• Tiger Woods cleans up at the PGA, taking home the win and leaving only Jack Nicklaus standing in the way of becoming the world's greatest golf champ. [NYT]

• In Australia, health officials are pleading for more blood donations as supplies have reached a critical "36 hour" mark. Blood banks remain steadfast, however, in refusing to accept blood from gays. [Pink News]

• In New Mexico, the four individuals being held on charges of gay bashing an 18-year-old Edgewood man – to "scare him" straight – have been indicted on hate crime charges. [New Mexican]

• In New York, a judge rules for a Westchester cook who was fired when his employers found out he used to be a woman. The court found transgender people like Eric Buffong are covered under the state's human rights law — and thus Buffong can proceed with his $3 million lawsuit. [AP]

• In backtracking over his comments about American Idol Taylor Hicks, Justin Timberlake puts his foot in his mouth again with speculation Hicks could be gay. [AP]

• Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe isn't fazed by all the gay rumors: "I don't care what people are saying in that regard because it doesn't mean when I get in my car I worry about what's going to happen today or am I being followed. It's not embarrassing." Meanwhile, in that same interview, Thorpe – an Armani ambassador – didn't deny he is gay. [Pink News]

• And finally, in East Hampton comes this Lance Bass and Reichen Lehmkuhl sighting:

Ran into Lance Bass and his boyfriend, Reichen Lehmkuhl, in East Hampton on Saturday, August 19th around 3:15 pm. They were coming out of the Scoop store on Newton Lane. Lance was carrying a bag from the store, where he must have purchased some items. They ran into some other friends 2 girls and a guy across the street who it was obvious they knew. They were giving them directions to a party/event that night, before the two groups went their own way. Reichen looked hot in shorts and a white shirt with Ray Ban aviator glasses, while Lance was wearing jeans and sandals. They looked very happy and relaxed.

• In Kansas, the rainbow flag flying at a local hotel in Meade is the site of vandals. Early Friday morning, a brick was tossed through one of the hotel's windows; it had the word "fag" written on it. A second brick found outside the hotel had "Get the fuck out of town" scrawled on it. [Hutchinson News]

• In Toronto, the 16th International AIDS Conference calls efforts to fight AIDS in Zambia a "success." The conference is also the gathering site between grandmothers in Canada and across Africa, who are coming together to cope with the pandemic. [NYT, NYT]

• In Manhattan, Boy George reports for community service duty. [1010 WINS]

• In Florida, police make an arrest in Ft. Lauderdale in a May sex assault case. A homeless man is accused of drugging, assaulting, and robbing another man he met at a gay bar. [Express Gay News]

• In Estonia, attacks on gay pride revelers in Tallinn, the country's capital, on Saturday surprised both police and participants. The violent attack was led by Estonian skinheads brandishing sticks and throwing stones; they left several people injured — the first time in the city's three year march history that protests turned violent. [Monsters and Critics]

• In Arizona, a superior court judge rebuffs an attempt by gay marriage advocates to block a proposed proposed state constitutional to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. [Advocate]

• In Israel, the skies are quiet — but for how long? [NYT]

• Thursday's WorldPride vigil in Jerusalem's central square – already the focus of much controversy – was hijacked by Lebanon war protestors, who carried their near the gathering. Police had to detain some protesters and intervened to keep them from stampeding over the vigil. [Jerusalem Post]

• Though the organizers of the Gay Games and OutGames have zero intention of coming together for a single sports event, many athletes hope they do; many "missed the unification that one event offers." [Washington Blade]

• Washington D.C.'s Gay Men's Chorus performed the national anthem at Tuesday night's Washington Nationals basketball game — to a standing ovation (though it might've had something to do with the crowd already being on their feet during the "Star Spangled Banner"). [Advocate]

• In New Mexico, more arrests come in the gay bashing case of an 18-year-old. Twenty-one-year-old Leroy Segura and Cecily Gonzales, 16, join two suspects already in custody. [Advocate]

• In Ireland, a gay hotel that was supposed to go up in a small town will now just be a fleeting memory. Promoter Brian Berry had planned on revamping the Carlow hotel but the current owner decided instead to sell it off to a heterosexual couple. [Pink News]

• Though he'll continue to play for Real Madrid, David Beckham won't have a spot on the English national team. While he stepped down from being captain after the World Cub, Beckham isn't being put on the roster by England's new manager Steve McClaren. [CNN]

• Esquire names Sean Preston Federline the "Worst Dressed Man in the World." [Page Six, last item]

This Saturday, August 12, will be the Pride parade in Gloucester, U.K., and among the marchers will be three Iraqi refugees who fled their home country for fear of being murdered. Dr. Haider Jaber, who escaped a brutal gay bashing during which his partner was murdered, fled Iraq two years ago for the U.K., and he will be joined by a former employee of the British embassy in Iraq as well as Ali Hili, organizer of Iraq LGBT, which helps provide information and assistance to gays in London and Baghdad.

Following the parade, Mr. Hili will be replacing featured speaker Peter Tatchell, and will be giving a talk about exactly how bad things are for gays in Iraq, which is sure to be depressing but informative.

Gay Iraqis Set to Take Part in UK Pride [UK Gay News]
Iraq LGBT [Official SIte]
Gloucestershire Rainbow Day Flyer (PDF) [UK Gay News]

• WorldPride 2006 kicks off this weekend in Jerusalem, despite vast efforts to have it shuttered or moved. Organizers prepare for a week of events, depsite the on-going attacks with Lebanon. [Pink News]

• Switching from California to New Mexico, three gay bashing suspects have been arrested and charged with hate crimes in the beating of an 18-year-old gay man. [Advocate]

• As Connecticut's Democratic race for U.S. Senate heats up, incumbent Joe Lieberman has decades of healthy relations with the gay community to back him against challenger Ned Lamont. [INW]

• The annual gay pride/AIDS event aimed at people of color in Queens, New York – Pride in the City – had its five year history put into jeopardy after park services officials tried to limit attendance at 1,500 (it usually reaches 5,000) and ban the live concert, supposedly an effort to curb littering and obstruction to beach goers. After plenty of media attention, the city officials relented somewhat: live music will be allowed, at a distance, but attendance will still be capped at a fraction of what's expected. [NYT]

• South Africa's parliament has until December 2 the Marriage Act, which must permit same-sex marriage, thanks to a Constitutional Court ruling. [IOL]

• Twenty-four-year-old convicted felon James Allen Carroll and two teens (one of which prosecutors may charge as an adult), members of a "loose knit" organization called the "Lowlifes," are the suspects being held in connection with Saturday's San Diego assault on five people leaving a gay pride parade. [San Diego Union Tribune]

• In the UK, a gay Anglican priest – who is already at the center of controversy – celebrated his civil partnership, setting off another furor inside the Church of England. Church rules state priests can declare themselves gay but must remain in a celibate relationship. [Reuters]

• Speaking of religion, a gay priest from Connecticut is on the receiving end of speculation of misuing $1.4 million on church funds to buy, among other things, a Ft. Lauderdale condo and limousine rides. [NYB]

NBC's San Diego affiliate is reporting three men suspected of assaulting five people during San Diego's gay pride parade have been detained for questioning; an unidentified woman has also been queried. There have been no arrests or charges filed, though a sketch of one of the suspects is expected to be available shortly. The victims were attacked with baseball bats after leaving the parade on Saturday night, with one of the victims stabbed; one victim remains in the hospital recovering from a skull fracture.

3 Detained In Connection With Hate-Crime Probe [NBC San Diego]

The violent reaction Latvia's gay pride parade efforts perhaps pale in comparison to the government's official reaction: It's the gays' fault as much as the homophobic protesters. Not only is Interior Minister Dzintars Jaundzeikars saying the melee – instigated by a sanctioned neo-Nazi presence – is is partly the fault of the gay men and women, but now he's saying neither side are the true victims. That superlative goes to the police.

The minister said he was satisfied with the work of the police during July 22 events, as policemen had to endure intense psychological pressure. "In fact, they were the ones who suffered most. They were pelted with eggs and excrements. The pressure was enormous, and it was hard to resist taking sides," the minister said.

So hard to resist, in fact, that the police decided not to take any side — and instead watched the violence take place.

Interior Minister defends handling of gay pride incidents [Baltic Times]
Earlier: Neo-Nazis Corner Gay Activists In Latvia

If you've ready Queerty for any length of time, then certainly you've happened upon our exclusive interview with Ryan Smith, a survivor of an April brutal gay bashing attack in St. Maarten. Since then, Ryan has received plenty of media attention and the effort to prosecute his attackers continues. Among the outlets covering the story is Out magazine, which originally posted an excerpt online from its August issue that generated much feedback – negative feedback – from readers. The excerpt seemed to slant the article's position as sympathetic to the men who attacked Smith and his friends, thanks to paragraphs like this:

On April 12, Time magazine’s Web site ran a story headlined, “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?” It focused on antigay atrocities in Jamaica, and argued that “much of the rest of the Caribbean also has a long history of intense homophobia. Islands like Barbados still criminalize homosexuality, and some seem to be following Jamaica’s more violent example”—a point illustrated only by Jefferson and Smith’s experience in St. Maarten.

Such exaggerations were fueled by a handful of local newspapers. First, a hateful piece in the tiny St. Maarten newspaper Today praised the attack, and mockingly regretted that “Gay bashing is now a no-no.” The island’s largest newspaper, The Daily Herald, condemned the beating but suggested that “if the culprits felt the need to prove their manhood…they at least could have had the guts to fight them fairly, with their bare hands.” But The Daily Herald’s coverage of the attack has been fairly aggressive; a Herald reporter interviewed Smith and Jefferson in the hospital—which is more than can be said for the police.

Regarding the Caribbean more generally, the media’s hasty cries of homophobia were inflated. True, eight Caribbean countries still have antisodomy statutes on the books, but only Cuba and Jamaica have a reputation for enforcing those laws. Furthermore, it’s difficult to argue that island cultures—excepting Jamaica and Haiti—are overwhelmingly homophobic. Caribbean attitudes toward gay people range as widely as attitudes in the southeastern United States. Yet this isolated incident in St. Maarten almost immediately inspired reckless generalizations about the people of that region and ill-conceived threats from some gay leaders itching for vengeance.

In an updated version of its online item, Out decided to publish the entire story to counter readers' claims of sanctioned homophobic violence. And if you give the full article a read through, you might agree that the story isn't skewed against Ryan Smith and the survivors, but against a group of people so complacent with violence against any person, gay or straight. And that's how it should be.

Trouble in Paradise—The Complete Story [Out]
Earlier: Happy Endings: Out Blaming Ryan Smith For His Gay Bashing?
Related: Ryan Smith Speaks
Related: All Ryan Smith coverage

Collin Finnerty's parents must be so proud. Not only is the 19-year-old embroiled in the Duke lacrosse rape scandal but this week he was convicted of a misdemeanor stemming from an anti-gay assault last year. The New Yorker's two day trial ended in a sentence of six months probation. Finnerty was charged with instigating the assault of two gay men at a bar in November, throwing homophobic slurs around while pretending to punch the men. It was Finnerty's two friends who did the actual throwing down, but those two are off the hook thanks to a first-time offenders program.

Finnerty Convicted in Georgetown Assault Case [AP]

• Having wrapped up its annual conference, the National Education Association is still sticking to its talking points: it does not endorse gay marriage. It just wants to. [CNS News]

• It took Out a little while to get around to the Ryan Smith gay bashing story, and now that the magazine finally did, readers are livid the story came so uncomfortably close to blaming Smith for his own attack. [Out]

• Now that New York's highest court has made its decision regarding gay marriage, the question begs: Is that it? [Advocate]

• Forget how you'd feel if Jake Gyllenhaal or Vin Diesel came out. What would it mean to their straight girl fanbase? [After Elton]

• It's not a summer in P-town if Andy Towle isn't there. [Towleroad]

• D.C.'s most narcissistic gay explains the rules for playing Kings when your white ass isn't surround by your frat guy-cum-yacht club member crowd. [VividBlurry]

Indentified only by his nickname "Duracell," the fourth suspect in the St. Maarten gay bashing of CBS employees Ryan Smith and Richard Jefferson has been arrested — after turning himself in. He's accused of beating the two friends with a tire iron that fateful day in April and has been hiding out in St. Martin, the French side of the island.

Duracell's identity hasn't been released In accordance with Dutch law prohibiting suspects to be named before they stand trial. While we await the trial – which could very well be months away – brush up on Ryan Smith's story about the attacks. Especially the part where the legal system is inherently biased against him and Richard already.

St. Maarten arrests main suspect in beating of gay NYC tourists [AP]
Related: Ryan Smith Speaks