Gavin Newsom loves controversy. The San Francisco mayor - who just left rehab after admitting to fucking his campaign manager's wife - got a little fresh after a reporter asked him about Laguna Honda Hospital. The hospital's currently under investigation after failing to report - and, in fact, denying - an elderly patient's fatal fall.

ABC's Dan Noyes met up with Newsom yesterday, but Newsom was in no mood to chat:

GN: Happy to take any questions you guys have.
DN: Mayor, I'm reporting-
GN: From any reporters.
DN: How about me, mayor?
GN: Thank you very much.
DN: I'm reporting-
GN: Thank you guys very much, appreciate it.
DN: Mayor, come on, you're kidding me, right?

Not very friendly, but not surprising - politicians often ignore reporter's questions. But we can't help but wonder why Newsom - a straight man - would jokingly go down on the microphone. Maybe it's all that gay activism.

Investigation Into Second Laguna Honda Death [KGO-TV]
The Invisible Reporter [KGO-TV Blog]

In non Ann Coulter-related news, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's office responsed to conservative outcry over the city's one-off "Colt Studio Day" by saying they'll be more mindful of their celebratory declarations.

Of the porntastic proclamation, Bill O'Reilly said,

There is not another city in the country that has ever had a 'gay porn day. And you wonder why your city is looked upon as a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah?

The mayor's office insists that Newsom makes over 2,000 similar announcements every year and that sometimes the specifics get lost in the shuffle. Though Newsom's spokesman Nathan Ballard didn't say they were wrong to honor Colt, he did say:

If there are any questions about proclamations, they will be reviewed. There's just going to be a stricter review process from now on. The mayor is concerned about it. And we've changed the policy to reflect that.

He failed to say how they were going to change the policy, but one hopes that Newsom will read before he signs.

State assemblyman and known homosexual Mark Leno also signed the official announcement, but certainly doesn't think the city should be apologizing to O'Reilly and his ilk:

The owners of the studio are taxpaying, law-abiding San Francisco employers who promote safe sex. With a war out of control and the planet's temperature rising, I would have hoped Bill O'Reilly had more pressing issues to discuss.

Oooo, bitchy!

For their part, Colt insists they're just "a classy company". We suppose it's all relative.

San Francisco's long been a homo-hub. No surprise, then, that gay porn-centric Colt Studio has used the hilly sea-side city as its HQ for forty years, churning out such hits as Waterbucks 2 and Buckaroos.

In honor of the company's geographical camaraderie, Mayor Gavin Newsom and two other city officials proclaimed last Friday "Colt Studio Day". Conservatives, meanwhile, took aim at the liberal lad. Reverend Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition said:

San Francisco has proven yet again why they remain the mocked city of the country. No other major city in the nation has gone so far as to blatantly glorify a homosexual porn producer and company.

Hmm, we had no idea SF's the most mocked city in America. We thought that was Gary, Indiana.

Not one to miss a good finger-wagging, Bill O'Reilly mused:

There is not another city in the country that has ever had a 'gay porn day. And you wonder why your city is looked upon as a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah?

Sounds like he's been trading notes with Sheldon because, again, we were unaware of this reputation. We must be reading different bathroom walls.

• Janice Dickinson on Survivor contestant turned model JP Calderon's coming out: "I just wanted to tell you how fucking proud I am of you. Coming out yesterday must be really hard, and then being on the cover of a national magazine the next day?"

• Gavin Newsom on getting it on with former campaign manager, Alex Tourk's wife, Ruby: "I want to make it clear that everything you've read is true and I'm deeply sorry about that...I hurt someone I care deeply about, Alex Tourk and his family and friends, and that is something I'm deeply sad about and sorry for".

• Editor and Publisher on FBI agent Deborah Bond's testimony on Scooter Libby's knowledge on Valerie Plame: "[Bond] described the bureau's interview with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on Oct. 14, 2003. Asked where he first learned of Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, he had told the FBI then -- from the vice president, on or about June 12 that year, in a telephone conversation".

• Morvin Crumlish on computer generated "recommendations": "I find the idea of my bodily functions and sexuality being obsessed about by marketing professionals disturbing, but perhaps my biggest concern is that they are right".

• The Jewish Theological Seminary's study's on conservative Jew's increasingly accepting feelings on gay rabbis: "the decisions clearly raise the possibility among many that the Conservative movement has taken a move to the theological Left, further parting company from the Orthodox, and further approaching the Reform movement".

• Jennifer Hudson on being on American Idol: "...You go through this mental thing... You've been abused, misled and brainwashed to believe whatever they want you to think...I knew I had to sing my way out of it".

Gavin Newsom first caught the national eye back in 2004, when the young San Francisco mayor order city clerks to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Though the nearly 4,000 contracts would later be invalidated by the California Supreme Court, young Newsom became a gay rights icon - and, perhaps, a martyr.

In Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, Newsom sat down to talk to Adam Reuters: Reuters News Agency's special "Second Life" correspondent - you know Second Life: that weird Linden Lab-created virtual world that turns everyone into Sims characters... No matter, Newsom says that the gay-nup move may have hindered his own political growth and at least one Democratic presidential hopeful's not making it any easier:

I’ve basically written myself off of any prospects of running for any different office, and I certainly won’t be appointed by any administration or special councils because I’m a time bomb and too controversial. And I’m not just saying for Republicans.

One of the three Democrats you mentioned as presidential candidates [Obama, Clinton, Gore] God as my witness, will not be photographed with me, will not be in the same room as me, even though I’ve done fundraisers for that particular person not once but twice, because of this issue.

Damn, politicians can be some cold bitches!

And, of course, Reuters can't help but ask Newsom his opinion on VP Dickie Cheney's reaction to poor Wolfie Blitzer's questions about preggers lesbian daughter, Mary:

The Vice President of the United States has a daughter who happens to be in love with another woman, and happens to want to raise a family. Those are fundamental questions that are being debated across this country... Wolf Blitzer was right to ask and Dick Cheney was wrong not to have the dignity to respond in a human way, and the dignity to respond in kind why he continues to advance discriminatory policies that are hurting, not uniting this country.

Dignity? Dick Cheney? Oh, Newsom, you're such a cut up!

Wow. Just over two weeks into 2007 and already the nation has a story around which (almost) everyone can rally. By now you’ve heard the distressing story of Yale’s Baker’s Dozen: the aurally-inclined boys who marked the New Year by getting the tar beat out of them by a bunch of San Francisco thugs. In case you’ve missed it, the boys were in town performing one of their famed concerts. At a party later in the night, they decided to get a sassy with an a cappella version of the beloved patriotic anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”. It’s at this point that what would have otherwise would have been a night of celebration sparked what would become a news explosion - or, rather, ejaculation...

[Read On ...]

Reasons to love San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom: Let us count the ways.

1. He is super-hot.

2. He approved illegal gay marriages in San Francisco that gave us a small glimmer of hope, if only for a couple weeks.

3. He always has a nice tan.

4. He rips the Democratic establishment a new one in his recent interview with Rolling Stone. A sample:

Not every Democrat in Washington agrees with gay marriage. But I will make the case — based on some strong evidence — that an overwhelming majority do. But they just can’t say it. And that is a limitation that is causing more damage than the issue. Because, again, it shows a weakness of character.

Amen to that.

NATIONAL AFFAIRS EXCLUSIVE: Mayor Gavin Newsom on Gay Marriage [Rolling Stone via Pam's House Blend]

Yesterday we brought you the gayest music of the past year. This time we answer the question "What straights were So Gay in 2005?" Here are our picks. We’re going to refrain from making any Kenny Chesney jokes. Oops, too late!

5. Martha Stewart. The persnickety domestic goddess we all secretly want to be more like had a rollercoaster year. After being locked up with a bunch of female prisoners (we just know she had a bitch of her own behind bars), she busted out bigger than ever. Sure her short-lived version of The Apprentice had a lame catchphrase, but we still watched every week.

4. Sharon Stone. Out magazine slapped her on its list of the 100 most noteworthy gay and straight allies for the year. But it wasn’t her short dykey ‘do that got her on that list or ours. It's her love for The Gays. She’s been a strong supporter of both gay rights and AIDS research as the Chair of amfAR. Next up for Ms. Stone: reprising her role as bi femme fatale in Basic Instinct 2. We can’t wait.

3. Gavin Newsom. We know that it was last year that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom allowed gays to marry in his city, but he makes our 2005 list because he continues to be an incredibly outspoken proponent of gay rights. Just this month he pulled out as honorary co-chairman of a benefit for a Tennesse congressman who voted in favor of a ban on same-sex marriage. Take that right wingers.

2. Kanye West. This year superstar Kanye West had the balls to stand up against homophobic lyrics in hip hop. Not something that happens often (if at all) in the music world, where artists like Eminem take cheap shots at the gay community as often as they can. Not only did he not lose any cred, he gained a hell of a lot more respect from everyone, mostly from us gays.

Our number one het for 2005 after the jump.

[Read On ...]