The story broke on the morning of Friday, May 5, 2007, but word didn’t begin to spread until later in the afternoon: Dror Barak, an Israeli consulate staffer, quit after being outed as a gay porn star known as Roman Ragazzi.

The Page Six report explained that an anonymous client had agreed to fly the eager Barak abroad for some “modeling work”. The daily tabloid column also quote’s an email from Barak to the aforementioned source, saying, “I just started doing porn movies. None of my movies is [sic] out yet. I know you mention 'escort.' I never did escort, and I don't do it.”

While some readers may have wondered whether or not the strapping Barak does, or did, escort, others questioned who leaked his name to Page Six. And, more importantly, why?

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Homosexuality is punishable by hanging in Iran. In Moscow and Warsaw, marches by gay groups have been banned. There has been so much anti-gay violence in Jamaica, Time dubbed the island “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth”. No wonder American homos like to play it safe when they go on vacation: Provincetown, St. Thomas, Ft. Lauderdale!

But tour guide Dan Ware says there’s no reason why a gay guy shouldn’t see most of the world, if he wants to. Since 1990, Ware has been leading all-male, all-gay "Toto Tours" to places like Egypt, Poland, and Peru. Next year, he’ll add the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan to his itinerary.

Queerty correspondent Ilya Marritz recently sat down with Ware to chat about queer adventuring, gays in China and bullfighting with Richard Hatch.

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• China plans to establish the world's first women-run city. Men can live there, but they have to relinquish all control to women. The town's slogan? "A woman never makes a mistake. A man can never reject a woman's request." If the man defies a woman's word, he'll be subject to a variety of punishments, like washing dishes. Wait, that's women's work!

• Lily Tomlin will not trade her personal life for a Time cover. You better recognize.

• From here on in, May 17th shall be known as International Day Against Homophobia, or IDAHO. Hey, who you calling a 'ho', fag!

• Speaking of calling people 'hos', CBS canned Don Imus over his oft-repeated "Nappy-Headed Hos" comment. Lesson learned: it doesn't pay to be racist. Well, not forever, at least, because God knows Imus has been a racist since the beginning of time.

• Poor Ann Coulter. She's only number eighty on Boston Phoenix's list of the 100 Unsexiest Men. Better luck next time.

• "European Parliament's a bunch of pussies on Poland", say gay activists. Okay, those weren't their exact words, but you get the idea.

Chinese farmer Liu Shuping got a bit of a seemingly lucky surprise when one of her porkers birthed this pig with one head, two mouths, two noses and three eyes. Why seemingly lucky? Because pigs are good luck in China. And, by some freakish coincidence, it also happens to be the year of the pig. Spooky.

This little pig's birth's especially spooky considering that there have been reports of another deformed pig born with two mouths and four eyes.

As for the one word to describe this picture - we're torn between "disgusting" and "cute". Maybe we can break our own rule and say "disgustingly cute"?

We meant to bring this article to your attention earlier, but got side-tracked by...well, we don't exactly remember. As you may know, homosexuality isn't the biggest sell in Tibet. In fact, it's one of the lowest sells. Next to Chinese rule, of course.

Breaking the great wall of silence, a young man recently sat down with Phayul.com to chat about his homo ways. It's certainly an interesting read, but there are a few things we'd like to point out...

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• China's not down with non-married, the elderly or the obese raising their orphans. [NY Times]

• Worcester police have filed misdemeanor assault charges against Larry Cirignano: the Catholic leader who took down a pro-gay marriage protester. [Edge Boston]

• TMZ has a heart-to-heart with Perez Hilton. Or, rather, tabbie-to-tabbie. [TMZ]

• UK police are looking into a row between religous coppers and their queer counterparts. [The Mirror]

• VP Dick Cheney's been called to testify in the Valerie Plame leak investigation. [Forbes]

The Chinese government may have unjustly arrested and later released AIDS activist Wan Yanhai, but that won't deter a group of dedicated homos from doing their part to stop the devastating tide of AIDS.

To commemorate World AIDS Day, a gay group unimaginatively called "The Rainbow Team" have been passing out pamphlets, providing HIV tests and generally spreading the AIDS message to anyone who will listen.

While hookers and junkies regularly get tested for the virus, some officials insist that gay men aren't jumping on the AIDS bandwagon. People's Daily Online reports:

China has five to 10 million gay men, according to official figures. However, some experts estimate the homosexual population is around 50 million.

The HIV infection rate is estimated at one to four percent among gay men, who are the second largest high-risk group following drug addicts.

However, homosexuals suffer huge social pressures in China and are unwilling to be identified despite growing awareness in recent years.

"AIDS prevention is easier among drug addicts and sex workers, but it's hard among homosexuals," says Ruan Shiman [head of HIV/AIDS prevention in Jinan Disease Prevention and Control Center].

The homos are a wiley bunch. All through history - by which we mean a little over a hundred years - man has tried to tackle the problem of homosexuality. Time and time, again, however, the gays escape their clutches. Hopefully Rainbow Team will have more luck than, say, the Nazis. They're certainly more gregarious, so that's a start...

• "Zhang Beichuan, professor at the Qingdao University medical school and renowned AIDS treatment and prevention expert said among the 30 million homosexuals in China, two thirds of them are men, who are considered to be the most vulnerable group to transmission of the HIV virus." [China Daily]

• "...[T]he couple has become emblematic of a segment of the population growing noticeably bolder recently: those eager to shed Chile's questionable label as the most culturally conservative country in Latin America." [MSNBC]

• "Trash Anderson’s God Save the Queen poster alludes to the endangered species of French culture and national heritage, namely to the popular night club Queen, which is more like a living symbol of gay underground culture in France—one that is threatened to be closed down and bought by foreign capital investment." [NY Arts Magazine]

• "Its cast of emotionally distressed characters includes two gay teenagers, Martin and Shawn, whose difficult life situations complicate their struggle to come to terms with their gay identities." [AfterElton]

• "When someone in the crowd of about 50 people asked about the legitimacy of outing closeted elected officials who actively work against gay rights -- as McGreevey did when he opposed same-sex marriage -- the former governor told the crowd it would be more effective to "go and talk to those officials who are closeted. Tell them that you are going to survive the other side of the divide."" [The New York Observer]

• "Barbara Walters: Freebasing." [Best Week Ever]

A leopard, the old saying goes, doesn't change its spots. Nor, it seems, does China.

Despite the communist country's pledge to combat HIV, they took a step back Friday when they detained prominent - not to mention vocal - AIDS activist, Wan Yanhai (pictured).

Officials apprehended Yanhai ahead of his World AIDS Day related symposium, "Blood Safety, AIDS and Legal Human Rights Workshop". Planned for Sunday, the event called upon about 50 citizens who've contracted HIV from blood transfusions, and meant to raise awareness of fatal flaws in the country's health systems. Today Online reports:

Leading Chinese AIDS activist Wan Yanhai has been freed after police detained him for three days for trying to hold a public forum on the disease, his Beijing-based non-government group said.

You may recall the unsettling news that China's seen a nearly 30% rise in HIV-infections. Though the majority of these infections have been attributed to drug use and unsafe sex practices, Yanhai and his peers claim that the government has tried to cover up tainted blood supplies. One of the most cited examples stems from a program in the 1990s, when rural farmers selled their blood for money, only to contract HIV.

Exact numbers of the infected are unknown, but Yanhai's group wants the government will acknowledge their negligence and compensate patients accordingly. Agreeing to work with the government on future meeetings, the group released this statement:

[We] hope that concerned health departments will cherish the demands of several hundred thousand, or even over a million, ordinary people who acquired infectious diseases through blood transfusions.

Given their reaction to Yanhai's proposed meeting, however, we're not holding our breath.

Yes, it's sad Robert Altman's dead, but let's be realistic: he was 81 years old. So, while we whole-heartedly agree with Lindsay Lohan's heart-wrenching letter, we're a little more disheartened by some numbers coming out of China.

It seems that in the last ten-months, the amount of reported HIV cases has jumped from 144.089 to 183,733: a 30% jump.

Despite the government's vow to fight HIV head on, they can't stave off the spead - or the severity:

Of the reported cases, more than a fifth, or 40,667, have developed into Aids. In the same there were 4,060 Aids deaths, bringing the total number of reported deaths in China due to the disease to 12,464 since it was identified in China in the early 1990s.

It's worth noting, however, that these numbers may just be a reflection of more widely available testing centers and nominal acceptance. Still, there are never enough, particularly in a country as populated and large as China, and the number of infected persons remains unknown.

We're sure those numbers would be far more devastating.

Continuing down their relatively progressive path of homo-inclusion, China will soon unveil a hotline for those of the lesbianic persuasion. While the country has a hotline for gay men, the Chiheng Foundation funded hotline hopes to combat the dearth of lesbian-geared resources.

Yang Shanping, who works for the Foundation, explains:

In the past, we noticed that lesbians needed extra help compared with gays...Most people don't know what kind of support lesbians need most...We have heard that when lesbians try to seek legal and psychological help, they cannot find the proper person or organization.

Unfortunately, the hotline lacks the funding necessary for wide availability. Thus, the hours have been set for Saturday from 2-4pm.

Fortuitously, new research proves that on Saturday from 2-4 post meridien, the powers of Lesbianica are at their peak. The great Vagina God opens her beautiful, flowery mouth and releases the Lezzie faeries, who sprinkle dyke dust throughout the land. It really is quite a magical sight, especially in the spring.

While Senator Erpenbach's working to make some changes in Wisconsin, China's communist government continues to make homo-headlines.

You may recall that the Chinese government just opened the nation's first HIV clinic. Now, it's given its omnipotent seal of approval on southern China's Sun Yat Sen University's decision to allow a queer student's group.

Not surprisingly, homosexuality doesn't jive with communism's collective spirit. In fact, the government's worked in the past to purge the homos from their society, particularly from the the universities. While it may seem that the country's on its way to becoming more gay friendly, officials are downplaying the sexual aspects and empowerment of the new group. Instead, they're highlighting the educational merits of gender studies.
One official insists:

They are a group of students who would like to study and learn more about gay and lesbian issues...In the past there have been informal gay and lesbian centred groups at universities. But this is the first time that a university was actually officially was given approval of such a group.

It's hard to say whether or not the university's decision will lead to more official gay groups across the country. It seems unlikely the country will see a pink revolution, although the new group's certainly a step in the right direction.