CBS' 60 Minutes will this Sunday rerun a report looking at Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Gay soldier Darren Manzella's appeared on camera during the segment, and got sacked as a result.

Darren Manzella is one brave soldier!

The Iraqi veteran made waves when he came out on 60 Minutes last year, a big no no considering the military's ban on openly gay soldiers. Despite the hubbub, Manzella returned to active duty and, at the time, it seemed that the government had no plans of ousting him. Unfortunately that was not the case and Manzella received his walking papers last week.

While the military brass didn't approve of Manzella's man-loving, he says his peers didn't seem to mind. On the contrary - they were "proud!"

After my appearance on 60 Minutes I received a lot of support from most of my colleagues. Some were surprised that I made such a public statement but told me that they were proud of me for standing up for people who could not speak out. To them, I was still SERGEANT Manzella though. I really didn’t notice a change in how I was treated or viewed.

Many of my peers and co-workers voiced to me that they felt it was unfair that I was being discharged. They felt, as many people in our military and society feel, that an able and competent soldier should be retained especially in this time when we are fighting two wars and need every capable man and woman who is willing to put on a uniform and serve their country.

The Republicans, of course, fail to see Manzella's logic.

Anderson didn't reveal, of course, that he's got a life-sized Becks doll tucked in the corner of his closet.

It's a very happy holiday for out sergeant Darren Manzella! Servicemembers Legal Defense Network tell us that the openly gay sergeant returned home to the United States yesterday:

Sergeant Manzella arrived back in the United States yesterday with his unit, returning from a long tour in Kuwait. He got back to his base in the States yesterday, safe and sound.

As you can imagine, his CBS appearance on Sunday has caused quite the buzz among his fellow troops, but Darren reports to SLDN that he's received an overwhelmingly positive response from many people - both inside and out of the armed forces - who have contacted him to offer support and congratulations. (And we've been passing along your messages to Darren, too. You can still email him at darren@sldn.org.)

Now, of course, Darren's thoughts are turning to the upcoming holidays. And, we're happy to report, it looks like he'll likely be able to spend Christmas at home with parents and siblings, who are all immensely proud of him.

That warms the cockles of our heart.

Hello there. We hope you embark on a fun weekend during this time of the Spring Break. Here's a run-down of some of our favorite posts this week, to tide you over:

• Straight Guys Stroke Longer Than Gays.

• Massachusetts to allow discrimination based on religion. Doesn't everyone know that whenever a new law is voted into effect, religious organizations are exempt if they don't like the outcome? As if.

• No more knock-off bags for you, Miss Thing.

• 60 Minutes discusses the possibility of a "queen gene." For research, they spent a day in the Queerty offices and determined yes, there is one.

• Power Rangers Gone Wild on Sean Cody!

• Netherlands shows gay film to refugees. And they better like it, or it's back to the desert.

AND OF COURSE…

• Queerty wins the Bloggie! Thank you, thank you.

60 Minutes had an interesting piece on the origins of homosexuality last night. Basically, they looked at the origins of sexual orientation and found, you guessed it, it’s complicated. Still, they did come up with some interesting tidbits:

"The more older brothers a man has, the greater that man's chance of being gay," says Bailey.

Asked if that's true, Bailey says, "That is absolutely true."

If this comes as a shock to you, you’re not alone. But it turns out, it’s one of the most solid findings in this field, demonstrated in study after study.

And that’s before they get to the right-handed, left-handed stuff. Still, it’s an interesting piece (you can read online). We just wonder what they were getting at when they did the part of 8 year-old Adam who showed the camera his Bratz Baby doll because we have one too. Does that prove we’re gay, too? No, it was probably the overly molested Ken doll we've had since we were five.

The Science of Sexual Orientation [CBS News]