Why yes, as one commenter pointed out, a good portion of Queerty's Morning Goods photo spreads feature heteros that cater to the homo eye. Those are there for your masturbatory enjoyment. But when it comes to a magazine like Out – which we showed you the first cover from new editor Aaron Hicklin yesterday – the cover is more than a photo spread: It's a statement.

Learning where Hicklin is taking the title, however, means we'll let his Footballer's Wives go by with a shrug.

While Hicklin won't be altering Out's sexual identity, he does plan to make it, like his own, a bit harder to pin down. "My buzzword has been, 'Let's be [David] Bowie gay rather than Cher gay,'" he said this week, at the end of his first month on the job.

Just as Bowie recorded concept albums, Out, said Hicklin, will publish more themed issues in hopes of stimulating the creativity of its writers and photographers. Hicklin's first full issue as editor, September, will have a back-to-school motif, complete with a fashion shoot inspired by "Lord of the Flies." "The fashion is where you can get all the pictures of cute, sexy boys you want, but shot in a way that's radical and thoughtful," he said.

But alongside the beefcake will be a beefed-up supply of serious reportage, with the goal to produce journalism that could just as easily be found in The New Yorker or Vanity Fair, said Hicklin. "The question I ask myself is, 'What would those magazines do if they were gay?'" he said. "I'd rather have mainstream magazines with an aesthetic I admire as the competition" than other gay titles, he added. "For an editor, you create the magazine you want to read. It doesn't have to be more complicated than that."

And while we'd love to read 12,000 words on the love life of some 1920s glamour girl a la Vanity Fair, we're sure Aaron will find a way to tie energy security in with choosing the best Wednesday night leather bar.

Memo Pad: Out Editor's Straight Talk [WWD]

With Out magazine under near leadership – out went Brendan Lemon, in comes BlackBook editor Aaron Hicklin – we expected change. Improvement. Progress. From the looks of the new (and first) cover from Hicklin, it's nice to see none of our hopes and dreams have come true.

Perhaps there's more white space and fewer coverlines, but it's the same straight guy worship all over again. Not that there's anything terribly wrong with longing over footballers.

Get Yer New ‘Out,’ Much Like the Old ‘Out’ [Gawker]

Our childhood wasn't filled with Nintendo or even Super NES, but we did have GameBoy (okay, the lame GameGear too). And before we donated that GameBoy to a Costa Rican foreign exchange student, we spent endless hours on that tiny screen trying to get past a seemingly impossible level in Zelda. If only we knew then that manipulated the moves of the game's hero, Link, would foreshadow our coming sexuality realizations.

Now, in the June issue of Out, our childhood protaganist finally gets his due: Link is named video gaming's hottest character. Sure, the body dysmorphic disorder in all of us might want to pin his ears back just a tad, but his small, chiseled frame is enough to recreate our childhood longings .. to beat the damn game.

Know a hotter video game character? We want to hear about it. Leave your virtual world suggestions in the comments.

Link immortalized in gay magazine [GAF]

• Out Magazine has a new editor, Aaron Hincklin, and Andrew Sullivan heapes glowing praise on the magazine for hiring a heterosexual for the job. "I think it's great that a straight guy is now heading up a gay magazine," says Sullivan. " Integration is now the baseline from which many of us operate. Good for Out for being unafraid to pick talent over identity." We agree it's an interesting choice for a gay magazine to pick a straight editor …except, um, Aaron Hincklin is not straight. Not one bit. He's as homosexual as Big Gay Al and his carrot cake. Sorry, Andrew, wrong YET AGAIN. [TheDailyTransom]

• New York superstar-weatherman Sam Champion's honey-bunny is all over Manhunt; of particular interest to those who are friendly with the fists–and not in the Mike Tyson kind of way. [Jossip]

• Madonna is not her father's favorite singer: "I'm sorry to say it's a tossup between Tony Bennett and Celine Dion." [PRNewswire]

•…Speaking of Esther: Her concerts are so beyond sold out. Buy tickets immediately on Ebay before they're gone. [Ebay Las Vegas] and [Ebay Chicago]

• The Soulforce Riders had so much fun getting arrested at BYU on Monday, they decided to stick around and do it again. This time, they marched on campus and fell to the ground in a staged "die-in" to symbolize gay Mormons who committed suicide. We know they're nutzo, but we're beginning to like these Soulforcers a lot. They're starting to become fun. If you're going to get arrested, you might as well make it a show. [IndyBay]

In a recent interview with Out Magazine, Madonna dishes on her still-ongoing feud with Sir Elton, and her wishes for a full reconciliation:

He slammed her after she was nominated for a Best Live Act at an awards ceremony, sparking a series of public outbursts aimed at other stars.

Madonna says she is aware that she became “a target” during the row.

"He did send me a letter apologising for his last outburst, right before his wedding,” she admitted. “But he seems to be angry. I seem to have become a target…It's not very gentlemanly or gracious," she added.

We love Sir Elton, but we implore him to give up this nasty grudge. We presume he only sent that pre-wedding letter to ensure delivery of the Richie/Ciccone wedding gift.

Sir Elton John Holding A Grudge [Gay.com UK]

Out Magazine profiles the top ten gay celebrity break-ups because, you know, why should Nick and Jessica get all the fun. Martina and Judy, Dolce and Gabbana, Melissa and Julie – they’re all there. But who made number one? Just ask Celestia:

Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche: When Ellen came out in 1997, it was with a roar that included her character coming out on her self-titled sitcom, a Time magazine cover, and a wonderfully public relationship with Heche. Both became outspoken activists, earning heaps of praise from the community and opening a lot of minds in the process. The couple went their separate ways in 2000. Ellen is now happily involved with actress Portia de Rossi, and Anne is married to cameraman Coley Laffoon.

Our only question: Don’t Renee and Kenny and Tom and Nicole count as gay splits? No? Oh, sorry, whatever were we thinking? Renee isn't gay.

The Top Nine Queer Celeb Splits [Out]

Only two days after snagging an exclusive interview with him, Queerty has learned that Out's editor-in-chief Brendan Lemon is, um, out of the job. Lemon announced his resignation to his staff but did not disclose where he would be going or what he would be doing.

In our interview from earlier this week he said, “ I find it satisfying that I get (readers) to think in new ways.”

Apparently Lemon got pretty bored with making everyone think in those new offbeat ways.

We don't know who'll now be on top, but word is it definately won't be managing editor Bryan Buss. Apparently the publisher wants to inject some fresh young blood into the magazine. You know, make it readable again.

To quote our hyperbolic pal Matt Drudge: “developing.”

• The White House's favorite manwhore, Jeff Gannon, thinks Bush's Supreme Court pick was stealthy. We wonder if that term was decided over pillow talk?

• It's been floating around for a little while now but we think this song is so cute. And so do all of our fag hags.

• When we get bored with the 20 million gay men in the U.S., we're packing our bags, crossing the Atlantic and heading over to India to try our luck on their 55 million. Oh, and note to CNN: next time try to find an even more sterotypical picture to go along with your story.

• Tonight's episode of Great Things About Being… on Bravo takes on queers. We're insulted that we weren't even consulted.

• Out lists the "Least Gay-Friendly States in America." Looking at the red states included we're left in the state of complete and utter un-surprise.

• Happy birthday to a man who makes his own kind of music; our boy Arjan! You must be so honored to share this special day with NRA love bug, Charlton Heston.

Out Magazine lassos an interview with Brokeback Mountain’s Jake Gyllenhaal, two years after naming him the “Hottest Straight Guy We Wish Was Gay.” He’s sensitive, reserved, bashful and about as sexy as James Dean. This is the same guy who has been quoted as confessing, “Every man goes through a period of thinking they’re attracted to another guy.” Has that bitch Kirsten been his beard this entire time? Out steps up and boldly asks him the one question we’ve been dying to ask ourselves ever since Donnie Darko:

So same-sex attraction is not a part of your life and your history.

No. I mean clearly, hopefully, you can see I’m not afraid of it.

What? That’s it? No “I started feeling things for Heath on set?” No “I’d bottom for Heath again?”

So there’s our answer, ladies. Jake is gay. But only in the movies.