary Quinto hitting the Malibu beach with over the weekend? Reader Peter thinks he knows his models and suggested to us the gent (labeled by the paparazzi only as a "friend") is Levi Poulter, who we've seen before. Poulter, meanwhile, doesn't just model: He hosts his own naked-friendly website, has done some solo porn work in the past, and, according to reader Jonathan, an "erotic and touching" what-looks-to-be-bareback twosome vid under the name "Brodie." Oh, Hollywood gays.

UPDATE: Investigative commenters declare: It's Katy Perry's stylist Johnny Wujek, seen here: Continued »

"'Three people - two women and a man - were arrested Monday night in a bias assault in Mastic Beach in which the suspects "made numerous anti-gay remarks about the victim's sexual orientation,' police said Tuesday. The trio, in their 20s, made the remarks while kicking, hitting and pushing the female victim, Suffolk police said. The unidentified victim did not suffer injuries that required hospitalization, police said. The suspects, Nora Mitzner, 21, of Dune Road, Westhampton Beach; Lindsay McBeth, 25, of Route 112, Medford; and Selwyn Icangelo, 20, of Commack Road, Mastic Beach, were each charged with second-degree aggravated harassment, police said." [Newsday]

We've all heard some ridiculous arguments to uphold Don't Ask Don't Tell. The latest? Repealing the policy would be an affront to the religious beliefs of soldiers! Continued »

Maybe Rhode Island didn't want to join the rest of New England in legalizing same-sex marriage because residents there are more health conscious than any of their uppity neighbors? Continued »

Saying goodbye to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he's spent the past two decades, Justice David Souter took a cue from David Frost.

Francine Busby, who's running for Congress in 2010, thought she was having a lovely fundraiser at the San Diego home of two lesbian supporters. Then a neighbor called the police, complained about the noise coming from next door, and managed to get eight police cruisers and a helicopter to the scene to investigate. Then out came the pepper spray. The whole scenario is ridiculous.

Barack Obama played the consummate host yesterday, welcoming GLBTs to "their" White House. For a dozen or so minutes he delivered prepared remarks to 200 invited guests, reiterating some of the same gay rights promises he made during his campaign — only now he wasn't courting the gay vote, but rather reacting to harsh criticism and demands for action that have tarnished his first months in office. The president is deeply aware of how the temperature of the gay community has turned against him, which explains why his staff pulled together the reception — which was technically a Stonewall 40th anniversary celebration — in just a week's time. But just because Michelle stood by him in a dress any gay can appreciate does not mean he's smoothed everything over. Continued »

The Fort Worth Police and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission did not target the Rainbow Lounge Sunday morning because it was a gay bar, insists Chief Jeff Halstead. Sound familiar? It should, because that's just what the NYPD brass said at the time — and continues to. Continued »

SOUNDBITES — "I silently chastised myself for feeling judgmental, and chalked it up to some residual and prudish lack of socio-sexual liberation that, with luck and effort, I might shed in the years to come. I haven’t yet shed it. Perhaps that is why I was mildly annoyed the other day when I encountered two men having oral sex in the locker room of my Fort Lauderdale gym. I think group sex among men is delightful—whenever there is some semblance of privacy afforded by the seclusions of darkness, or at least a clump of bushes. But these guys had absolutely no regard for the rest of us, both straight and gay. (I was actually more irritated by the fact that one of them gabbed into his cell phone throughout the event.) As I drove home from the gym, I wondered if the guys having sex were actually pushing our race to a new level of maturity in which permissiveness would put to rest our fetishizing of things now forbidden. Was I holding down our race by maintaining a meaningless double standard in which I advocate for gay sex but want to keep it hidden?" —Tony Adams, who's previously managed to mix gay porn and the Supreme Court, on whether the gays are taking their freedom a little too far

Yesterday, Barack Obama invited some friends over to the White House. There were folks like Rea Carey from National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Wilson Cruz, from Hollywood. And Air Force Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach, who is in the middle of being kicked out of the military 'cause he gets it on with dudes. (Like Fehrenbach, the National Guard's First Lt. Dan Choi is also being kicked out — in fact, Choi is facing his review panel today.)

So how did Obama's words for the gays yesterday sit with the very folks that are affected by the still-on-the-books, still-not-repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell policy? Continued »

The recent string of sexualized fast food advertising brings us to these Hardee's ads, which takes things from phallic references all the way around to … the butt. Going the anus route to sell food? They must know something we don't. Continued »

It's as if Chuck Todd is reading Queerty. He quizzed Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the Obama administration's seemingly paradoxical conclusion that it can move on Guantanamo by executive order, but not do the same for Don't Ask Don't Tell. Gibbs said the report isn't true, and that the White House will work with Congress to deal with detainees.

But more striking is what Gibbs said about speculation over Obama's choice of words in this statement from yesterday's GLBT address at the White House: Continued »

MORNING GOODS — No matter what those home fitness center commercials tell you, it's hard to believe any amount of Boflexing will turn you into Dave Shutler. That's where prayer comes in. Continued »

ON OUR GAYDAR — News, notes, clicks, and quips from around the web.

• Why gay employees don't come at out the office: "either they have a preference to keep their personal and professional lives separate or they fear potential repercussions."

• The White House blogs about Stonewall. Imagine seeing that posted on George W.'s homepage.

• Liza Minnelli hits Paris pride.

• Gay pride posters ripped down and defaced at the Labor Department.

• Family Research Council goes on the offense against GLSEN's Kevin Jennings — in predictable ridiculous fashion. (More here.)

• Raymond Castro was at the Stonewall Inn that night. And then got the hell out of the area forever.

• Inclined to ignore the city's attempt to clamp down on anything pro-homo, Moscow's gay activists are preparing to protest President Obama's visit there, despite being denied a permit.

• Has Los Angeles support for marriage equality … dropped?

• At her Vegas birthday-slash-promo event, Lindsay Lohan keeps good company.

• There's no HIV advertising without sex appeal.

• Photos from Michael Jackson's final rehearsals.

In an applause-laden speech at the White House this afternoon, President Obama laid out his most detailed committment to the gay community yet. Reiterating previous promises to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, enact federal hate crimes protections, and repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, our great orator of a president made a fantastic case for his self-professed committment to GLBTs. With Michelle by his side, Obama reminded us of what we knew him to be as a candidate: our "ally and a champion" to our community. And equally importantly, he acknowledged our frustration. Continued »