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.

Apparently Paula Zahn's news show wasn't doing so well, because CNN's now made her their resident discrimination expert. Each night, Zahn and her guests take a look at hate crimes, prejudice and other ugly bits that haunt America's collective consciousness. Of course, just because she's not reporting the news, doesn't mean she's not exploring the news, including the whole Isaiah Washington scandal.

This here's the video from Monday's episode on which Keith Boykin and Human Rights President Joe Solmonese appeared to discuss the use of the word "faggot" in America. We'll let you guys do the commenting, because, really, there's so much here.

We will say, however, that CNN made the right choice in giving Zahn this role: ain't nobody in America who knows about discrimination more than a pretty white lady. Also, she's apparently classier than Glenn Beck (or, rather, listens more closely to producers), because she won't say "faggot" on the air. She prefers "six letter derogatory term for homosexual". A bit lengthy, but it's the thought that counts.

The other day we asked your opinion on whether or not Glenn Beck justifiably used the word "faggot" while deriding The New York Times for refusing to print said word that he said.

We got a lot of responses, but we'd like to take a second to look at what GLAAD's fearless leader Neil Giuliano had to say. It's pretty predictable:

Beck's obnoxious repetition of the slur — and his flip dismissal of it as simply a 'naughty name' — speaks volumes about his appalling ignorance of its impact... Beck added nothing to the audience's understanding of the issue, except perhaps to demonstrate his juvenile belief that repeating an anti-gay slur makes him an 'adult.'... The ugliness of Glenn Beck's word choice and his ignorance of its impact really speak for themselves. Other CNN personalities have discussed derogatory slurs as part of this story without debasing that discussion. CNN has a responsibility to address Beck's crudeness and require that he adhere to basic standards of respect.

The "ugliness" of his word choice? What was he supposed to do, replace it with gayish, or something. It seems to us that Beck had every right to use the word - he was, after all, discussing a paper's refusal to print a word, rather than calling someone a faggot - a distinct contextual difference. As we said before, how can our nation's youth know a word is bad unless they hear it? Simply saying the F-word means nothing: that could mean fuck, it could be faggot, it could even mean frivolous - as in, the controversy over this is "the F-word".

Hate words aren't going away, kids, but we can certainly work to deflate them and it seems that censorship's not the way to end their reign of lingual terror.

For their part, CNN apparently told GLAAD that as an opinionated journalist, it was Beck's decision to use the word and they do no foresee pursuing the matter.

Now that Isaiah Washington's getting all proactive and shit, meeting with GLAAD and GLSEN to come to terms with his not so latent homophobia, our country's again considering the appropriateness of newsworthy epithets. You may recall during the Michael Richards scandal that news organizations bleeped out the word nigger, referring to it as "The N-Word".

Well, it seems the same's happening with Washington's flippant use of "faggot". Via Americablog comes word that The New York Times has refused to print the word "faggot". Discussing their editorial decision, CNN's Glenn Beck and radio talk show host Dave Glover had an interesting exchange...

[Read On ...]

Yet another high-ranking ex-government official's come out against Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Discussing former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili's Don't Ask-related op-ed, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen urged Congress to revisit what he called a "policy of discrimination". The statements may come as a surprise to some, for Cohen's a known Republican and served under Clinton, the very president who initiated the controversial rules.

Speaking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Cohen said:

I think what we're hearing from within the military is what we're hearing from within society, that we're becoming a much more
open, tolerant society for diverse opinions and orientation...

He went on to urge incoming Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin to seriously broach the matter with the new Congress.

With regard to Cohen's statements, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network C. Dixon Osburn said:

The dominos propping up 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' are falling, and they are
falling quickly... It is clear that prominent military leaders question the wisdom of maintaining the ban. As three service members continue to lose their jobs every day, our armed forces are experiencing a significant talent drain. Those who know our military best now realize that the ban is not only unjust, but also unproductive.

For reals, for reals. Plus, gays are great for morale. Who doesn't like a little camp in the morning?

You may have heard that Florida Governor Jeb Bush's halted lethal injections after it took two injections and 34 minutes for convicted killer Angel Diaz to bite the big one.

Well, we were just watching a little Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on which Senior Legal Correspondent Jeffrey Toobin (pictured) discussed finding efficient way to execute inmates. He mused that the Diaz case proves: "It's hard to kill someone in a humane way."

That's even better than the fundamentalist rainbow.

As for Jeb Bush - what a guy...

So, remember when Bill Maher told Larry King that he would be outing promiment Republicans on his Friday night show (including Ken Mehlman, whose mention later got axed by CNN's censors)?

Well, it seems Maher got cold feet. Not only did he not follow through, he didn't even mention the Larry King episode.

Of course, people are all about finding a conspiracy in all of this. Some insist the Republican National Committee - from which Mehlman just announced his retirement - pressured Maher to keep a lid on it. 247 Gay reports:

Whether CNN removed the reference and has gone to battle to eliminate all copies of the uncensored video is a result of pressure from the RNC or simply from fear of being sued for slander is in hot debate - with no statement from CNN being issued in regard to their actions.
...
[Many] fans to wonder if [Maher] too had fallen sway to pressure from the RNC or possibly from higher-ups at HBO not to make good on his word. No statement by Maher about the incident has been forthcoming.

Considering that CNN's papa, Ted Turner, donated over $300K to the Demmies this year, it seems the Cable News Network simply wasn't in the mood to get sued for slander. We can't blame them, though. We almost got sued for slander - it's a real inconvenience.

As for Bill Maher - well, he's never been one to bow to political controversy. Thus, we doubt he held his tongue to please the RNC, nor do we think he ran from a possible lawsuit. His bosses at HBO, however, may be a different story. We've been looking for a strong link between HBO officials and the Republican party, but have yet to find any evidence at all. So, we're assuming it's a legal issue, rather than some vast political conspiracy.

If any of you kiddies can dig up some dirt, however, we'll be happy to take a look.

Oh, please, we know you're not doing anything better at work. We also know that you used to pretend to be Nancy Drew.

We wish we didn't care about Anderson Cooper, CNN's over-publicized anchor, but we do, especially when he's pictured with a mysterious friend looking like he really doesn't want to be photographed.

Someone stage an intervention, please.

What's better than a vodka tonic and CNN after work? Sure, there are some other things we can think of, but that was the name of the game last night. We needed a bit of Wolf Blitzer's authoritarian love in the preposterously staged Situation Room. Imagine our chagrin when it wasn't Wolf Blitzer at all, but that douche fill-in John King (whose practiced restraint seems evident in his wrists). But, we digress...

One of the stories that caught our eye focussed on ultra-dreamy politician and potential super hero Barack Obama's trip to his father's homeland of Kenya. A junior senator from Illinois, Obama holds the political eye these days [and can also be seen in the new issue of Men's Vogue]. After being greeted like a rockstar, Obama publicly received an HIV test. Sure, this may be - and should be - common practice for Americans, but in Kenya, where two million people have already died of AIDS, having a Black American male politician not only acknowledge HIV's existence but admit even he is vulnerable is quite a move. Another reason why we love Barack Obama.

If you don't know Barack Obama, you should. And you can, by clicking here.

Update: Here's a full-story on Obama's trip. We were clouded by lust. [The New York Times]

CNN will donate a whopping 100K to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association Scholarship Fund. Our theory: Some top brass at CNN pissed off Anderson Cooper (maybe it’s the new obnoxious “CNN windbreaker” he has to wear) and this is how they appeased him.

The Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship Award is named in the memory of the late Leroy F. Aarons, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and editor and the founder of the NLGJA.

The $5,000 Aarons scholarship will be awarded annually to an LGBT undergraduate or graduate student who plans a career in journalism and is committed to furthering NLGJA's mission of fair and accurate coverage of the LGBT community.

All jokes aside, we applaud CNN for their hefty contribution to a worthy cause. We would apply ourselves but no one would ever consider us “journalists.”

Leon F. Aarons Scholarship Award [NLGJA Official Site]
CNN To Fund Gay Journalism Scholarship [365 Gay]

CNN will donate a whopping 100K to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association Scholarship Fund. Our theory: Some top brass at CNN pissed off Anderson Cooper (maybe it’s the new obnoxious “CNN windbreaker” he has to wear) and this is how they appeased him.

The Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship Award is named in the memory of the late Leroy F. Aarons, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and editor and the founder of the NLGJA.

The $5,000 Aarons scholarship will be awarded annually to an LGBT undergraduate or graduate student who plans a career in journalism and is committed to furthering NLGJA's mission of fair and accurate coverage of the LGBT community.

All jokes aside, we applaud CNN for their hefty contribution to a worthy cause. We would apply ourselves but no one would ever consider us “journalists.”

Leon F. Aarons Scholarship Award [NLGJA Official Site]
CNN To Fund Gay Journalism Scholarship [365 Gay]

• A lover’s quarrel between two gay men turned deadly yesterday when one of the men stopped his car on Manhattan’s George Washington Bridge and dived headfirst into the Hudson. He died shortly after. Via Jordy.

• After speaking about the Thanksgiving meals of troops in Iraq, which includes pies, ice cream, and fruitcakes CNN anchor Rick Sanchez said “do you know the official military policy on fruitcake? ... Don't ask, don't tell!" So not funny.

• When speaking about a Christian woman murdered by a gay man Kathy Valente, state director of Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Illinois, said “equally as tragic as Mary’s death is the death sentence imposed on people who are enslaved in this deadly behavior.” Yes this bitch compared homosexuality to murder. Hateful. You can email her if you want.

• Thanksgiving is two days away. Have you made your turkey nametags yet? Martha Stewart has that and other gay, gay, gay holiday ideas to check out.

• Popmuse’s boyfriend has a new gay food blog. We love gays. We love food. We love Popmuse. So we REALLY love Blog Hungry. Thanks World of Wonder.