After being denied for a Foreign Service officer position inside the State Department in 2001, Lorenzo Taylor will finally get his day in court — to argue Condoleezza Rice & Co. denied him the position because of his HIV-positive status, violating federal law. The case has been dragging on since 2002, when the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund took up Taylor's case and claimed the State Department violated the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits the government from discriminating based on disabilities, including HIV.

State Department officials have acknowledged that Taylor, an Arlington, Va., resident, was highly qualified for a Foreign Service post at the time he applied for a job in 2001. But personnel officials informed him that his HIV-positive status disqualified him for the job under a State Department policy that says people with HIV are ineligible for deployment overseas.

The policy says Foreign Service officers must be capable of serving in certain "hardship" posts in developing countries, where they most likely could not obtain adequate medical care. The policy applies whether or not the individual's actual assignment is to a "hardship post."

Which would make these positions off-limits to anyone in a wheelchair, anyone with vision and hearing loss, and anyone with cancer.

Trial ordered in HIV discrimination suit against Rice [NY Blade]

• Barney Frank has started a catfight with Condoleezza Rice. Our money's on Frank, but we're not ones to totally discount a Ferragamo-wearing, Lauren Green admiring piano player. [The Advocate]

• It isn't looking good for Q Televison. The've shut down production on all shows. That could leave Friends of Queerty Sandra Bernhard and Riechen out of a job. [Out]

• We'll have a great replacement if the plug is officially pulled on Q TV. Bravo is partnering with PlanetOut on a web-based channel. Could Bravo get any gayer? [NY Times]

• More evidence surfaces that Jacob Robida was unstable. He left a note saying he was planning "something violent." [AP via Yahoo]

• There's no reason why Tony Curtis, who dressed in drag in Some Like It Hot and raves about the homo-friendly Harry Potter movies, should not be a fan of Brokeback Mountain. [Contact Music]

• His ex-wife may look like a drag queen but Tommy Lee isn't really into trannies. [Gay Guide Toronto]

Nasty Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky rips into everyone's favorite Bush cronie, Condoleezza Rice, calling a "cruel, offended woman who lacks men's attention." Yeah, you read that right. He called her a carpetmuncher.

He goes on:

The fascistic pol attributed that "coarse anti-Russian statement" to Rice being "a single woman who has no children."

"If she has no man by her side at her age, he will never appear," Zhirinovsky ranted on. "Condoleezza Rice needs a company of soldiers. She needs to be taken to barracks where she would be satisfied.

Maybe that's all Condi needs to add some cheer in her otherwise war-filled life. A little piano-playing foreplay followed by a roll in the hay with a group of soldiers. Female soldiers.

Steamed about Rice, Russian pol unleashes rant [NY Daily News]

"The three principals of To Wong Foo reunite after a decade."
-Michael L. Svoboda

Thanks Michael for a much better caption than Slate.

•So Miers isn't that bad. More than we can say for most Bush appointees.

•We knew they were gay. What we didn’t know was that the Teletubbies are cokeheads. Makes sense. Via Popbitch.

•“Playing dual piano?” Is that Condoleezza’s way of saying, “carpet munching?” We think so.

•Queen has a new lead singer. The thought of replacing our #1 gay in heaven Freddie Mercury did not initially sit well with us. But after listening to Paul Rodgers’ take on "Bohemian Rhapsody" we’re no longer skeptical. He manages to sound himself while honoring Mr. Mercury at the same time.

•Where does Sean Cody find them? Seriously. We need to know. Not safe for work.

•Hell. Where does Michael Lucas find them? Seriously. We need to know. Not safe for work.

Though the homophobes running the federal government took more time than a drag queen prepping her number to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, the gay community is kicking off its stilettos to assist those in need.

Ellen DeGeneres is one of our crowd’s big makers and shakers. The town where she grew up, Pass Christian, Mississippi, no longer exists thanks to Katrina's diva attitude. The lesbian comic says she's been "glued to the television and crying over the hurricane’s devastation."

But she's not just watching the coverage — she's trying to change it. She's turning her daytime talk show into a veritable telethon, asking viewers to donate to the American Red Cross. Her studio, Warner Brothers, will match contributions up to $500,000. And that's on top of its $500,000 initial ante.

While it is the Monday, Sept. 5 installment of her show that will aim to raise funds, Ellen will also host a Katrina telethon on Friday, Sept. 9. It’s a lot more than you can say for Condoleezza Rice, though we hear the secretary of state looks absolutely stunning in her new Ferragamos.