Pastor Ake Green (pictured, not looking as dastardly as we imagined) - who you may remember from his trial for fueling anti-gay hate a few yeares ago - is up to his old tricks. In a speech in Scotland, he warned the country to beware of "evil forces." While not as inflammatory as his previous comments equating homos with pedophilia and insiting they're "a tumor on society," still not so cute.

He was speaking on behalf of the Christian Insitute as part of their "Faith Under Fire" series, which hopes to combat a growing "intolerance" of Christians. Really? Last we checked, Christians were doing pretty well. In the West, at least.

We've never actually been to London, but we always hear about the G-A-Y night at the Astoria because they score some of our favorite performers, including Madonna, Christina Aguilera, and Kylie Minogue. It seems that G-A-Y, and the venue that houses it, the Astoria, are London institutions, and now the property has been sold, and the new owner wants to tear down the venue to build shops and offices.

Buildings with cultural value always seem to take the back seat to commerce, but this building has a special place in the heart of gay Londoners, and so a group of them started the "Save the Astoria" petition. We invite you to sign so that future gay music icons will have a place in London to go and preach to the choir.

Save the Astoria Petition [Official Site]
Petition launched to save gay club [Pink News]
G-A-Y [Official Site]

Above is our attempt at a cute, penis-based drawing created on the Cock-A-Doodle website. Kill a few hours at work playing around with cartoon penises all for a good cause. The site is sponsored by the Everyman fund, which is a charity that benefits cancer research, though this particular campaign is aimed at raising awareness of testicular and prostate cancer.

So go make a cute drawing, donate a couple dollars, and help your fellow man.

Cock-A-Doodle [Official Site via Oh La La Paris]

It's unfair of us to say he was wearing no pants, because British Constable Suckbir Mann was actually wearing crotchless leather ones in his web ad for sexual services. He charged £100 for a sexy night one-on-one or with a third, though the tryst most likely would be short so he could run home to his wife and kids.

What's most embarassing for the police department is that Const. Mann is Sikh and has often appeared in the media to promote the diversity of the police force. Apparently the force was even more diverse than they first thought!

Unfortunately, despite all his media appearances, we cannot find a single photo of him. Please let us know if you can locate one.

HOOKER COPPER RAPPED [Sunday Mail]
Cop Suspended For Moonlighting As A Hustler [365 Gay]

This Saturday, August 12, will be the Pride parade in Gloucester, U.K., and among the marchers will be three Iraqi refugees who fled their home country for fear of being murdered. Dr. Haider Jaber, who escaped a brutal gay bashing during which his partner was murdered, fled Iraq two years ago for the U.K., and he will be joined by a former employee of the British embassy in Iraq as well as Ali Hili, organizer of Iraq LGBT, which helps provide information and assistance to gays in London and Baghdad.

Following the parade, Mr. Hili will be replacing featured speaker Peter Tatchell, and will be giving a talk about exactly how bad things are for gays in Iraq, which is sure to be depressing but informative.

Gay Iraqis Set to Take Part in UK Pride [UK Gay News]
Iraq LGBT [Official SIte]
Gloucestershire Rainbow Day Flyer (PDF) [UK Gay News]

The U.K. doesn't mess around when it comes to what they deem to be "homophobic." Two fans at a soccer match in Brighton were escorted out of the stadium after repeatedly yelling "queer" at some fans of the opposing team.

While we are in favor of removing loud, obnoxious assholes from public environments (case in point, the annoying man at the Loretta Lynn concert who screamed "LORETTA!!!!" at the top of his lungs between every song), we're surprised at how serious the Brighton police took the homophobic nature of the comments. It almost frightens us.

Football fans convicted for homophobic jibes in landmark case [PinkNews]

After having six successful Masturbate-A-Thons in the U.S., sexologists Dr Carol Queen and Dr Robert Lawrence are bringing the party to London, where participants will learn and celebrate the art of self-love in a safe and fun environment.

The Masturbate-A-Thon is a "public education device to increase the use of self pleasure as a strategy for safer sex and to de-stigmatise self-love," and the proceeds will benefit the British sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust.

ID lube is one of the principal sponsors of the event, so you can be sure it will be a slippery good time.

Masturbate-A-Thon [Official Site]
Gays and straights masturbate for charity [PinkNews]

A British lesbian couple married in Canada was rebuffed today by the court after they sued to have their marriage recognized for what it is -- a marriage -- in their home country. The judge ruled that although homosexual relationships are in no way in inferior to marriage, they still must make do with the civil partnerships law, which grants all the rights and priveleges of marriage without the title of "marriage."

The interesting thing about this couple is that they did not travel to Canada solely for the sake of getting married. They were both living and working in British Columbia at the time of their marriage and now have transferred back to the UK, where they are suddenly not married, and in their home country no less.

While they are not fighting for tangible rights, we can understand the couple's desire to help make their own country as progressive as their temporarily adopted home of Canada.

Foreign Gay Marriages Illegal In UK Court Rules [365 Gay]

After his seedy little romp in the bushes with a fat older man, George Michael may not be celebrating his ten year anniversary with partner Kenny Goss with a grand civil union, as they had planned.

George Michael has been quoted as saying in the past that he and Kenny have an open relationship, explaining it this way, "Gay relationships are a bit different. I'm sure we'll be allowed to roam if we want to. But we love each other dearly."

We would like to clarify to the world that George Michael does not really speak for anyone except himself in that statement, and it's embarassing that he would try to pass off his own philosophy about monogamy as a "gay thing." While we appreciate that there are many points of view about open relationships, we find it irresponsible for a celebrity, especially one who is so often in the papers, to make such an absurd statement.

And it seems that we aren't the only ones who disagree with his assertion. Maybe George should have discussed just how open the relationship was with his husband-to-be before jumping into the bushes.

Gay lover tells George: the wedding's off [Daily Mail]

Remember Australian pop band Savage Garden? They sang that song about the "chicken cherry cola" and wanting to "truly madly deeply do you." You probably heard them on the radio around the time Alanis's Jagged Little Pill was getting played a lot. Anyway, both members of the band were obviously huge homos and now Darren Hayes, the lead singer, has admitted it on his official website by announcing his gay wedding last month in London.

I'm proud of who I am, and after what felt like an eternity, I'm finally in a place where my heart is secure and content. And I can finally make sense of all of the searching.

And judging by the lyrics of some of those Savage Garden songs, we can only imagine how long and hard his search really was. Regardless, we're genuinely happy for Darren and glad he can stop looking for love "on the mountain, in the sea, in the tree, by the bay, in the pile of hay," etc.

Marriage Announcement [Darren Hayes Online via Socialite's Life]

Pride may be a time for us gays to feel good about ourselves, but that doesn't mean our dogs shouldn't be absolutely humiliated. That's the philosophy of the organizers of the Pride Dog Show in Brighton, UK. With competitions such as "fancy dress" and "waggiest tail," it's clear that the British enjoy making their dogs look as silly as possible.

The show happened on Sunday and we wait with baited breath for photos.

Brighton Pride [Official Site]
Gay Pride dog show announced [Pink News]

Jamaican singer Buju Banton was really looking forward to playing a concert in Brighton's gay district, but unfortunately the gays in the district were less excited about having him, considering that his hit song "Boom, Bye Bye" calls for shooting "batty boys" in the head.

In general we don't approve of censorship, but following all the homophobic violence this Pride month, perhaps it's not the best time to have some lunatic telling his fans to murder gays, considering that sentiment seems to be in the air already.

Show stopped after gay protests [BBC]