A contentious queer novel has returned to the Rochester, New York's Webster School District's summer reading list.

Alex Sanchez's Rainbow Boys tells the story of teeny-bopper faglings coming into their out own. And, needless to say, the story caused a bit of a stir, but garnered even more praise.

The book's 2001 publication led School Library Journal to plead: "...Please, have the courage to make [Rainbow Boys] available to those who need it — it can open eyes and change lives." Regardless, Webster officials worried the text crossed a few too many lines, particularly lines of the sexual variety. Unsure of the explicit carnal content (not the homosexual overtones) they removed the book from its summer reading list, thus making it ineligible for the two essays due come September. The book would remain available in the library.

Sanchez, however, cried "censorship"...

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Dottie Maraschino hosts a cast of character's for La Mama's "The Heat Is On" fundraiser this weekend. Kiki and Herb (pictured) lead the host of homo-notables, including drama fag Christopher Borg, director and Yoga enthusiast, Matt Gould, and cultural aural art quarter, Origin, to help raise money for New York-based theater, La Mama.

While some gays will be helping GMHC fight AIDS, all the proceeds from the ten dollar tickets go to the experimental theater's HVHC fund. A publicist-endorsed message explains:

We are blasting off our $100,000 campaign to bring heat to our new Archive and exhibition space in the Annex building. The Heat is On! is a series of variety shows celebrating La MaMa artists and benefiting our HVHC (heating ventilating and air-conditioning system.) Each month, La MaMa will produce a variety show with music, singing, dance, sketch comedy, puppets, drag queens and more. This party like atmosphere will also include raffles and refreshments. Everyone is donating their time and talent to help La MaMa keep the Heat on!

For complete line-up and ticket information, click here.

James St. James' last novel, Disco Bloodbath, chronicles Michael Alig's real life descent into madness, ending with the hacked up body of the really dead drug deal, Angel Melendez.

Capturing the glitz, glam and gore of 1990's New York, Disco Bloodbath killed the competition, becoming a classic and finding new life in the 2003 flick, Party Monster, starring Seth Green as the incarcerated and single Alig, whileMacaulay Culkin appeared as St. James. Now, St. James makes a triumphant return with a less blood-curdling tale, Freak Show.

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The confusing case of gay marriage gets even more queer today. And, like so many marriage dramas, this story begins in Massachusetts.

As you know, Massachusetts passed gay marriages back in 2004. Not one for so-called sinners, then-Governor Mitt Romney reminded lawmakers of a 1913 law which prohibited out-of-state visitors from marrying in Massachusetts. Unless, of course, their state would honor the marriage.

While some law-types fell into line, Judge Thomas E. Connolly ruled in favor of a contesting couple, saying that if a state doesn't explicitly bar gay marriage, then a couple's nuptials are legal.

One of the pair hails from New York, which is where things get really interesting...

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We knew it was coming, but we never could have predicted how soon. New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's making good on his campaign promise to push for gay marriage rights. Pride Agenda reports that the handsome politician will put the bill forward this morning, making him the first governor to aggressively push for equal rights.

Though certainly an exciting developement, the bill's largely ceremonial. First of all it counts as a program bill - a bill that comes from the governor, rather than the legislature. Further, his progressive politics aren't likely to reach the floor for a vote, a fact of which Spitzer's well aware:

I do not think there is a realistic shot that it gets passed, but I will submit it because it is a statement of principle that I believe in and I want to begin that dynamic.

The governor is fulfilling his promise to the community and a taking a courageous and historic step toward making equal civil marriage rights a reality in New York.

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Michael Sandy's alleged killers may more bent than they'd like to admit. Or, at least their statements to police are. The three boys - John Fox, Ilya Shurov and Anthony Fortunato - appeared in a Brooklyn court house yesterday to watch their video confessions about their October 13, 2006 attack on the 28-year old Sandy.

Sandy met at least one of the men online and was lured to Sheepshead Bay, where Mr. Fox told him to drive toward a fictitious gay beach "where gay people have sex and stuff". Once there, the men punched Sandy, who then ran into traffic and got hit by a car. The men are accused of then pulling Sandy's tattered body to the side of the road, where the rummaged through his pockets and left him.

He died five days later, one day after his 29th birthday.

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We don't know how we missed this piece from Sunday's NY Post, but we did. Sorry. Anyway, as you may or may not know, New York's scandal-prone Comptroller Alan Hevesi will not be having another go at managing the Empire State's dough - dough he's pleaded to guilty to pilfering for his wife's personal errands. With his ouster, officials have started interviewing possible candidates. Of the numerous candidates, there's apparently a Democratic-affiliated closet cocksucker. One Democrat tells Page Six:

Though they would appoint an openly gay candidate, they worry about someone in the closet. After the Hevesi fiasco, they want honesty, and worry about the pressures involved for a statewide official to remain in the closet.

(PS: Isn't the closet scary?)

Tom Donaghy's piece provides the perfect segue into a piece on homeless queer youth, don't you think.

A report from The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that up to 42% of America's 575,000 to 1.6 million guppies are LGBT. That's 241,500 -672,000 homeless queers - a number alarming enough for official to call it "an epidemic". About a quarter of them are kicked out after coming out. With little to no guidance, money or shelter, many of these kids face disease, drugs and - you guessed it - death. Pretty gruesome.

Here in New York City, City Council Speaker and known lesbian Christine Quinn is not only (pictured) looking concerned, she's looking to expand social services for LGBT homeless youth...

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We've got a mystery on our hands, readers. Police have recovered the body of 23-year old Pittsburgh native Ryan Paul Boody (pictured) from the Wellsville, NY house of his estranged lover, 26-year old Mark Harkenrider, 26.

How did Boody get from Pittsburgh to Wellsville? No one's quite sure. How did Boody die? We don't know. Where did they find his body? Police won't say. What happened to Harkenrider? Well, police found his unresponsive body and he died at the local hospital, cause of death: suicide. How did he kill himself? We don't know. We do know, however, that it wasn't with a gun. Did Harkenrider really kill Boody? Considering he used to beat Boody and friends say he had formed an unhealthy obsession, probably.

We can say for sure that Boody - who studied theater and enjoyed a little Liza action - has been missing since Wednesday, when he went out on the town, paid to park two cars and disappeared. When he didn't come home, his parents filed a police report. Following their leads, the police ended up at Harkenrider's apartment, where he and Boody lived until Harkenrider's physical abuse prompted Boody's parents to rescue him back in March.

Now, with their son dead, Boody's parents are looking for answers.

We get a lot of emails, letters and smoke signals from people asking us to feature their products, friend's talents and auntie's secrets. More often than not, their offerings fall a little flat.

Not twenty minutes ago we received one such email from a reader named Mike urging us to plug tonight's performance by Valeze, the insanely gay-friendly New York Based glam-rock outfit.

For some unknown reason, we're feeling exceptionally generous today so we followed this Free Indie link for more info. While we weren't so down with their cover of Iggy Pop's "Search and Destroy" (sorry, we just love the original too much), we were intrigued. Thus, we headed over to everyone's favorite video go-to, YouTube and did a little rooting around for another example of Valeze's aural abilities.

In our sifting, we came across this video for their track "Go Go Go". Reminiscent of early Blondie, it's definitely got a sound we dig. While we can't personally make their show tonight at the New York branch of The Knitting Factory, we definitely encourage you, our darling and oh-so-cultured readers, to give 'em a twirl. Who knows, you too could fall in love with vocalist Tiffany Randol. (And, of course, the boys are pretty cute.)

Also, check out the Valeze website.

Well, it would seem that after all those nightmarish years, the Democrats may again have some power in Washington. As we're sure you know, the Demmies took back control of the House of Representatives for the first time since they lost it so tragically in 1998 (Correction: We meant the Dems lost the House in 1994, not 1998. It was early; we're human. xoxo).

While it's too soon to tell, it also looks as if they'll retain control of the Senate.

So, what does this all mean? Well, it means that perhaps some progressive policy can take place in Washington. It also means that while Illinois Republican Dennis "Hasturd" Hastert won reelection, he will no longer be Speaker of the House, opening it up to San Francisco based Nancy Pelosi. While she has not yet officially been made Speaker, she seems poised to take over, which would make her the first woman Speaker in history. What was President Bush's reaction? According to a White House spokesman:

His reaction was, he was disappointed in the results in the House. But he’s eager to work with both parties on his priorities over the next two years. He’s got an agenda of important issues he wants to work on, and he’s going to work with both parties.

As for the Senate: well, that's still up in the air, with Montana and Virginia still undecided. It seems as if the race between Senator George Allen and Jim Webb may require a recount. In Montana, it seems as if Republican Senator Conrad Burns's lacking the votes to keep control out of Democratic challenger, Jon Tester. But, again, the votes haven't all been counted.

Now, with regard to same-sex marriage bans. Unfortunately, Americans in Virginia, Wisconsin, South Carolina, South Dakota, Idaho, Tennessee and Colorado all voted to ban same-sex marriage in their states. On a positive note, however, pro-marriage group Arizona Together fought a fierce battle and beat the proposed ban. We predict Arizona's the next big gay thing, whatever that means.

Oh, and you may also like to know that two homo-politicos, Patricia Todd (D-AL) and Paul Koering (R-MN) won their respective races. Meanwhile, reported homo-politico, Charlie Crist, won his Republican Governorship in Florida. Countering the balance, however, New York's gained Eliot Spitzer, who has promised to write more progressive gay legislation.

We hate to be the bearers of bad news, particularly so early in the morning, but it simply must be done: Michael Sandy, the 29-year old (his birthday was, in fact, yesterday) interior designer attacked by four men Sunday, has been taken of his life-sustaining respirators at approximately 9pm last night.

The attackers contacted Sandy on the internet promising sex. While one many picked up Sandy and took him to the Plumb Beach rest stop off of Brooklyn's Belt Parkway, where he and three cohorts attempted to rob Sandy.

After taking a few blows, Sandy ran onto the Parkway, where a car slammed into him before speeding off. Meanwhile, three of the four men who lured Sandy to his death have been charged with a first-degree assault as a hate crime, as well as robbery. Police are still questioning the fourth suspect.

Let's hope they get what they deserve...