• This fan gets all sorts of worked up over Cazwell's "All over Your Face". Needless to say, it's NSFW. Also, you may need to create an account, but it takes five seconds and is totally free.

• Arjan's had a little sit down with Mika to chat about Life in Cartoon Motion. The location's not where you think, but Mika's response to the gay question is: "I don’t really discuss that. I don’t feel I really need to. My music speaks for itself. I have total freedom with what I do musically and the way that I live my life. And I feel really comfortable with that." Total freedom or total publicist-endorsed freedom? It doesn't matter, we can read between the lines.

• These Liberian girls aim to keep peace.

• Sure, gays can be religious, but they're far too Satanic to qualify as "biblically Christian".

• Tony Blair is "proud" England has legal civil partnerships.

• UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unharmed after Baghdad rocket attack.

• Some destructive homophobes turned their ire to fire when they vandalized and torched Denton, Texas' ingeniously named - and only - gay bar, Mable Peabody’s Beauty Parlor and Chain­saw Repair. Of the arson, owner Kelly Sanders mused, "I think I lost my identity along with my business". No you didn't, silly. Your name's Kelly Sanders and we've no doubt you'll rise from the ashes.

We're tempted to move to Dallas just to vote for tranny mayoral candidate Jennifer Gails. Sure, she's a homeless veteran and seems kind of like a nutter, but she's got some pretty good ideas. First up: your health. As she says, she wants you to live to be 150. Although, as part of her mission to save our lives, Gail's looking to crack down on drugs. Hmmm, this could get sticky.

CONTINUED »

Window Media has just announced it will be shutting down publication of it's Lone Star fag-rag, The Houston Voice.

The ten-year old publishing empire bought the weekly back in 1998 and continued publishing it as such until a few months ago, when they moved to a monthly format. Rising costs and falling sales, we're sure, had something to do with the transformation,, but apparently it didn't stick. Editor and Publisher reports:

Window Media has published the last issue of Houston Voice, and will soon take down its Web site, a spokesperson for the largest U.S. gay newspaper chain confirmed Wednesday.
...
[The] folding was first reported by Press Pass Q, the online newsletter published by Rivendell Media and Q Syndicate. The newsletter said the decision to discontinue publication was “based, in part, on declining ad sales.” The Window spokesperson said there were “a myriad of reasons” the paper was folded.

Right...

You may have heard that the Dallas Tourism Board has been courting queer travelers, hoping to bring some of that coveted gay dough to their dazzling city. While business associations and politicians salivate over the potentially profitable move, the city's Catholic communities aren't having it. An article in this week's National Catholic Register derides the city's promotion of the oft-cited gay agenda.

In his personal effort to stop the madness, Journo Anthony Flott compares Dallas to Philadelphia, another city that's reached out to gay tourists.

A similar promotion was marketed in Philadelphia two years ago, in a campaign using TV commercials. More recently, the Philadelphia School District caused a ruckus when it added “Gay and Lesbian History Month” to its school calendar sent to 200,000 mailboxes. That permitted the system’s 35 “gay-straight alliance clubs” to recognize October with special activities.

Obviously this is unacceptable. In an effort to rally his troops, Flott cites the American Family Association's self-declared victory over Wal-Mart and their fag-enabling ways. He's urging his readers to take similiar action against the Dallas Tourism board, hoping it will change it's queer-loving course.

Concerned Catholic Cathie Adams says:

As a Christian, I can say that when they supplant a fear of God and what he calls right and wrong with their god of dollar signs, it offends us morally as well as spiritually.

If you get your way, Ms. Adam, it'll offend you financially, as well. But, we suppose missing out on millions of dollars in revenue's a small price to pay for being able to say, "Steers, Not Queers" and mean it.

Damn, peeps down in Galveston, Texas take their news seriously. And when we say "seriously", we mean they seriously don't want anything even closely resembling an endorsement of gay marriage, tolerance or...shutter...acceptance.

It seems that The Galveston County Daily News ran a story on gay marriage as seen through the eyes of two homo lover birds, David and Ernie Aguilar. It's really a pretty standard story: reporter Chad Greene examines their meeting, the trajectory of their relationship and the pre-wedding jitters typical of such a commitment.

Of course, not everyone thought the story was standard and the paper found itself drowning in complaints. One disgruntled reader fumed:

I am disgusted and appalled at the coverage of a homosexual wedding...Homosexuality is not — I repeat, is not — an alternate lifestyle but is a sin. Let’s call it what it is. Nowhere in the Bible does God call homosexuality an alternative lifestyle, and I do not believe that it should be seen as such. To what depths of carnage will your newspaper go in order to sell newspapers?...Truly, God has wept over this latest flagrant violation of all that He stands for. I know Christians of all denominations have.

You hear that? God reads The Galveston County Daily News! What's more, he cares so much about the paper's editorial content that he weeps at its tyrannical fairness and unbiased examination of American life!

While we're not sure God's been reading the paper and the venomous reactions, editor Dolph Tillotson certainly has been. He wrote a Thanksgiving rebuttal:

I am sorry many readers were offended. I understand that, in the eyes of many, we may have overdone the story, and maybe that is so.

However, I am not sorry we published the story.
...
But I am sick at heart and shaken over the malice I’ve experienced this week, wave on wave, pure and hard as diamonds.

Normally, we live in a peaceful corner of the world, and it’s rare here to see hate wearing no mask. But that is the way I will remember this Thanksgiving.

Good for you! Fuck those fools. You've got God on your side. Maybe...

(For more on this story, head on over to Marry in Massachusetts. How do we know? Good old Ryan Adams.)

A reader just sent us this article from the Dallas Observer on homo playwright Doug Wright. As you may or may not know, Wright first made a name for himself with I Am My Own Wife (for which he won both a Pulitzer and a Tony and went on to pen the surprisingly entertaining play-turned-movie "based on truth" account of Marquis de Sade, Quills.

The meat of the article concerns how Wright's experience growing up gay in the Park Cities area of Dallas helped fuel his creative process. Of particular interest to young Wright were the demented realities of the seemingly perfect neighborhood. Glenna Whitley reports:

"As a kid growing up there, I had playmates whose parents had drug problems or secret closeted sexual lives or were always on the brink of scandal. I remember the Cullen Davis trial. A couple of teachers lost their jobs because of sex scandals with students. That was fascinating to me as a kid."

He was also fascinated by The Twilight Zone, Roald Dahl's books and cartoons by Charles Addams, whatever was weird and creepy and off-kilter. That fascination would serve Wright well.

Of course, this comes as no surprise, especially considering that Wright just opened his stage-version of Grey Gardens - the cult movie about "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Little Edie .

We can't wait to see what twist he'll put on the Broadway version of The Little Mermaid

Also, here's another snippet we find notable:

Before his first Halloween, Wright's mother asked her son who he wanted to be for trick-or-treating. Little Doug didn't hesitate.

"A fairy princess!" he said.

To her credit, his mother kept a straight face. But when she gave the boy a big box containing a costume, it didn't hold a pink dress, white wings and silver wand. Inside was a bright red devil outfit. "Better I be Satan than a run-of-the-mill fairy princess," Wright says dryly.

Certain people may say they're one in the same.

Not us, of course.

Ew. We were just poking around our friend Andy Towle's website, Towleroad and came across his posting on the Farber Family: you know, the homo-hating landscapers who refused to serve a Houston gay couple.

As you may recall, the entire broo-ha-ha gained international attention after concerned citizens such as yourselves (and us) raised a stink. While the Farbers may be the newest gay anti-Christs, it seems some other Christ "loving" peeps absolutely adore the Farbers. And their business.

As The New York Times reports:

In an interview Friday, Sabrina Farber, 34, co-owner of the company with her husband, Todd, 37, said the company had picked up $40,000 in new business in the past two weeks, while losing only two clients worth about $500 each a year.

“I’m not saying that to gloat,” said Mrs. Farber, who described the frenzy as ugly and emotionally draining. But she said they would not do it differently and deserved credit for not masking their refusal with excuses.

Well, we suppose there's something to be said about standing up for what you believe in, but this shit's ridiculous.

So, you guys want to know why Garden Guy, Inc continues to make dough? Because gays aren't included in Houston's anti-discrimination laws.

We just lost our lunches.

Related: An Anti-Gay Co. Grows in Houston II
An Anti-Gay Co. Grows in Houston Update

Remember our friends, Sabrina and Todd Farber, the homo-haters whose company, Garden Guy, Inc. refused a patron their services after finding out he and his lover are both men?

Well, just over two weeks after people such as yourselves helped elevate their local discriminatory practices to a national news story, there's an article in the Los Angeles Times rehashing the issue.

While nothing new's really uncovered, nor did the Farbers agree to comment for said article, Tim Wildmon (pictured) of Minnesota's American Family Assocation had these defensive words:

It shouldn't come as a shock when a guy who takes his faith seriously says, 'I can't support this'... He doesn't need to be persecuted for his actions.

We agree: he doesn't need to be persecuted for his actions, but he should be. This, of course, raises the question: at which point should someone be dogged for their religious beliefs?

Surely we wouldn't persecute an Orthodox Jew for not eating a bit of bacon, but most homos are plenty mad over the rioting in Jerusalem....So, readers, we ask you: when's religion too much?

Should religion be simply a spiritual practice, or should people attempt to extend their religious beliefs to social - and thus potentially divisive - practice? Remember, we don't like murder, but do we not approve of murder because it's inherently wrong, or because of a more pervasive religious rhetoric?

Discuss...

Previously: An Anti-Gay Co. Grows In Texas
An Anti-Gay Co. Grows in Texas II

Basically, you guys rock.

We're tickled a lovely shade of pink over the response to the "An Anti-Gay Co. Grows in Houston" post. (And, of course, we can't forget the original emails that started it all.)

In case you haven't been following, everyone's efforts have garnered national attention. Not only has the Association of Professional Landscape Designers come out to admonish the company - which, not incidentally, erroneously claimed to be a member of the group - but the family behind the discrimination, the Farbers, have been forced to change their phone number and have taken the forum section off their website.
Also, as reported in The Houston Chronicle, the Farbers have received death threats.

At first we worried that said threats came from one of our precious readers, but then we remembered you're all good kids and wouldn't do something like that. Besides, we're all far too classy! Just look at this comment from a reader named Charro:

Sabrina and Todd,
You people are vile. I hope you get lots of bad publicity.
Sabrina may you get a yeast infection.

No death threats here, just vaginal infections.

Let's hope Sabrina's scratching her itchy, burning vagina right now...

That was a fun little jaunt into the world of artificial love affairs, but let's return to the real world and check in on the ever-exciting drama of the Episcopal Church.

For those of you not keeping score, the Anglican derivative has been torn asunder over whether or not homos have a place in their pews. While the debate goes back many-a-year, things got even more hectic after the 2003 consecration of the openly-gay bishop, Gene Robinson.

Since then, dozens of churches have come out for and against gays. In the most recent turn of events, there have been two divergent developments. 365 Gay reports:

The diocese of Dallas on Saturday narrowly voted against a motion to split from the US branch of Anglicanism but agreed to look at the issue in a year's time.

The diocese, meeting in convention, has "only delayed the inevitable" said one clergyman who supported an immediate split. A survey commissioned by Bishop James Stanton of priests and lay leaders in the diocese released shortly before the vote showed more than half believe the Church is moving in the wrong direction, 42 percent wanted their parishes out of the denomination, and almost a third wanted to remove the word "Episcopal" from the church signs, letterheads and literature.

The results of said survey highlight just how deep the spiritual split runs. As if that's not enough, leaders in Conneticut have given their priests the go-ahead to bless homo unions.

The decision, by Bishop Andrew Smith, ignores a non-binding resolution passed in June at the Episcopal Church National General Convention that called for a moratorium on such services and for the bishops to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration'' of openly gay clergy.

"At the heart of the matter is whether we as a Church will welcome and embrace, serve with and care for and bless persons who are homosexual and partnered as cherished and fully accepted members of the body of Christ," Smith said during Saturd ay speech at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford at the diocese's annual convention.

As if you're not smart enough to figure it out: the more conservative followers are not pleased and call the move "defiant."

You know what? We think this entire thing's stupid. Why not just have a good ol' fashioned holy war and decide who wins?

Previously: Church Fissure Growing

We received an email from a few people last night detailing how a gay couple tried to get some work done at their house through a company called Garden Guy, Inc. based in Houston.

Here's the reply they received:

From: Garden Guy Inc
Date: October 18, 2006 9:08:36 AM CDT
To: [xxxxxx]@houston.rr.com
Subject: Cancel Appt -Garden Guy

Dear Mr. [X],

I am appreciative of your time on the phone today and glad you
contacted us. I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you because we choose not to
work for homosexuals.

Best of luck in finding someone else to fill your landscaping needs.

All my best,

Sabrina

Todd and Sabrina Farber
Owners, Garden Guy, Inc.

visit us at: Garden Guy, Inc

Member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers

Creating beautiful landscaping for Houston homeowners since 1991!

Phone 281-208-4400
Fax 1+801-365-9353
email: sabrina@garden-guy.com
email: todd@garden-guy.com

"All my best"? Pretty cheery for a discriminatory sign-off, don't you think.? Anyway, do what you will with this information. Whatever it is, make sure it's creative.

Kids these days! We just don't know what to make of them. Apparently two oh-so-clever students in San Antonia thought it'd be fun to take the piss out of their assistant principal, Anne Draker by creating a phony Myspace page that deemed her a lesbian.

The site had been up a month before Draker found out. It was taken down after she informed the site that it was fake.

Assuming the kids had a good three laughs on weekdays and five on the weekends, how many laughs is that? And, assuming Draker, who is married with children, cried five times an hour after finding out, who had the most fun?

Answer: who ever wins the pending lawsuit. Draker's suing both the kids and their parents, which begs the question: for what the hell do you sue a child? Lunch money? Their tiara?