Despite our tagline (a catchy slogan at best, a marketing gimmick at worst), Queerty does not have an agenda beyond "entertain and inform our readers." That's true for Queerty, and the three other sites under the Jossip Initiatives umbrella.

Most of our readers understand as much. That's why they continue coming back. Michael Lucas, of porn company Lucas Entertainment, doesn't understand our appeal or our mission, which is made evident by his column in this week's New York Blade, where he goes on the attack against this site, myself, and Queerty's editor Andrew Belonsky.

It was a welcome surprise.

Despite the numerous emails and marketing materials we regularly receive from Michael, his business associates, and his company – evidence of a courtship, it might seem, or at least hopes of a marketing relationship – Michael claims he doesn't like this site.

That we regularly discuss Michael on the blog is evidence of his mark on gay culture. As he'll be the first to tell you (as he does with us, so I'm paraphrasing here), he started his business from the ground up, leveraged his porn career into a level of status among mainstream media, and speaks three languages. (Perhaps building my business from the ground up and leveraging my media rants into a level of status among mainstream media will forever be overshadowed by my only speaking 1.5 languages.)

Alas, his accomplishments deserve recognition.

They also make him a public figure.

And like Rosie, Lance, Reichen, and Ellen, gay public figures draw Queerty's attention — our praise, and our criticism. If we disallow the mainstream media from poking fun at or criticizing members of our own – they'd receive a stern letter from any number of gay rights organizations – who should have that right but the gay community itself? And while Queerty does not, by any measure, attempt to speak for the entire gay community, we're certainly a part of it, and command our say.

CONTINUED »

Mornin' troops! I'm shooting from the hip on this post, so I'm going to drop the whole "royal we" thing and instead write this entry in the first-person because—first and foremost—I wanted to relay my personal thanks to all of you Queerty queers for being so cool, engaging and, yes, patient over the last two days as I settled into the whole online routine. I also wanted to make a suggestion: you guys totally need to do better at taking advantage of me. Seriously.

I don't want to get all Notes on a Scandal on you guys, but you should be thinking of me as the substitute teacher you had in middle school who threw out the prescribed lesson plan and let the class get away with mischief they wouldn't even attempt if the usual authority were present.

I'm not here to fuck with any of the great stuff Andrew regularly serves up on this site, but I did agree to cover in his stead this week in hopes of having a bit more fun than usual. And as someone who's worked in editorial print for nearly 16 (count 'em) years, I was also jazzed to take this gig because it offered something print never had and never will: real-time, direct communication with readers.

If you don't like one of my posts, tell me! I can take it! More importantly, tell me which stories you'd like to see more of, celebrities you'd like to see less of, and forward me any embarrassing digital photos you can get a hold of! In this era of shameless self-promotion and anonymous vengeance-via-Internet, offers like mine come around, like, never. I've answered every e-mail and I read all of your comments.

Now move out!

Greetings, Queerty readers! Andrew is on vacation this week "taking in" some international gay culture and asked if I’d consider covering for him while he’s away. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse—mostly because I need the money, but also because years working for these guys and another two years editing this old gal—not to mention occasional freelance
gigs here and here—left me wanting for something more than is offered within the bounds of old-world hard copy. Join me, Queerty readers—we’re going to make gay media history this week.

Or perhaps I’ll just phone it in and post a bunch of crazy gay crap. Either way, I hope you enjoy my contributions in the coming days!

We were just giving ourselves a little poke and came across a comment on Tuesday's Daniel Craig-related post. (For the amnesiacs out there, it seems Craig got a little grumpy with homo-journo Johann Hari after Hari complimented his body.) With regard to that post, a reader named Katie had this to say:

u lot r all fags hes da best if ya fink hes a twat ur da 1 dats needz mental help

Also, we can't help but wonder if Katie's related to homo-hating reader Randal. Remember him from our legendary post, Crazy Man Emails Us Crazy Email of Craziness? If they're not related, perhaps they're soul mates. Although it is possible they're both related and soul mates. You know how those things go...

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.

Yeah, we know we're still in the middle of The Boundaries Issue, but that doesn't mean we're not looking ahead to our next rousing thematic exploration. We won't give away the ingenious title, but we can tell you that it involves babies. Well, not so much babies as baby pictures.

To the right you see a picture of editor Andrew Belonsky when he was just a wee sprout. Awww...so cute, right? Well, don't be fooled by those cutesy little eyes, he grew up to be a nightmarish ghoul.

That's the sad part of babies - they grow up into assholes like Belonsky (and you, too). But we want to celebrate those brief moments of innocence, so we're asking you - our adorable and absolutely precious readers - to send in your baby pictures. That way we can all laugh at you and say, "Boy oh boy, time sure did take it's toll." Then we'll have a collective cry over all the wasted time and lost memories. Except for Belonsky, he'll probably just keep laughing. Schmuck.

So, gather the most enchanting, delightful, nauseastingly endearing photos and email them to the adult, fuckwad version of that bouncing baby boy.

(Also, does it strike anyone else as particularly prescient that Baby Belonsky's face is covered in frosting?)

"You may recall that yesterday we asked for you, our talented and creative readers, to send us your art." We were thrilled to bit that you guys took us up on our offer!

Today, we're featuring an artist who goes by the pseudonym Starbelly. Why "Starbelly," you ask? We haven't the foggiest. We do know, however, that we love his take on the old Jack B. Nimble nursery rhyme, pictured above.

Thanks for sharing your art, Starbelly! We heart you like whoa.

Keep reading, kiddies, because we've got loads of other submissions to share with you. To those of you who haven't already sent us your aesthetic wonders: get off your bums, scour your collection, and send 'em on over. We'll keep posting as long as we have material.

Hey! You! Yeah, you. Did you know that voting ends today for the 2006 Gay Bloggie Awards?

Well, it does.

And, you know, we really like you, so we were sort of hoping...you know, if you could show us some love, too.

Please? Pretty please with sprinkles and all that? If we win, we'll love you even more than we do now (as if that's possible). And, if we don't? Well, we don't even want to entertain the thought. It's far too painful.

Notice something new around these parts? We hope so! Queerty is sporting a new look today, which we hope you'll enjoy — at least more than our most recent incarnation. Queerty's fresh face is a result of the myriad feedback from you, our loyal readers, and is part of our continued effort to bring you fresher content. Which is all bullshit speak for: We want to publish on a website that's prettier than our ex.

Aside from our regular blog content – with exclusive, regular features like our Narcissist Issue – be sure to check out QueerFeed, our 24/7(ish) gay newswire in our left sidebar that's more than your staid AP feed. Just because we don't break the news doesn't mean we don't want you chatting about it, ya heard?

As always, let it fly in the comments. Your suggestions (and hatred) help us grow stronger. Like Wheaties. Sprinkled with amphetamines. Enjoy!

-The Editors

The tech rats usually responsible for keeping Queerty chuggings along have, it seems, taken the day off. Which means our technical difficulties are your excuse to leave the office for a long, long lunch. Or get back to cruising Craigslist. Your call. We'll be back with you as soon as we can.

Voting is over. The clicking is through. Egos were built up. And then you ripped them down, one ballot at a time. Now the time has come to crown Queerty's Man of MySpace. With nearly 5,500 votes counted, we're proud to announce that your shallow voting criteria and ambivalent voting decisions have chosen the winner to be ... Ernest!

We'll be sending Ernest on an all expenses paid vacation to ... his mailbox — where he can pick up the hottest gear in skivvies courtesy of aussieBum! So, how did Ernest win our Men of MySpace competition? By a nice margin, we'd say. If you've been following the voting, Alex had an early lead ahead of Glenn, James, and even Ernest. But may some grassroots efforts on MySpace took him to the lead?

Either way, a sincere congratulations to Ernest, a guy who long ago wore out his copy of Billy Elliot. Now that you've got no more profiles to click on, why not check ours out? And befriend us, won't you?

We're closing the voting on Queerty's Men of MySpace contest at noon (Eastern) today — so it's your last chance to choose who you want to wear the mostly meaningless crown. We've clocked more than 5,000 votes so far in the race between Ernest, Glenn, James, and Alex. Not sure who's who? Click back here to learn about our finalist fellas — then vote below.