John Waters scoffs as the gay protest over John Travolta's role in Hairspray. Washington Blade's Kevin Naff started the guffaw when he objected to Travolta's tie to the anti-gay Scientologists.

Speaking to NYDN, Waters defended Travolta's appearance in the musical movie based on his non-musical movie:

If [Travolta] was homophobic dancing in that fat suit with as many gay people as are working on this film, he would have had a heart attack and been dead.

First of all, he is playing a loving mother, not [the late gay politician] Harvey Milk. I'm all for gay troublemaking, but is this journalist going to police the religion of all actors? Do we boycott Nicole Kidman because she's Catholic?

No, Mr. Waters, we shouldn't boycott Kidman because she's a Catholic! That's ridiculous! We should boycott her because she's a bad actress. And funny looking.

Mika's certainly garnered more than his fair share of gay press in recent months. Most of the ink revolves around the pop-star's secretive sexuality. As we all know, the crooner won't confirm rumors he's a queer.

At first glance, it would appear Out's July issue follows the same old story. Take a peek inside, however, and it soon becomes clear that their Mika-related coverage ain't just a guessing game. The issue serves as a rumination on the state of the gay nation. And with potentially liberating results.

No doubt homos have come a long way over the past four decades or so. While we've certainly got a way to go, Out wonders what's become of the screaming queen. As EIC Aaron Hicklin write in his editor's letter:

It may be disingenuous of Mika to claim that who he sleeps with is immaterial, but for an increasing number young gay men, identifying as gay is becoming anachronistic, if not completely irrelevant.

Have militant gays gone the way of the dodo? Find out, after the jump…

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Eartha Kitt's never been crazier than she is in this video for "Cha Cha Heels" from John Waters' Female Trouble. Backed by legendary electro outfit, Bronski Beat Dead or Alive, Kitt stomps all over the stage, singing, purring and vamping it up as only she knows how. The perfect inspiration for a Monday morn', we think. Hopefully you'll agree.

If you thought Elton John's party looked fun, you should check out some pictures from this weekend's Independent Spirit Awards. Melissa Etheridge may not have won, but Little Miss Sunshine took home a bunch of honors, including best feature and best supporting actor for Alan Arkin.

We've included some pictures after the jump. They're all Polaroidy and shit. It is, after all, a celebration of independent spirits. When you're done looking them over, you can see more here. They won't be as big, though. Sorry.

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That's right, kids, we're getting all emotional on your asses. Over the next few weeks we'll be taking a little look at sex and love in The Emotions Issue. We've chose to open it up with a video of Whitney Houston's "So Emotional" not only because we love the song, but because we think Houston's words capture the complexities of love.

As the title suggests, she gets so "emotional", but never does she say "love". To us, love's less an emotion and more of a concept made of myriad emotions: frustration, jealousy, confusion, anger, elation. The list goes on. Over the next few weeks we'll take a little look at all those and more.

Don't expect mawkish love tales - although, there may be one or two. We're getting down to the nitty gritty, looking at all the passions, sentiments and feelings that go into that great abstract notion.

Also, we loved sharing your youthful pictures during The Youth Issue, so we're going to try something similar with The Emotions Issue. We want you kids to send in pictures of people, places and things you love and, of course, why. Don't send in a picture of you and your boyfriend or girlfriend and say, "I love Chris". We want concrete reasons here, kids - not only does it give us a sick thrill, but it forces you to reflect on why you get so emotional. Hopefully it won't lead to any breakups.

Tune in Monday for the first actual installment of The Emotions Issue: our boffo interview with John Waters!

Hopefully you didn't destroy too many braincells this weekend and remember on Friday we posted part one of a two-part interview with one of our favorite New York City-based musicians, Cazwell. In case you did, in fact, do irreparable damage, here's the link to part one, in which he chatted about his growing up in Worcester, Massachusetts, his creative routine and what he'd do if he weren't making music.

Caught up? Good. We switch gears a bit in this installment. After the jump, read what Cazwell has to say about losing his virginity, why he doesn't call himself "hip-hop" and who he'd love to write an album for (hint: she's rich, blond and named after a city - oh, and a hotel).

(Also, be sure to head over to Cazwell's MySpace page and/or website for his upcoming tour dates. You'll be glad you did.)

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Good news for all you art-fags out there. A new charity, United States Artists, has raised $20 million to fund myriad arts projects across the nation. The recipients, who will be announced on December 4th, will each receive $50,000 to complete their aesthetic endeavors. Applicants were nominated by 150 anonymous creative leaders. While none of their names have been released, it is known that queer filmmaker John Waters (pictured as seen by artist Ralph Michael Brekan) suggested a few. Sicko wonders, no doubt. And we hope…

New Charity to Start Plan for $50,000 Artists' Grants [The New York Times]

• A judge in Maryland struck down a law making same-sex marriage illegal–and now she may be impeached for it. We can see Baltimore-based John Waters' movie about it already. [AP]

• First Madonna makes plans for Coachella. Now queer favorite Goldfrapp to perform at the huge, enormous, fabulous South By Southwest Music Festival. The gays should really pay attention to his music festival thing. No one goes to circuit parties anymore. [GCN]

• Gay adoption is totally banned in Florida–the only state with such policies, in fact–but a new law might change that. Maybe. Floridians, call your state reps! [AP]

• Moscow mayor takes Communist view on gay pride: still a big no-no. Too bad, Johnny Weir would have been a great Grand Marshall. Hell, we would have gone with him! And suddenly, I know why the Mayor said "no"… [Dallas Voice]

• The king of Baltimore John Waters is set to host Til’ Death Do Us Part, a new television series reenacting husband/wife murder cases. [Queer Day]

• Genre Magazine has opened voting for its Man of the Year contest. Vote now. And even though the guy named de León is a Dj and wears those tacky LA armbands halfway up his arm, we still find him incredibly sexy. [Genre Magazine]

• It looks like Tim Gunn takes style direction from another fashionable lady, the incomparable Kia. You should be reading her blog, FYI. [Exceptional Mediocrity]

• Colin Farrell has beef with Jossip, which means he has beef with us, which means he has beef with The Gays. So you better watch it, Mister. [Jossip]

• A petition to get Brokeback Mountain to Utah and a smart essay on the “resurgence in the craft of American filmmaking.” [Huffington Post]

For those queens in or visiting Southern California, you have just a few weeks left to jaunt on over to the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach to see a retrospective of iconoclastic and more importantly fabulous director John Water’s recent photographic and sculptural work. Ok, sounds a little too arty for a just-after-Christmas trip, but this is not some chain-smoking art fag. This is a Hairspray/Pink Flamingos art fag, so you know it’s worth the trip.

In his artworks, Waters uses still photography to reflect on the visual vocabulary and the emotional and psychological power of filmmaking. The act of extracting images from films that takes place in these photographic works allows Waters to emphasize the multitude of ways in which we respond to both moving and still photographic images. Through his insistent allusions to the editing process, Waters encourages viewers to consider how each of us creates our own personal narratives as we decode, interpret and re-contextualize the plethora of images that constantly bombard us.

A mixture of sculpture, photographs, and never before seen short films (our favorite is simply titled Farrah) the exhibition promises to put a shot of wig glue and hairspray into the staid arm of the Orange County art scene. We’re going just to see his recreation of the Kennedy Assassination Zapruder Film with the late drag queen Divine as Jackie O. What more could you want from art? Runs through January 15th.

John Waters: Change of Life [Orange County Museum of Art Official Site]

Bruce Vilanch recently took time from his busy schedule to chat with Bradford Shellhammer about the blogs he reads, the Bush administration, and this year’s Oscars. He also dishes on a few of our favorite divas.

Ok. Hi Bruce. We at Queerty love you. And we are sad we missed your show Almost Famous 2005 in San Francisco. What did we miss?

Full-frontal nudity. The first three rows had to move back.

You have so many projects lined up. Tell us about Queer Duck?

I play myself. It's a stretch. But it's never gotten in Jerry Seinfeld's way. This is a feature-length version of the cartoons that used to follow Queer as Folk on Showtime. They once had me pop in as a guest joke, and we all thought that this time I should do the voice instead of Mercedes McCambridge.

And Celebrity Fit Club! This is one of our guilty pleasures. We only wish you were on the same season at Jackee. How did this come about?

I think I can lay the blame at the feet of ant. Which is better than laying ants at the feet of, oh never mind. He recommended me and when they called they said we're hoping you can add some humor to the proceedings. Losing weight is such martyrdom that people give themselves over to their own drama. Maybe it's because they're deprived of the one thing that they could count on — food. It's a pity party three times a day. So I'm trying to do it and have a few chuckles along the way.

After the jump Bruce talks about Bette, Whoopi, and Miss. Ross.

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• The book Sextrology has been selling like crazy all over the globe without having to filter any content. Not anymore. Russia has de-gayed the book without obtaining the consent of the authors or publisher HarperCollins.

• If you haven't yet seen the teaser to Superman Returns starring soon to be Hollywood "It Boy" Brandon Routh, check it out. All we have to say is "Tom Welling who?"

• Over 6,500 gay marriages have occurred in Massachusetts since the State Supreme Court ruled that queers should not be excluded from attending marriage counseling. Congrats, people.

• An openly gay State Senator from Vermont was seriously injured in a car wreck yesterday. We hope he gets better. So far we haven't heard anything from those tactless fundamentilsts claiming this was caused by some wrathful gay-hating God.

• John Waters's "dog crap-eating tranny" state of mind invades the OC. His photography show is now at the Orange County Museum Of Art.

• Andy has some photos of a recent hazing by the Marquette University lacrosse team. We're bummed Bill O'Reilly wasn't there to cover that wild collegiate episode.

You could yet plan a trip to the International German Bear Week, being held in Cologne, Germany from November 21 – 29. During the festively furry week, events will be held in saunas, discos and bars. The contestants for Mr. Bear 2005 may be seen here.

As part of your pre-Bear Week education, you might read an article on Bears in this week’s New York magazine. The piece gets right down to business, describing a bear gathering at The Dugout in the Village as smelling: “beery, sweaty, like a frat party gone on way too long.” If you didn’t know that a bear’s fag hags are called “Goldilocks,” you will after reading this article.

John Waters says: “The porn section in Lambda Rising in Baltimore is half-nude 350-pound men, and I don’t get it.” Amibearornot.com, by contrast, offers the opportunity to rate bears in their birthday bear suits on a scale of one to ten. More National Geographic than Playgirl, it nonetheless is not safe for work.

The Sunday Styles section of the New York Times featured a story on the gentrification of Provincetown and the battle between the haves and the have-nots. With housing prices sky-rocketing and many hotels and businesses closing to be made into condos, the transient population of Provincetown, its artists and bohemian free spirits, are finding it hard to keep up.

Film director John Waters is interviewed in the piece and boils the problem down to a larger shift in American culture. "We live in a much less bohemian time," He states. "Outsider is such a tired word. There's no great youth movement happening; there are no hippies today, no punk rockers. The world has changed. Some gay people are straighter than my parents."

Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan is also interviewed in the story calling the changes in Ptown part of the "bourgeoisification of the gay world." Apparently, the wharf where Mr. Sullivan lives was once a "seedy sex-and-drugs party spot." We bet he misses the old neighborhood.