• NewsBusters, the watch dog group dedicated to "exposing and combating liberal media bias", are taking aim at GLAAD the group released a statement in which president Neil Giuliano "urges" the media to commemorate Falwell as a homo-hating monster:

As they look back on the life of the Rev. Falwell, media have an opportunity and a responsibility to reflect on the outdated, hurtful attitudes and beliefs he embodied...

It's an important opportunity to take stock of how far our nation has come in moving toward a more respectful and inclusive society, and how far we still have to go.

Newsbusters go on to accuse CNN of buying into the Falwell bashing:

On Anderson Cooper 360, CNN correspondent Randi Kaye, who raised eyebrows in December for a story worrying about Saddam suffering when he hanged, shared no comparable horror at the death of Falwell. Her transcript read like a commercial for GLAAD... Anchor Anderson Cooper titled his segments "Faith and Fury," and fury was certainly in heavy rotation on CNN.

If only Evangelical revisionists were in charge of the media...

• America's Next Top Model's (Ms.) J Alexander warns touchy-feely fans to back off: "I knocked a lot of people in the nose and knocked a lot of people in the head and knocked a lot of people in the chest for grabbing up on Miss Jay."

• California-based gay activist Larry Sprenger has died. Sprenger's work with the Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles helped close bath houses to stop the spread of AIDS.

• CBS' Kiddie Nation proves that reality television really is for children.

• St. Petersburg Pride banned! The city's just too dang busy, you see?

• Wanna see some cute boys? Sure ya do! Especially when they're fine ass D&G models posing in their undies...

• Just so you know, Antarctica's still melting.

Coming out at one's job can be difficult, particularly when you work in the allegedly unbiased news media. A number of gay journalists, however, have decided that honestly truly is the best policy - former CNN anchor man, Thomas Roberts, made headlines last fall when he came out (and then again during his controversial conversation with Anderson Cooper, during which Roberts discussed his abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest). In light of Roberts' coming out, AfterElton launched an extensive investigation into the ins and outs of being a homo-journo. In part one of their two part series, the AE boys chat with some of the media's most well-respected gay newsmen (and, yes, they're all men), including uber-handsome Miguel Marquez.

CONTINUED »

Former CNN newsman Thomas Roberts makes no secret of his homosexuality. The man came out at a National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association conference, for fuck's sake. His sexuality did not come up, however, when Roberts sat down with journalistic peer, Anderson Cooper.

You may recall that the two men chatted about Roberts' experience being sexually abused by a priest - certainly a topic often - and dangerously - discussed in tandem with homosexuality. AfterElton thought so, too, and wrote a post in which they questioned why neither Roberts, nor the Coop referenced Roberts' sexuality.

While it was unquestionably courageous for the man to speak so candidly about his sexual abuse at the hand of the family priest as a teenager, there seemed to be a glaring absence in the discussion: namely, about how Roberts, as an out gay man, has been affected by the abuse as a grown, sexualized adult.

The AE boys recently ran into Roberts and the 35-year old journo was none-too-pleased...

CONTINUED »

We know you all fell in love with Thomas Roberts after he came out at last year's National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association conference. And you all wept as Roberts told Anderson Cooper about being molested by a priest. So we really hate having to tell you this, but the openly homo-journo will not be returning to CNN. A company memo read: "After five years, [Roberts] has decided to leave us, with intentions to settle in the Washington, D.C., area."

Never fear, however - mediabistro intimates that Roberts may have signed a syndication deal, which would be great because then we'd have an entire show based around Roberts and his sexiness. Perfect for a news-filled wank.

Maybe it'll be a talk show. That would be nice, too. Although, an openly gay man with a talk show would definitely piss of the lesbians. That's their turf.

We're not sure if this is good news or bad news, but Anderson Cooper does not - we repeat, does not - shower in his boxer briefs. That's right - all that excitement over yesterday's "news" that the CNN anchor and his penis fear documentation, a phobia which leads him to keep a lid on his sexual source. A source "close" to Towleroad, however, claims it just ain't true. Old Andy pants writes:

In the interest of correcting this claim, a source close to Towleroad who is also a member at the Time Warner Center Equinox gym and has seen Mr. Cooper in action reports that he does not shower in his underwear, but that he is one of those "towel wrap, slip the undies down underneath" kind of guys.

Oh, Coop! You're so clever. And you multitask with ease: you have to hold the towel and shimmy your jimmy free. That a boy(s)!

Everyone knows want to see Anderson Cooper's penis. Even Anderson Cooper knows you want to see his penis. But don't be thinking you'll get the money shot in the gym showers. Gossip monger Janet Charlton "reports" on the the CNN anchors short-inducing shyness - or is it ego?

Anderson Cooper is the talk of the Equinox gym where he works out in the Time Warner Center in New York city. Naturally the sexually ambiguous "silver fox" attracts a lot of attention from both sexes so he takes precautions. Everyone knows camera phones are easy to smuggle anywhere, so sensible Anderson reportedly showers IN HIS UNDERWEAR. Boxer briefs, to be exact.

That's so silly.

Come on, Cooper, you're a smart kid. Why are you showering in undies? Wouldn't a bathing suit make a far more sensible option? Although, then you'd have to change into it and someone may get a glimpse of your willy. Unless you exercised in the swimsuit, but that would probably leading to chafing. And possibly crotch rot. A speedo wouldn't, though. Think about it. In the meantime, rest assured millions of people now know what kind of drawers you wear. Their twisted imaginations just jumped one step closer to that private penis of yours.

(Via those quickie loving queers over at Popnography. Word.)

• Remember Dr. Katz? What a fucking great show! Remember Dave Chappelle? What a great fucking comedian. Remember when Dave Chappelle appeared on Dr. Katz and talked about super-heroes? Ah, memories...

• Eighty percent of Finnish citizens support allowing the surviving same-sex partner to keep the deceased partner's surviving child. (Phew!)

• Anderson Cooper likes seamen.

• Hey, did you hear Tom Ford's opening a new store? No? Everyone else in the entire fucking planet did. What the hell's the matter with you? What? You're deaf? Oh, shit...sorry. Read all about it (or at least get a round-up) here!

• Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling are getting married. Typically we'd be jealous of McAdams, but who could hate on such a cute couple?

• Sappho-journo Kerry Eleveld's telling HX Media and The New York Blade to shove it up their loose asses: she's headed on over to The Advocate. It may only be across the street, but it's a big step for this little lady. Read her latest - and almost last - Blade column on lobbying your lawmakers, or face the consequences.

• Not-so-sappho-journo Charlene Cothran thinks Clay Cane is the most evil person in the whole wide world. That may explain why she spells his name Cain.

• Connecticut's anti-gayers sure can talk. And boy are they craaazy!

• Speaking of crazy (and offensive) people, here's a great archive of Don Imus' bigoted, homophobic, racist and otherwise distasteful rants.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has some choice words for CNN's Anderson Cooper. Speaking with New York, the journo blasted Cooper's decision to stay in "The Glass Closet":

Don’t tell me you don’t want to talk about personal life when you wrote a book about your father’s death and your brother’s death. You can’t move this big mass of personal stuff out for public display, then people ask questions and you say, ‘Oh, no, I didn’t say there was going to be any questions.’ It’s the same thing as the Bush administration saying, ‘We’re going to war, but you really aren’t allowed to know why.

But, wait, there's more:

Don’t tell me you can’t talk about your personal life and then, when they send you overseas and you do a report that consists of your voice-over and pictures of you in a custom-made, blue-to-match-your-eyes bulletproof vest, looking somberly at these scenes of human devastation—like a tourist—and that’s your report. Your shtick is your personal life.

We can just hear Olbermann getting all revved up in that adorable way of his. And, we have to say we totally agree - it's a bit disingenuous to sell your family tragedy but to keep other things secret in the name of "credibility".

Although, rumor has it CNN's the one keeping Cooper under wraps. We wonder if that's a part of his alleged $50 million contract extension...

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann takes on Anderson Cooper [AfterElton]

In her groundbreaking and certainly still relevant book, Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick asserts, “The closet is the defining structure for gay oppression in this century". The closet - out or in - it's always there, hovering like a socially-constructed apparition. Out's May issue wonders if, like an actual apparition, the closet can seen through. That is, can it be made of glass, rather than wood, brick or reinforced steel?

Michael Musto's cover essay, "The Glass Closet", sheds some light on - or, rather, through - this underreported, yet not entirely new, phenomenon:

The glass closet is nothing new in Hollywood. Back in the 1920s and '30s, leading man William Haines was gay in everything except magazine interviews...In the '70s performers like Paul Lynde and post-Liza Peter Allen similarly went as far as seemed possible...And today, the press still gives a free pass to people like Good Morning America weather anchor Sam Champion and CNN presence Anderson Cooper, helping to keep their glass doors shut so they can lead gay social lives while carefully skirting the issue.

Musto concludes with disdain, insisting it's better to be completely out than sorta-kinda out, like Mr. Cooper

Musto may be a bit irked to read, then, that the Coop's number two rank on Out's surely controverial compilation: The 50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America. The homo-journo's squeezed right between David Geffen and Ellen Degeneres. The list also includes the likes of filmmaker Chi Chi LaRue (36), designer Tom Ford (23) and director Bryan Singer (32). A bit of a queer mix, certainly, but by no means an accident. Out EIC Hicklin explains his editorial philosophy:

We expect some flak for daring to create a list like this. But it’s a mark of real progress that the vast majority of men and women who made our Power 50 have attained their positions without feeling the need to hide their sexuality to do so.

We took the task very seriously. We wanted the list to reflect, as accurately as possible, the standing of the people on it.

One can't feel bad for the so called New York Times gay mafia: Richard Berke, Ben Brantley, Frank Bruni, Stuart Elliot, Adam Nagourney, Stefano Tonchi, and Eric Wilson. They all got clumped together in the stinky number 7 slot. You'd better watch out, Out.

Out Ranks the Top 50 Gays; Anderson Is No. 2 [New York]

Tongues are still wagging over the Ryan Seacrest/Simon Cowell closet outing thing on Tuesday's episode of Fox's American Idol. Last night, everyone's favorite MSNBC newsman, the ever-lovable Keith Olbermann (who, we have to admit, is only our favorite MSNBC newsman because his is the only show on MSNBC we bother to watch) hosted everyone's favorite Village Voice homo-journo, Michael Musto, to discuss the altercation.

Ever eloquent, Musto described the scene thus, "This was the gayest TV since Anderson Cooper introduced Thomas Roberts the other night." Olbermann laughed, "I'm sorry, I don't know if if I can get over the analogy there - I don't think I can." Oh, Olbermann, you're such a cut-up.

This morning, the eternally creepy Don Imus apparently played the Musto/Olbermann exchange, which spurred producer Bernard McGuirck to reply, "He dragged Anderson Cooper into the bath house so to speak..." Easily confused, Imus later asked CNN's Lou Dobbs if Cooper's a gaywad. Equally confused - or uncharacteristically tight-lipped, Dobbs said, "Uh, I have no idea..." Note it wasn't a flat out "no."

(PS: Follow this link to virtual matter for video of Musto on Olbermann on Seacrest.)

Because we know you faggots and friends of faggots love that alleged faggot, Anderson Cooper, we'd like to direct you over to Gawker. Once there, you'll find a video from the Coop's morning guest-stint with Kelly Ripa. Apparently Regis Philbin's out getting some surgery on a body part we've never heard of - a heart, or something.

No matter, the Gawksters describe the video clip as the "gayest moment alive". Hmm, we're not sure if moment's really have life force but, again, we wouldn't know anything about such biological matters. We will agree, however, that it's pretty gay. Also, Kelly Ripa totally doesn't give a fuck.

If you've got eyes and/or ears, you've either read and/or heard that CNN's openly gay Thomas Roberts will be sitting down with network peer Anderson Cooper to discuss being molested by the family priest.

CNN's really pumping this televised event - we've seen the commercial no less than a billion times - and to secure ratings, Roberts has issued a first-person account of his trials and tribulations. Here's an excerpt describing his decision to come forward:

...A year ago, CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper and CNN Senior Producer Charlie Moore approached me about telling and following my story. I was scared. I was scared of being so honest and televising this journey.

What would people think? Would I ruin my career? But I came to the conclusion that I will not be scared anymore. I will not be scared of telling the truth because it might be uncomfortable for people to hear.

If this story compels even one person to seek help for being sexually abused, then it is all worth it. All it takes is telling one person. From there, strength grows and you can tell a second person and so on. Then you can finally have control of your life back.

Well said, Roberts, well said...

As for this ruining your career - we've got a feeling it's only going to give it a boost.

The special - the unimaginatively entitled "Sins of The Father" - airs this evening at 10pm (ET) on - you guessed it - CNN.