• Slowly but surely, Madonna's becoming a woman.

• The Jewish Theological Seminary has decided to admit queers. Why can't all religions be so cool?

• A group of techie jokesters hacked Republican presidential hopeful John McCain's MySpace and declared, "Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage…particularly marriage between two passionate females." This, of course, makes one think of McCain masturbating which leads to severe psychological scarring. Thanks, guys...

• Democratic Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts on gay marriage: "After a couple years, the average heterosexual person forgets gay marriage is there."

• A church security guard apparently pulled a gun on someone trying to take pictures of Britney Spears. Um, church security guards carry guns?

• Greg Scarnici makes a better looking Fergie than Fergie herself.

• Former American Family Association Attorney Joe R Murray on homophobia: "The gay issue is a human issue, and thus I strongly believe that it must be approached with concern and compassion. Furthermore, the individuals engaging in the debate must recognized that behind the theories there are real life human beings that are made in the image of the Creator." We just shat our pants. In a good way, of course...

• Gay performer Charles Knipp aka Shirley Q. Liquor is apparently "not a racist".

Losing a MySpace page has become as American as apple pie. Friends, lovers and enemies are constantly griping about accidental deletions or mysterious vanishings. Toronto-born pop quarter, Kids On TV, however, wrote in to complain about a more explicable, not to mention targeted, virtual attack.

Despite following the News Corp-operated website's strict rules, the Kids suddenly found their page missing, the only explanation coming in generic list form of possible reasons. They allege that MySpace targeted them for their radical political stance and sexually informative lyrics. Now they're fighting back.

CONTINUED »

Ug, everyone has a MySpace page these days. Even our grandmother has one and she's dead. (It's totally gross, she's got pictures of her rotting corpse. A bit distasteful, no?)

To combat such unfashionable social networking, John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood - both of whom are giving our dead grandmother a run for her money, if you know what we mean - have partnered with a group of fashion-forward techies to launch their own trendy virtual space: IQONS. Stylists, designers, models and various followers can join the site for free, thus ensuring they will never have to interact with the plebes ever again.

Of IQONS, co-founder and former Comme des Garcons employee Rafael Jimenez had this to say:

The fashion world was sometimes a hostile and competitive environment so this is a tool to help young designers get involved. If you are talented someone will spot you and you will get through.

(PS: The site's name has to be in all capitals because, you know, it's THAT monumental.)

• There's a new generation of Evangelicals. And they're not who you'd think. [Radar]

• If you can't form an army, build a store! Japanese store Uniqlo has it's eyes set on Manhattan. [Business Week]

• Ellen Degeneres tops AfterEllen's top ten lesbian moments. The real question, of course, is whether or not she tops Portia De Rossi. [AfterEllen]

• Should death row inmates be allowed to have MySpace? Some say yay, some say nay. [Telegraph]

• As loving as ever, Best Week Ever's made a list of gifts for Oprah to give Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Awww... [BWE]

• Because it wouldn't be a truly Happy Ending without Paris Hilton's butt. [Mollygood]

Obviously we were intrigued by the headline, "Atlanta teen charged with murder in suicide attempt". How can you not wonder exactly how a girl's botched self-snuffing would end up with her being charged with taking another's life? And, the fact that we found it over at The New York Blade means there's a queer twist. Incredible!

Our demented thirst for media violence, however, was quelled as soon as we read the lead paragraph:

Louise Egan Brunstad, 16, reportedly distraught over being rejected sexually by another female student at her high school, now faces felony murder and aggravated assault charges for allegedly trying to commit suicide by crashing the Mercedes she was driving into an oncoming car and killing the mother of three driving the other vehicle.

Initially, police were treating the incident as a routine traffic accident. The lesbianic truth, however, came out from a series of text messages from Brunstad to a friend and her Sapphic crush saying she was going to kill herself.

Yikes. Technology strikes again, huh? Actually, it seems as if technology strikes twice in this particular case: Brunstad's so-called dyke-persona comes only from this high school crush and a MySpace survey in which she says "of course" she's kissed or hugged another girl.

Regardless, another terrible example of the closet's nasty powers.

If this were yesterday, we'd find a way to say it was "totally frightful" or something, but it's not...

As evidenced by today’s Morning Goods, we love those Brits. Here’s one to watch: Jack Penate. A burgeoning pop star, Penate sat down with another British pop star, Lily Allen in the August issue of British magazine Dazed and Confused. Like Allen, Penate’s uses his myspace account to spread the word. Poppy with a touch of reggae flavor and a voice that recalls the late, great Jeff Buckley, Penate’s tunes are sure to make a splash – that is, once he has an album. For now we’ll have to settle for his technological self-promotions. Thus far the kid has 2769 friends. If you’re lucky, maybe he’ll accept you.

Check him out here.

Remember a few weeks back when we had you nominate the MySpace profiles of your friends, lovers, ex-lovers, and your own damn selves? Now you understand why: Let us introduce "Queerty Presents: The Men of MySpace," our completely superficial contest where you get to choose who, among the hundreds of nominees you submitted – seriously, there were a lot – gets the dubious award of Queerty's Man of MySpace.

Monday thru Thursday of this week, we'll be introducing you to three Men of MySpace each day, as selected by your semi-qualified Queerty editors. It'll be your duty to vote each day for your favorite — based on personality, looks, number of friends, profile personalization skills ... whatever criteria you require in your own MySpace Man. On Friday, we'll bring together the top picks from each of the four days for one final vote — and the winner of this final round will receive the dubious honor of Queerty's Man of MySpace.

And what does the winner get? Some hot free swag, courtesy of aussieBum. The outfitter from Down Under will be providing the winner with a selection of its highly sought after swim gear, which can make anyone's ass look tight. So let's get to the voting, shall we?

Meet Ernest. This 23-year-old from Orchard Park, N.Y., was most recently spotted at a Kelly Clarkson concert. Besides connecting with him on his Harry Potter obsession, perhaps you'll go after his chiseled chest and abs? If nothing else, help this "Michael from Queer As Folk" character add to his lowly 47 friends. [Visit Ernest's profile here.]

Next up is Josh, a cute 21-year-old hailing from Salt Lake City. He's the "long walks on the beach" and "cuddling in front of a movie" type. He's also the running and swimming type. Bonus points? He's a pilot. Josh's nomination came from someone who didn't even know him — except on MySpace. Won't you join his online fan club? You'll be competing with his 112 friends. [Visit Josh's profile here.]

And lastly, today, we've got Mikey, whose St. Louis locale makes us hope he's got a Midwestern drawl. He claims to have served in the Army (hot) and ran for U.S. Congress in '04 (even hotter). He claims to have a daring sense of humor, which we'll have to ask one of his 466 friends about. The kicker: We're not sure how Dolly Parton's "9 To 5" playing in the background of his MySpace page is going to play with voters. [Visit Mikey's MySpace profile here.]

So who's your vote?

We'll be back with you tomorrow with Part II — and the final results on Friday. And be sure to add Queerty as your MySpace friend. Visit our (soon to be revamped) profile here.

Oh good lord, you've seen the cover of Frontiers Magazine too? That pink haired skinny hipster type you're looking at is a one Jeffree Star. We've talked about him before, actually — to the New York Post. We'd heard a tale where a pseudo celebrity fought his way into nightclubs by arguing he was "MySpace royalty." And now we've got a name, and an androgynous face, to match with it.

Jeffree Star is a 20-year-old drama queen. Yep, he loves stirring shit up. He's a self-described makeup artist, rapper, princess, and "baddest bitch in this game." He claims to be "the only star that the paparazzi has on speed-dial so that they can get to me before my fans do." So of course you've heard of him, right? If you don't spend your work hours on MySpace – where he's collected some 250,000 "friends" and posts photos from his own shoots – or hit the same hotspots TMZ.com sends photographers, then perhaps not. And it's completely forgiveable, and admirable, if you don't know who he is.

Thus far the only reasonable means of income all of this personality has concocted is through a distribution deal with Hot Topic, which sells J. Star tees. Though the self-proclaimed "CUNT: Queen of the Beautifuls" has dreams of a music career. And where better place to start than MySpace, where some 3,000 profile comments pop up each day?

The Future is Jeffree Star [Frontiers Magazine]

Even though we're hunting through MySpace to find some lookers, not everyone's convinced the social networking giant's pretty factor is high enough. Enter 24-year-old model Jesper Lannung. So turned off by "poseurs and wannabes," he's starting his own social networking site — but only the hotties need apply. ModelsHotel.com is taking the Friendster trend to a new niche; the same way A Small World is only for the wealthy, Lannung's site is only for people who wouldn't look out of place walking a runway. In fact, if you don't walk the runways, you probably won't make it past registration: you need to be registered with one of the "top 50" modeling agencies to snag a username. Is Models Hotel taking superficial to a new level? Certainly. But it sure makes finding a hot housemate that much easier.

Models Hotel
MySpace, But For Models Only [NY Mag]

Just a reminder that we're still accepting submissions for the Men of MySpace. Read our earlier post about it. We're looking to scope out the most all-around appealing guys on MySpace when it comes to personality, looks, and, of course, their ability to personalize their MySpace page. Nominate friends, boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, or even yourself. Just let us know who we need to be clicking on! Send your nominations to holla@queerty.com (please don't leave links in the comments, they'll be ignored) and be sure to include a link to the guy's profile and any additional information you think we should know about him.

Earlier: The Men of MySpace: We Need Your Submissions

How often do we call on you, our fair readers, to help us out? Okay, perhaps daily — asking you to continue visiting Queerty every damn day is a pretty big favor to lay out there, but damnit, our paychecks aren't going to sign themselves. All that aside, we need your help in finding the most attractive – good looking, good personality, good friends, good musical tastes, good MySpace page personalization, and did we mention, good looking? – guys on MySpace. Forget their age (though we know how MySpace skews), race, chest hair to head hair ratio, and number of piercings. Just show us who your favorites are. They can be your friends. Your brothers. The kid you picked on in sixth grade. Hell, you can nominate yourself if you're that maniacally big-headed. Grab the link to the guy's MySpace page and send it along to us at holla@queerty.com (please don't leave links in the comments; they'll be ignored). It might help if you gave us a few superlatives about the person, and let's get more creative than "good kisser." Especially if you're nominating yourself.

Even if you're only a casual observer of all things MySpace, you've probably come across a few news articles about the social networking realm. Friendster is passe, MySpace is the shit, and a whole new crop of competitors, like TagWorld, are gaining momentum as the next "It" social site. And while all of these sites seem to be overpopulated with hipsters, the gays have taken to 'em from high school age to professionals. Who needs Gay.com anymore when MySpace can link all your previous partners, help you find news ones, and let you blog about it at the same time?

While MySpace might sometimes seem like a homo haven (especially if you only click the profile links of young gay men), there are others betting it's not being all things to all gays. Enter EffinHot.com, a social networking service aimed specifically at gay men (and, we're guessing, the younger set). As the name might suggest, EffinHot is all about showing off.

Nothing about the new contender seems to rival MySpace's hoard of features, however. You can upload photos, add friends to your profile, list an item in the classifieds, and publish your own blog on both sites. You can customize your EH profile page with the same means as MySpace. Meanwhile, EH seems to suffer the slow speeds of Friendster: an immediate turn off.

All that said, the site seems to be in its baby phase. Its forums only have a total of 100 posts, though its photo gallery is already chock full of 20-somethings showing off. We're willing to revisit in a few months. Until then, you can find us, and your mother probably, on MySpace.