• We're not sure what's funnier - the fact that a bird took a shit on President Bush or that ABC News actually used the word "poop".

• HX Media's Boston rag, In Newsweekly., found itself in the papers this week when associate publisher Bill Berggren's criminal past came back to haunt him. It seems Berggren has been arrested for a number of incidents and some questioned his role as leader for Boston's Pride Committee. Rather than cause a stink, Berggren stepped down voluntarily. And Berggren ain't the only one on Innews' stepping down. From Boston's Weekly Dig:

In the last few weeks, their masthead has gotten a lot lighter in its loafers—editor James Lopata has left the building, as have distributor Thomas Kilduff and associate editor Alexander Sliwinski... We hear grumbling in the streets, too, that their freelancers haven’t been paid in eons.

• You know what would help the African continent's millions of AIDS patients? Doctors. Too bad there's a shortage.

• Jenny Bailey can now call herself the United Kingdom's first trannie mayor, thus crushing our life long dreams...

• South African hooker outs celebrities, media refuses to pass names along.

• Mitt Romney doesn't hate gays:

I oppose discrimination against gay people. I am not anti-gay. I know there are some Republicans, or some people in the country who are looking for someone who is anti-gay and that’s not me.

When we posted this morning essentially declaring it open season at Queerty on tips, gossip and gay scandal, we should have known that the first nasty bit of insider filth we'd receive would be from a disgruntled ex-employee of a gay rag we used to work at here in New York. We also shouldn't have been surprised to find that the second "anonymous" tip we were sent was from a former employee of the other mag we used to call hell away from home.

Both messages were filled with all sorts of nastiness and calls for us to "finally tell it like it is" in with all array of accompanying profanity. One e-mail also contained a hilarious attachment of a photo Next Magazine's Associate Publisher would probably rather forget, and after a little prying we were able to get our hands on an equally hilarious photo of the office of HX's Editor-in-Chief Brandon Voss (who's not even in the photo—though he'd probably just as soon not have HX Magazine's readers aware of his Paris Hilton obsession). We figured why bother with profanity when a picture says so much more?

Both photos after the jump!

CONTINUED »

Staffers at Next - New York's so-called "hippest gay guide" - have been hard at work revamping the weekly fag-rag's image. Two months after Gregory Angelo's ouster as EIC, new editorial team Justin Ocean and Benjamin Solomon are unveiling creative director Topher Ellsworth's new designs, fresh with new logo and all. To mark the occasion, they've sent out one of their patented press releases. Yippee!

Read all about it, after the jump.

CONTINUED »

• British passport authorities refused four-month old Eden Lurie's picture because her hair was deemed "too spiky". To curb the problem, the gave her a digital trim. How thoughtful.

• Meanwhile, another set of British passport authorities have admitted to issuing nine passports to al Qaeda operative, Dhiren Barot. Not only did Barot want to set off a dirty bomb, he also had big dreams of blowing up parking garages with gasoline packed limos. What a chap.

• Another teacher falls prey to anti-gay assaults on free speech. Amy Sorrell of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been suspended with pay after she allowed students to print a controversial op-ed that included such horrid homo propaganda as: "I can only imagine how hard it would be to come out as homosexual in today’s society. I think it is so wrong to look down on those people, or to make fun of them, just because they have a different sexuality than you."

• Police have finally found the body of Dr Joaquin Leal Bermudez. The Spanish hematologist went missing in Norway back in January. Police soon arrested a suspect found driving Bermudez's blood stained car, but he ain't talking.

• The Russian Orthodox Church still isn't down with gays. The deputy Patriarchate of Moscow says, "The authorities should be acting depending on public opinion which I find quite clear - open propaganda of a gay way of life is rejected by our public, arousing protests and antagonism."

• If Andy Warhol were still alive, he'd be a rich motherfucker. One of the artist's famous Marilyn's (the "Lemon Marilyn", to be specific) may be auctioned for $15 million. It's current owner bought it for $250. Shit, we need to start buying more art...

• Current Swedish law requires all transsexuals be sterilized. Now lawmakers are debating whether to let them freeze their eggs and sperm. Hooray!

• From a reader: "[HX Media owned] In Newsweekly in Boston has informed all of their freelance writers that they will not be paying them for pieces that have already been written and published in the paper. At least one writer immediately removed their column from the paper. They also dumped Q Syndicate which is where they used to get a ton of their freelance material." Note to young homo-journos: look elsewhere for work.

We're surprised HX Media has any employees left to fire. They just canned long-time expo producer, Steven Levenberg and gave four other employees the pink slip at the beginning of the year.

Now we hear that Matthew Bank has yet again sacked three more underlings: online editor Martyn Dunn, advertising director Brandon Schultz and graphic designer Christian Jensen. For those of you keeping count, that's eight this year. So, what the hell's going on over there? We don't know, but it can't be good.

What is good, however, is this week's interview between assistant editor Mark Peikert and Wilson Cruz, in which Cruz gabs about his role opposite Debbie Deborah Gibson in the new movie, Coffee Date. We won't give away what went down, but we will congratulate Peikert for having the best interview opener ever:

HX: I have to apologize because I’m sick and will be hacking in your ear.
Wilson Cruz: Babe, we’re gonna be hacking together, because I’m getting over a cold, too.

(Note: We erroneously credited Ryan Doyle with the Cruz interview. It was actually Mark Peikert who hacked it up. Sorry, Mark. We love you.)

Less than a month since axing the majority of their sale's staff, HX Media's at it again, this time trimming down their Expo Division.

In case you're not in the gay media mix, the Expo Division used to be Consolidated Management Associates - a name that got scrapped once HX Media merged with gay publishing giant, Window Media. Regardless of title, the division has spent the last nine years organizing the freaktastic Gay Life Expo and the pervtastic Gay Erotic Expo.

What's more notable about this case is the fact that HX Founder Matthew Bank fired a man named Steven Levenberg: a nice Jewish boy who's spent the last nine years toiling for Matthew Bank and his bank account.

CONTINUED »

Just over a month since announcing his departure as HX Magazine's editor to pursue freelance work (read: alternating schedule of ass-picking and masturbating), Tray Butler's announced another big change: he's moving to Atlanta. That's right, the adorable homo-journo's packing up and heading down south. What prompted this merry migration? Well, apparently Butler's tagging along while his long-time boyfriend takes up a new actual job. Sucker.

Via his blog, Butler justifies his geographical relocation:

The timing fits with my current situation; as a freelancer, I can basically live anywhere so long as I have broadband. I also welcome the chance to fling myself deeper into personal writing back in Georgia, the setting of the book I've been sweating these past several months.

We've gotten a look at the manuscript and let's just say Butler's obviously done some serious investigative work. And when we say "investigative work", we mean "the nasty". And when we say "the nasty", we mean "butt sex".

We'll miss you, Mr. Butler. Not as much as we miss Models, Inc, but you're definitely up their with Shrinky Dinks and our integrity.

We've just received word that the entire sales team have been unceremoniously fired, save one leading employee. That's right: HX Media - publishers The New York Blade and HX Magazine - just hemorrhaged a gaggle of homos into the cruel, harsh world. One sources claims five fagalas got the ax, while another insists it's only four. Regardless, it's not the best way to start the New Year...

We have no conclusive evidence as to what prompted the blood-letting, but we've been hearing rumors of sagging numbers. Our sources also tell us that publisher Gary Lacinski and founder Matthew Bank were in the process of changing the pay structure: rather than paying the staffers a salary plus commission, they intended on just paying commission. Sneaky...

Upon hearing of the plan yesterday, one now-former employee apparently threatened a lawsuit. Needless to say, this didn't sit well, especially considering Bank and his cronies are already fighting another legal battle.

The same source also wondered if the company will be relying solely on Rivendell Media: the so-called leader in gay media ad placement. They two companies have long worked together. By using Rivendell's employees, Bank stands to save thousands of dollars on salary...

Another source speculates that the company's stretched itself too thin, what with last year's NY Blade buy, their new film festival, the founding of HX Philadephia and November's consumption of Boston's Innews Weekly. Is it possible that major shareholder Window Media and their gobs of money can't keep the company afloat?

We don't know, but we definitely intend to find out.

Wow. We can't believe the kids over at HX still talk us. We've given them some pretty nasty lip over the past few months. We made light of their financially-motivated love affair with Michael Lucas. We took the piss out of that whole anniversary party fist fight. And we undoubtedly had a laugh at new editor Brandon Voss' expense. Yet, they still named us as one of their favorite 800 things of the year. Why so many favorites? They're celebrating their 800th issue, of course.

Not only are we one of their top 800 faves, we're actually in the top 100: 59, to be exact - sandwiched between New York's Leslie/Lohman Art Gallery, but above Perez Hilton. Here's what they had to say:

Good thing we can take a little razzing, cuz Queerty.com editor Andrew Belonsky sure dished it out this year! Taking a breather from the bitchery, the former HX peon told us that his favorite “outing” story of ’06 was actually Pluto’s being exposed as a dwarf planet. “I’ve never felt more deceived in my life,” he says.

As for the "former HX peon" bit, just ask Mr. Voss about his career trajectory.

So, who else is on the list? Well, our friends over at Gayz of Our Lives, 114 minutes of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct 2 and Peter Berlin, to name a few.

This story actually broke last week, but it didn't show up on our gaydar. Good thing HX Magazine's founder Matthew Bank chatted us up at outgoing EIC Tray Butler's going away party Friday or we would have missed it entirely.

It seems a former go-go boy is suing HX Magazine, Next Magazine and Splash Bar (aka Hell on Earth) for an ad that calls him a porn star. Manuel Alex Saez danced for Splash and agreed to appear in an ad. Little did he know that the ad, promoting one the decidely seedy bar's many themed nights, would label him "Big City Video star porn star Alex." Saez's lawyer clarifies, "In fact, he is merely a dancer and entertainer." Um, right. While we're sure he's got a sparkling personality, it seems to us that it's his penis that deserves the credit. But, opinions are like assholes. And, really, so are we...

A student in the Bronx, Saez also worked at a "popular youth-oriented clothing store". That is, of course, until all his co-workers thought he fellated on film, mocking him with "gossip and innuendo" which led to his eventual dismissal. Now he wants 1.25 million bones as compensation. By our calculations, he would have to gyrate in front of at least 1 million men to make that kind of money. At an average of 6 gyrations a second, that would take him approproximately 5,000 years. A lawsuit's far more efficient.

While we love a good go-go scandal, we have a bit of a story in a story. Matthew Bank told us that both New York Post and New York Daily News reported on the lawsuit, but the Post neglected to name Next Magazine. Of course, Bank doesn't mind that. He smiled smuggly, "I'm glad they think we're that big." You sure are, Mr. Bank. You sure are...

Speaking of things that are gay, we've just heard that HX Magazine's features editor Brandon Voss (pictured with a mere fraction of his men) will be taking over for departing EIC Tray Butler.

You may remember Butler announced his departure from the weekly fag-rag last week to complete his novel, Butt Boys and The Boys Who Love Their Butts.

Of the move, New Orleans native and Tulane educated Voss has this to say:

“For me, HX has always epitomized everything that’s great about being gay, and I’m thrilled to put my passion for nightlife and pop culture to good use in elevating the magazine to the next level. I plan to further increase the national presence and reputation of the HX brand, and I look forward to helping launch and foster other HX publications throughout the country.

As for bettering HX's reputation - consider another of his quotes from the press release, "Since I begin [sic] traveling to New York as a teenager, the first thing I’d do when I got off the plane was pick up an HX." Yeah, that about sums it up.

With Voss moving on up, young homo-journo Mark Peikert's been promoted to assistant editor, while Queerty contributor Ryan Doyle will take Peikert's seat.

Congratulations to all you boys! Let's hope you survive long enough to take advantage of HX's brawl-prone parties.

CONTINUED »

Friday marked the one-year anniversary of former New York Blade editor Tray Butler's reign as editor of HX Magazine. To mark the occasion, Butler celebrated in the only way he could: he quit.

After HX Magazine and Window Media partnered last year, thus bringing The Blade and HX under one happy homo-journo roof, Butler (pictured looking adorable with Lady Bunny) switched positions with Trenton Straube. Though Butler will continue freelancing for HX, he's decided to devote more energy to finishing his novel.

We emailed Mr. Butler for a statement, but he's yet to get back to us. We did, however, come across this statement from his blog:

While traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a sort of epiphany reiterating what I've known for a couple of months, that it's time for me to move on...

Why leave now? That's a harder one to answer, but part of it has to do with the inherent cycle of working for a weekly publication. Once you've been around the merry go round once, you start to know what's coming next. If not, you haven't been paying attention...

I'm going back to full-time freelancing: not only writing, but getting my illustrations out there more. I plan to finally finish a book I've had in the works for almost a year now.
At first glance, 2007 looks to be nothing like the last two years of my life, which is a vaguely terrifying — but also exhilarating — feeling.

While a new editor's yet to be named, there's definitely one major contender: features editor Brandon Voss. God help us all.