Human Rights Campaign held their 10th Annual National Dinner last night featuring the biggest names in gay activism, ie: Reichen and Lance Bass, pictured here with HRC President, Joe Solmonese.

Huge, right? We'd go on about how we think HRC's really not that great, or about how coming out's the best thing that could have ever happened to Bass, or the suspicious timing all of this has to Reichen's upcoming book, but we won't. We trust you're all smart enough to draw your own conclusions.

We've pasted the entire press release and a selection of pictures after the jump.

[Read On ...]

• With the exception or perhaps the New York Times, every publication here in New York is doing a "gay issue" in honor of gay pride. But so far, it's only the Village Voice's edition that got our attention. [VV]

• In other (rather upsetting) media news, local Pennsylvania paper The Morning Call banned columnist Frank Whelan after he appeared as grand marshall of a gay pride parade. The paper's editor claimed Whelan's stint showed his support of gay marriage — and we thought columnists were free to be subjective. [Express-Times]

• A gay cowboy at a nude beach? Who cares if the Human Rights Campaign wasn't behind it — they got some great, ahem, exposure. [BlogActive]

• Holla at our kid sister blog MollyGood, which just landed in the pages of Star magazine. Because just like us, Molly measures her self-worth by press mentions. [MollyGood]

• What is pride to you? [NYC LGBT Center]

• MySpace will no longer let anyone over the age of 18 contact a minor — though it has no way of verifying anyone's age. So 40-year-old daddies looking for 16-year-old twinks need only like about their age, except this time they'll need to say 17 instead of 30. [AdAge]

• Lesbians and gays in the Philippines plan to register their own political party in the next federal elections. Among the biggest supporters of the LGBT party are several hairdressing associations, and various artists, entertainers, and others in typical homosexual professions are onboard as well. Maybe if gays in the U.S. formed our own political party, we wouldn't have to rely on the Democrats to pretend they care about us. We bet the Aveda Academy would totally throw in some free conditioner for the party spokespeople. [Asian Journal]

• Former Boyzone member Stephen Gately gay-married his partner in the UK on Sunday. Elton John was supposed to attend the ceremony but then cancelled. Perhaps Stephen's party threatened to be even more fabulous than Sir Elton's, or not fabulous enough. [PinkNews]

• India may not have yet decriminalized homosexual intercourse, but the first gay community organization has been formed in the city of Chennai. The organization, called the Men Community Development Society (not the catchiest of names) aims to build community among homos for the good of society. Says one member, "I came here and was astonished to find a lot of people with whom I can identify myself. Then I came to know about condoms and the truth about HIV/AIDS." We hope the MCDS helps everyone else in India "come to know about condoms" as well. Yikes. [New Kerala]

• Elton John will not be appearing at any civil unions in Australia anytime soon. A doomed-from-the-start bill to legalize gay unions in the Australian state of Victoria was officially killed today by Premier Steve Bracks. Australian Prime Minister John Howard also remains thoroughly opposed to the idea. We think these politicians need to rewatch Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. [GayNZ.com]

• New head of the Human Rights Campaign Joe Solmonese talks and talks in a way-too-long interview with the Washington Blade. If you have always wondered what the HRC actually does, Mr. Solmonese endeavours to explain it in painstaking detail, but don't say we didn't warn you when you blow your whole lunch break trying to make sense of it all. [Washington Blade]

Marc Jacobs is a wonderful role model for The Gays. Unless of course you remember he smokes (which we definitely don’t approve of) and that he has dated hookers (which, heck, we say ‘go girl’). But seriously Mr. Jacobs is a rare breed. We absolutely adore him.

One reason we love him so is his ability to bring fashion down a few levels. Yes we know we cannot afford a LV tennis bag anytime soon, but we can afford a $20 wallet at his Bleeker street store. His products range from very low end to very high end. Everyone can find something in between.

We also love his political voice. He has for years now created amazing lines of t-shirts, with affordable price tags, for various beneficiaries: Harvey Milk High, Hillary Clinton, Downtown For Democracy, and most recently The Door featuring the face of the one and only Lil’ Kim. We have all of them.

Now MJ is teaming up with the HRC to create a $38 shirt that is the “perfect tee for the activist, fashionista and lover in you.” All proceeds go to the HRC, America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. We want the tee in every color and love it so much that we almost interrupted and thanked Robert Duffy, Marc’s longtime business partner, while we all dined at Paris Commune the other night. But we were sober so we left him alone.

Marc Jacobs Hearts HRC Tee [HRC]

• As if we needed confirmation, there's photographic evidence of the intellectual superiority of homophobes. Oh, wait, did we say "superiority?" [Towleroad]

• It looks as if Madonna will tour this summer. Prepare yourself for a concert stage full of disco balls, pink leotards, and roller skates. And $300 tickets. [Billboard]

• The HRC has come out with its list of "Best Places to Work" for the GLBT community. This is your opportunity to find out if your office truly is tolerant. [HRC]

• It's no AIDS vaccine, but tenofovir PrEp does sound encouraging. Even with that long and unpronounceable name. [NY Times]

• Time magazine has finally discovered an obscure little film called Brokeback Mountain. The movie gets a lengthy profile in its new issue. [Time]

A couple of days ago we reported on a Ford’s announcement regarding their decision to pull advertising for their Jaguar and Range Rover brands from GLBT publication.

Well, the gays won.

It seems that all it took was a nice little sit down with some of the folks at the HRC and several other organizations. Ford has decided to put its decision in reverse. The best part:

As a result we have decided to run corporate ads in these targeted publications that will include NOT ONLY (emphasis ours) Jaguar/Land Rover but all eight of Ford’s vehicle brands.

Translation: homos have way more money than those uppity right-wingers and Ford knows it. Now go out and buy yourself a Jag for Christmas.

Ford to Advertise Jaguar, Land Rover in Gay Publications [Reuters]

The HRC has announced that they and seventeen other GLBT groups had a two-hour meeting Monday at a Washington hotel. From what we’re culling from various sources, the HRC has given Ford a day to reverse its decision to not advertise in gay magazines (not a smart move by a company that needs all the business it can get).

HRC Pres., Joe Solomonese says that in the meeting, Ford was asked to put out a “very strong statement.” Translation: Put back your ads in our magazines or we’ll stop buying your Jags and Range Rovers, which, based on our informal WeHo survey, we’ve surmised gays make up at least a fifty percent market share.

That's something we've asked all of you car-shoppers to do already.

Gay Groups Ask Ford to Reinstate Ads [MSN]

• The musical The Gay Life has been renamed The High Life and is being revived in NYC. The word “gay” apparently means something entirely different now then it did when the play originally appeared in 1961. Loving show tunes however means the same thing: you are a big, nelly, homo.

• London’s founder of the gay alternative scene has died. Simon Hobart was responsible for Popstarz, Ghetto, and Trash Palace.

• The HRC’s "Tom, the Token Gay Friend" ads are very gay. And as Rob Thurman points outs “gay (as in jolly, handsome and attractive) rather than gay (as in judgmental, humorlessly and sour).”

• The NO/AIDS Walk was cancelled due to Hurricane Katrina this year. The NO/AIDS Task Force is now doing a Virtual Walk, with all the fun of fundraising without the sweat and blisters. Help them out if you can.

• Gay characters are emerging on film as cops, athletes, and cowboys. And no, it’s not a film about the Village People.

•Open House New York is next weekend. OHNY is “America's largest celebration of architecture and design." Over 150 spaces, homes, and buildings will be open to the public, free of charge. A must for any design and architecture fanatic.

•Scott Poulson-Bryant’s new book HUNG will be released next month. To celebrate the author is giving away autographed copies to readers who write about the biggest dicks they have ever seen. We know you all have something to say.

•Last night’s live Will & Grace was, go figure, funny. The Malcontent has some clips to watch.

• The HRC and Rocco have turned 25. For some reason we thought both were much older.

•We don’t have a dog, but we still want this dog bed found via Cool Hunting.

•Arjan has a link to Andy Bell's new video for the first single "Crazy" from his debut solo album. The video is in fact not low budget. It was shot by Al and Al, a British art duo whose work just looks cheap.

•America's Next Top Model debuts tonight. We have our money on 21 year old New York student Kim. She reminds us that the cutest boys in San Francisco are the lesbians.

•A sign that perhaps Madge is in for two flops in a row: she and Guy are booed in London.

•Apple, Best Buy, Nike, Kraft, and Pepsi are among 101 corporations with perfect scores on "gay"-friendliness, according to a new ranking by the HRC.

•Kelly Osbourne loves to hang out in gay bars. Of course she does. All drag queens trapped in fag hag bodies do.

•What bloggers look like.