• We're not sure what's funnier - the fact that a bird took a shit on President Bush or that ABC News actually used the word "poop".

• HX Media's Boston rag, In Newsweekly., found itself in the papers this week when associate publisher Bill Berggren's criminal past came back to haunt him. It seems Berggren has been arrested for a number of incidents and some questioned his role as leader for Boston's Pride Committee. Rather than cause a stink, Berggren stepped down voluntarily. And Berggren ain't the only one on Innews' stepping down. From Boston's Weekly Dig:

In the last few weeks, their masthead has gotten a lot lighter in its loafers—editor James Lopata has left the building, as have distributor Thomas Kilduff and associate editor Alexander Sliwinski... We hear grumbling in the streets, too, that their freelancers haven’t been paid in eons.

• You know what would help the African continent's millions of AIDS patients? Doctors. Too bad there's a shortage.

• Jenny Bailey can now call herself the United Kingdom's first trannie mayor, thus crushing our life long dreams...

• South African hooker outs celebrities, media refuses to pass names along.

• Mitt Romney doesn't hate gays:

I oppose discrimination against gay people. I am not anti-gay. I know there are some Republicans, or some people in the country who are looking for someone who is anti-gay and that’s not me.

Most gay erotic artists rely on the cum shot or throbbing members to propel their message. Not New York-based artist Robert W. Richards. He employs more than sex in his artistic schemes. Each panel's saturated in as much emotion as lust: passion, longing and nostalgia pepper his works, giving them far more depth than a doodle of a dick. These distinctions make him the perfect addition to The Emotions Issue.

Now, for full disclosure, we've known Richards for a few years now. We'd never really sat down to talk to him - to really give his brain a good pick. So, we sent editor Andrew Belonsky on a little mission to see what makes Richards tick. And there's loads. He's got so much information to share, in fact, that we've had to split the interview in two. Lucky you.

After the jump, see what Richards had to say about his first love, how he spent his first night away from home and the true value of marriage.

CONTINUED »

Now that Massachusetts lawmakers have voted to reconsider the state's pioneering gay marriage laws, VoteOnMarriage.org has graciously rescinded their $5million lawsuit. The anti-gay activist group first filed the suit after politicians called a recess last month before the vote could go through, thus stalling the controversial issue. Lawmakers fired back, calling the legal threats "frivolous", especially considering that legislative folk such as themselves cannot be sued for their motions. With this week's vote, lawyer Glen Lavy said, "Now that the Legislature has chosen to do the right thing and vote, there is no need for this lawsuit to continue." He went on to say, "That's the most obvious thing in the entire world."

By some miracle we escaped our dismal dungeon of an HQ Friday night and headed over to Serena under the legendary Hotel Chelsea to celebrate the beginning of HX Media's Gay Life Expo. While schmoozing with the gayest of the gay, we came across Matthew Bank, HX's fearless founder and CEO.

Considering some of the things we've said about HX on this site, we're surprised Bank even gave us the time of day. Gracious as always, we congratulated him on the new venture, by which we meant the Expo's new film festival. To this, Bank replied, "Yes, we're very excited about Boston." We asked what he meant and he informed us that HX Media had just purchased Boston's In Newsweekly. "A press release was sent out Wednesay," he drolled. "I guess you didn't get it."

No, Mr. Bank, we didn't. We did, however, find this article detailing the new buy. Obviously Bank was a bit more forthcoming with them:

We are extremely pleased to be acquiring In Newsweekly... Its 16-year history of award-winning reporting is a great tradition to be continuing. Having In Newsweekly as part of the HX family will allow readers and advertisers in all of our publications broader access to important LGBT audiences and information.

The report goes on to assure readers that the paper will retain it's current staff, including editor James A. Lopata and sales manager, Christopher Robinson.

• The finale of My Life On The D-List brings together one gay icon with another as Kathy Griffin joins Johnny Weir on the ice. [Malcontent]

• Following a court order, Missouri removed from its books a regulation automatically banning gay men and women from becoming foster parents. [AP]

• You've got till tomorrow to nominate a friend – or, more likely, yourself – for Cosmo's Media Men contest. [Cosmo]

• Latvia's gay pride celebrations have been banned, just as they were last year. Except last year a court overturned the decision and the gays marched on. Will it be the same this year? [SMH]

• Boston's WRKO radio station suspened talk show host John DePetro yesterday after he called the Turnpike Authority chairman a "fag." Though most news media aren't printing the actual word. [Boston Globe]

• Rape survivors are always the victims of unfortunate circumstances, but in this case, the cirumstances are somehow even more devastating: A woman was raped by a gay man who wanted to prove he could have sex with a woman. [Aust. News Limited]

• The Born Different campaign is getting a huge PR push, but so far we've yet to see anything more than a couple viral video clips and recycled stats. [Born Different]