In sort of related news, British homo-journo Mark Simpson continues to get press for his metrosexuality replacement: sporno. The word first appeared in last July's edition of Out Magazine. Like a wordage wild fire, it started to spread, passing the lips of gays and straights alike and ultimately landing on The New York Times' Ideas of the Year list. Of course, the word's influence can't be contained to 2006 and has thus spawned an enjoyable Doron Halutz penned piece in Israel's Haaretz.

[Read On ...]

Since the dawn of man - or, at least, since the gay rights movement - people have questioned whether or not pundits and publications have the right to out people, particularly politicians. In the wake of TR Knight, Ted Haggard, Neil Patrick Harris and the rest, the debate has been raised to a pitch higher than a drag queen's hair.

With the whole Bill Maher/Ken Mehlman brouhaha: you know, when Maher called the former RNC leader gay on Larry King Live, a comment that later got the old censorship ax from CNN, The New York Blade's premier homo-journo, Kerry Eleveld takes a look at the ways in which different media outlets covered the story.

Aside from providing a compelling piece, Eleveld does something that we don't think has ever been done in the history of man: she uses our name in the same sentence as The New York Times.

The following Monday, pro-gay blogs such as Queerty.com declared, "Maher pussed out" even as the mother of mainstream publications, The New York Times, ran a story about Maher’s statements on CNN that steered clear of mentioning Mehlman’s name.

We will offer one correction, however. The actual headline read "Bill Maher Totally Pussed Out". There's a huge difference between only just pussing out and totally pussing out. Of course, as a legitimate reporter, we don't imagine Eleveld's ever had to make such a linguistic judgement call.

We woke up far too late and hung over yesterday to enjoy the weekly bliss that is The Sunday edition of The New York Times, so we were just doing a bit of catching up and came across this piece from The Magazine.

In it, Elizabeth Weil explores the myriad debates surrounding intersex babies, those little bundles of joy born with both male and female traits. Should they be given so-called corrective surgery? What are the consequences of such surgery? Why, as a society, do we feel the need to eliminate the gendered middle-ground? Etc. Etc.

Definitely an interesting read; although, in grand magazine style, quite lengthy. We recommend you use your office's resources and print it out for later. Can't have you getting fired, now can we?

(And, yes, we used the same Christoph Nieman image from the story itself. How could we resist?)

We get a lot of flack for not being bubbly and pro-gay all the time. Most recently, we were called a "low-lives." We assure you, we're not low-lives, just low-brow. But, here's some proof we're not totally heartless bastards: a recent article in The New York Times brought a little tear to our eye.
In it, reporter Penelope Green sheds a little light on a bygone era when so-called sexual deviants such as ourselves didn't have the space to shine. Instead, a group of cross-dressing men - and sometimes their girlfriends - found a safespace in Hunter, NY where they could escape the prying, judgemental eyes of mainstream society and be themselves.
The experiences of what is now known as "Casa Susanna" will eventually be making their way to the silver screen, thanks to screenwriter Robert Swope. Take a trip down memory lane and check out the article. Oh, and if you're wondering which bit brought a tear to our little gay eye, it's the last line. We won't ruin it for you, but rest assured it rang true for us. See? We are human.
A Safe House for the Girl Within [The New York Times]

Always seemingly late in the game, The New York Times is only now focusing on straight women married to gay men. Did these reporters screen Brokeback Mountain only yesterday?

The article mentions Jim McGreevey and his wife as well as Rock Hudson's sham of a marriage. But we thought the most interesting part was this mention about a husband and wife team who stay together solely for companionship reasons.

She has known that although she and her husband are sexually active together, his erotic desires otherwise focus almost exclusively on men. "It's not easy, but I truly do love him," Mrs. Cormack said.

Mr. Cormack is now involved with another married gay man, and Mrs. Cormack has had extramarital relationships.

Someone please forward a copy of this article to Katie Holmes.

Many Couples Must Negotiate Terms of 'Brokeback' Marriages [NY Times]