It's Friday, reader. You know what that means - it's Queerty ReBUTTal time! Yay!

You guys did super with the comments. Really. Just super - lisp and all. While we have plenty of thoughts on your thoughts on our thoughts, we're switching it up these week. As you're well aware, we've just kicked off The Style Issue.

Before things go too far, however, we'd like to have a brief look back on some of our other issues and some of the bits that didn't make it. Take a look at some unpublished excerpts, after the jump.

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Sanjaya Malakar may be one of the most puzzling cultural icons in recent memory. Why did so many people vote for someone everyone agreed blew? Where does a 17-year old kid get the gumption to sport a pony-hawk? What does his contradictory success mean for the "merit" of American Idol? (And, yes, the show does have merit, evidenced most readily by Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson.) In Gayville, our terrain, many have speculated about whether the young "singer" qualifies as queer. Such Idol speculation's nothing new - just look at Clay Aiken and lawsuit plagued Mario Vazquez.

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• The Fag Rag Wars continue. Genre editor Chris Ciompi sent us this link to his rag's interview with Rose McGowan. He also sent us a link to Out's so-called "exclusive" with the same actress. Oh, yeah, and he wanted us to remind you about that whole Johnny Knoxville scandal. Stir that shit, child, stir that shit.

• But, let's not forget Michael Musto ripping Ciompi a new one on BBC. Ooo, girl, those claws are sharp!

• Speaking of reaming - The Independent thinks American attitudes about outing are childish. In our defense, we are only 231 years old.

• Turkish gays, meanwhile, are coming into their own.

• Wikipedia's WikiProject LGBT Studies, on the other hand, needs a little help from you. Head on over and tell them what you'd like to know more about. Everyone wins!

• And, on the subject of winning... Okay, well, not really, but there are more American gay teams than ever before. Three cheers for the queers!

• Does CNN have a monopoly on all the hot journos? Weatherman Rob Marciano's heating things up. Seriously, he's on fire. And now so are we...

In her groundbreaking and certainly still relevant book, Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick asserts, “The closet is the defining structure for gay oppression in this century". The closet - out or in - it's always there, hovering like a socially-constructed apparition. Out's May issue wonders if, like an actual apparition, the closet can seen through. That is, can it be made of glass, rather than wood, brick or reinforced steel?

Michael Musto's cover essay, "The Glass Closet", sheds some light on - or, rather, through - this underreported, yet not entirely new, phenomenon:

The glass closet is nothing new in Hollywood. Back in the 1920s and '30s, leading man William Haines was gay in everything except magazine interviews...In the '70s performers like Paul Lynde and post-Liza Peter Allen similarly went as far as seemed possible...And today, the press still gives a free pass to people like Good Morning America weather anchor Sam Champion and CNN presence Anderson Cooper, helping to keep their glass doors shut so they can lead gay social lives while carefully skirting the issue.

Musto concludes with disdain, insisting it's better to be completely out than sorta-kinda out, like Mr. Cooper

Musto may be a bit irked to read, then, that the Coop's number two rank on Out's surely controverial compilation: The 50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America. The homo-journo's squeezed right between David Geffen and Ellen Degeneres. The list also includes the likes of filmmaker Chi Chi LaRue (36), designer Tom Ford (23) and director Bryan Singer (32). A bit of a queer mix, certainly, but by no means an accident. Out EIC Hicklin explains his editorial philosophy:

We expect some flak for daring to create a list like this. But it’s a mark of real progress that the vast majority of men and women who made our Power 50 have attained their positions without feeling the need to hide their sexuality to do so.

We took the task very seriously. We wanted the list to reflect, as accurately as possible, the standing of the people on it.

One can't feel bad for the so called New York Times gay mafia: Richard Berke, Ben Brantley, Frank Bruni, Stuart Elliot, Adam Nagourney, Stefano Tonchi, and Eric Wilson. They all got clumped together in the stinky number 7 slot. You'd better watch out, Out.

Out Ranks the Top 50 Gays; Anderson Is No. 2 [New York]

Tongues are still wagging over the Ryan Seacrest/Simon Cowell closet outing thing on Tuesday's episode of Fox's American Idol. Last night, everyone's favorite MSNBC newsman, the ever-lovable Keith Olbermann (who, we have to admit, is only our favorite MSNBC newsman because his is the only show on MSNBC we bother to watch) hosted everyone's favorite Village Voice homo-journo, Michael Musto, to discuss the altercation.

Ever eloquent, Musto described the scene thus, "This was the gayest TV since Anderson Cooper introduced Thomas Roberts the other night." Olbermann laughed, "I'm sorry, I don't know if if I can get over the analogy there - I don't think I can." Oh, Olbermann, you're such a cut-up.

This morning, the eternally creepy Don Imus apparently played the Musto/Olbermann exchange, which spurred producer Bernard McGuirck to reply, "He dragged Anderson Cooper into the bath house so to speak..." Easily confused, Imus later asked CNN's Lou Dobbs if Cooper's a gaywad. Equally confused - or uncharacteristically tight-lipped, Dobbs said, "Uh, I have no idea..." Note it wasn't a flat out "no."

(PS: Follow this link to virtual matter for video of Musto on Olbermann on Seacrest.)

It's a Human Rights Campaign explosion up in here. Sorry to overload your morning, but we couldn't resist posting this picture of the Heatherette Boys, the venerable Amanda Lepore and HRC president Joe Solmonese. A photog snapped it at the non-profit's NYC gala dinner - a cousin of the Philly gala dinner at which John Amaechi will be appearing.

Question: how many fucking gala dinner's can one organization have? Oh, right, they're "the largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality". We forgot.

Heatherette designers Richie Rich and Traver Rains were there celebrating their "Heatherette Hearts HRC" t-shirt collabo of which Rich says:

Traver and I obviously would not be where we are today without the inspiration and support of our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender friends and customers. Heatherette has always been about equality — we’ve never geared our collection to one demographic.

Well, no, we suppose not, but one must admit that chaps may not be the biggest hit in Kansas. Oh, wait...

Back to the picture: it's not quite as iconic as the Perez Hilton, Joan Rivers, Michael Musto trifecta, but there must be a word for it. It's on the tip of our tongues, but we can't quite figure it out. So, reader, why don't you give us a hand. Or, rather, word. (We'll also accept a phrase - we can't stop thinking about Sesame Street, if you know what we mean.)

More pics after the jump...

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Another week, another barrage of comments from you, our most favoritest of readers. We're still reeling from that last post, so we'll keep this brief.

After the jump, see what we had to say about what some of you had to say about what we had to say earlier in the week. Phew, we're spent!

Have a good weekend, sexy beasts. Grrrr..

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Our straight friend showed us this video of his straight friends, Ginger and Fat Jew (collectively known as Team Facelift) interviewing Queen of The Youth Issue and Mistress of the Night, Michael Musto.

We know you guys love everything Musto-related, so we thought we'd pass it along. The boys cover a lot of ground in 57 seconds, including Musto's take on the age old question: "Who's cooler: blacks or gays?"

Hordes of media whores turned out last night to celebrate the release of Michael Musto's new collection, La Dolce Musto. We were meant to attend the Rosie Perez/Perez Hilton hosted party (Why them? Some publicist probably thought the whole Perez thing clever), but we decided to lay low. Okay, okay, we've got no less than five restraining orders and couldn't get within 100 feet.

We did, however, come across this picture of Hilton, Ms. Joan Rivers and the guest of honor and can't help but wonder: "Where's the fourth horseman?"

(It's worth mentioning that WireImage listed Hilton as an "unknown guest", nor did they give him credit for hosting the party. That must sting. Don't worry, we get the same treatment. Well, actually, they usually just pull a little photoshop disappearing act.)

Oh, and we mean it: what's the one word that describes this picture?

Read our interview with Musto or face the sting of 1000 limp-wristed slaps.

• In other bullshit-related news: Brian Juergens spent his time watching VH1's Flava of Love spin-off I Love New York last night and he thinks he smells a bit of homophobia. We smell something else.

• And how about some more: another year, another continent, another war front? Pardon us while we wretch.

• Suzanne Somers: how one celebrity overshadows dozens of people's charred dreams...

• Happy birthday belated 22nd birthday to Ted Haggard's former preaching post: The New Life Church. May it be bullshit free.

• 2006 ranks as the warmest year in history. More proof the planet's fucked. (You know, just for a change of pace.)

• Definitely not bullshit: Michael Musto's reading from his new book over at the Barnes and Noble on 6th Avenue and 22nd Street in good old NYC. 7pm. After party at Room Service. Totally bullshit free. (Now, that's bullshit.)

You see before you the inaugural installment for The Youth Issue. Pretty exciting, no?

When planning out the issue, we had a bit of struggle deciding how to start it off. Then we realized there's really no better choice than legendary homo-journo, Michael Musto (pictured, circa 1964). He's been snarking it up since before we even knew the meaning, targeting closeted celebrities long before Perez Hilton and generally being fabulous for more years than we can count (but, to be fair, we can't count above seven).

In celebration of the publication of his new retrospective collection, La Dolce Musto, editor Andrew Belonsky and Musto got all cozy like at New York City's B Bar for a little post-work heart-to-heart. If ever there were a conversation to read, this is it - seriously, it's got more delicious bits than an Equinox gym.

Such as? Well, such as Musto's remembrance of ACT UP, a particularly memorable Michael Alig party and his explanation of why Joan Crawford's a total liar.

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Ali Saleem's the perfect segue into a piece on another homo-journo, Michael Musto. Sure, he may not be a Pakistani drag queen, but he's just as pretty. In celebration of his forthcoming retrospective collection of Village Voice columns, La Dolce Musto, the legendary gossip and talking head sat down with those scamps at Radar for a little heart-to-heart (read: publicity).

We won't give away too much, but we will share Musto's 2007 predictions with you:

I think a preacher will probably be caught doing something straight. And it will be really shocking. And I think Madonna will become a theme park. And Trump will have to finally get rid of this Miss U.S.A. and get somebody on the up and up, like a Lindsay Lohan. Someone we can really look up to.

Of course, none of these will come true: in a not-yet-published interview with Queerty, Musto insists he's the worst at making predications. In fact, he's so bad that he prophesized Madonna would flop. Good thing he didn't have money on that one, huh?

Oh, you guys should also check out Musto's new VV column in which he interviews himself. Wild, huh? It's called Musto v. Musto. Find it here.