Sorry I haven't come around to introducing myself sooner, but I wanted to focus on not sucking (look at the fodder I'm giving the commenters already) before saying, "Hello."

I'm really excited to join the Queerty community as your editor. I've been a fan of the site for a long time and I think its role as an independent source of gay news and also just plain cool stuff is an important one. I say "community", because that's how I see the site and I will depend on you to let me know what stories you want to see, what works and of course, to tell me when I screw up. We're not always going to agree on everything, but my goal is to facilitate a discussion about our community, which is larger than any single one of us. I know I have big shoes to fill with Andrew's departure and I hope you'll bear with me as I get started.

CONTINUED »

Well, reader - I don't know how to tell you this, so I'll just come out and do it: today's my last day as Queerty's head homo.

Yes, after over two years, I'm moving on to other virtual pastures. Before I go, however, I must say it's been a pleasure writing this site everyday. Okay, it wasn't always a pleasure, but I can honestly say it's been a trip. We've had some ups, some downs, a lot of laughs, a few tears and other emotions that I'm assuming we've all experienced.

If you want to find me - and I hope you do! - head on over to wowOwow.com, where I'll be chugging away as the new managing editor.

As for Queerty - a swell new editor will be introduced on Monday, but you'll have to wait until then for the big reveal. Trust I wouldn't leave you in incapable hands.

I'm sure I'll be seeing you - have a few more tricks up my sleeve, if you will, and promise to write lots of love letters. Who knows? Some of them may be dirty…

xo,
AB

PS: Julie Andrews and those von Trapp brats say it best - after the jump…

CONTINUED »

The New York Musical Festival — the three-week long showcase of new works in musical theatre — kicks off its fifth annual event Monday, and tickets are already selling out! You're invited to buy yours now to show likes Wood (starring Cady Huffman and Jason Michael Snow), Bonnie & Clyde, Idaho!, and The Jerusalem Syndrome. Hailed as "the Sundance of Musical Theatre," NYMF is the only place you can get a first look at what's to come to the New York stage — perhaps you heard of a little show called Altar Boyz? It started at NYMF.

Click here to visit NYMF.org and buy your tickets (just $20 each!), or call or 212-352-3101 to order by phone. Queerty is proud to be an official NYMF sponsor.

Celebrating its 5th anniversary, Sept. 14's Annual Wedding March gives New Yorkers the opportunity to stand in solidarity to support gay marriage and bridge the gap in the civil inequality. In New York City beginning at 11am that Sunday, participants are invited to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and then join Scott Nevins and The Gender Offenders for a picnic with performances at the end of the march in Brooklyn. Sponsored by The Center, PFLAG FCA NYC, Stonewall Democrats, The Loft, MCCNY, Out Astoria, and Queerty. Interested? Register here. The Wedding March will also take place simultaneously in Albany. Visit Marriage Equality New York for more information.

Things could get sticky at this month's Democratic national convention!

Senator Hillary Clinton told supporters that she would not rule out having her pledged delegates heard at the nominating event, which should be all about Barack Obama.

I happen to believe that we will come out stronger if people feel that their voices were heard and their views respected. I think that is a very big part of how we actually come out unified.
…
Because I know from just what I'm hearing that there's incredible pent-up desire, and I think that people want to feel like, 'OK, it's a catharsis, we're here, we did it, and then everybody get behind Sen. Obama.' That is what most people believe is the best way to go.

We're not sure presumptive nominee Obama agrees…

Potential Obama anger aside, the candidate and Clinton released a joint statement yesterday and vowed to work toward a stronger Democratic party, "We will ensure that the voices of everyone who participated in this historic process are respected and our party will be fully unified heading into the November election."

See the video of Clinton's remarks after the jump…

CONTINUED »

Gay legislative love pays off for politicians - especially if they're Republicans.

Assembly Republicans who bucked party leaders and voted to legalize same-sex marriage in New York have been rewarded with an outpouring of donations from gay rights advocates across the nation.
….
The money has flowed in at such a rapid pace that these Republicans have seen more than half of their individual contributions in the latest filing cycle come from donors with addresses outside the state.

Their donations also far surpassed political giving from the national gay rights movement to Assembly Democrats who voted for the bill, including Democratic members in upstate districts with conservative leanings.

Let this be a lesson to the rest of you grand old partiers…

Politics can be a meticulous business. There are voters to analyze, boxes to be checked, heads to be counted and put in a row. Well organized electoral campaigns require a certain amount of numeric dissection. And, as with any game, numbers matter, especially when discussing potentially divisive social constituencies, like the gays.

CONTINUED »

Barack Obama's same-sex love fest continues!

The presidential hopeful not only expanded his gay efforts this week, but the Senator also clarified his position on gay adoption and other family matters.

The statement comes after pro-gay Family Equality Council - spurred by John McCain's prohibitive comments last month - pressed Obama and his Republican rival on their respective positions.

CONTINUED »

Gay-baiting previously played an enlarged role in American politics.

We all remember the 2000 and 2004 elections, where culture warriors threw stones, Bibles and unholy words toward the lavender set. This year's already shaping up to different, what with the Iraq War and an economy in the toilet.

Thus, the kids over at AfterElton have been wondering whether gay-baiting will influence this year's general election. In their quest for the truth, the homo-journos turned to some televisual political pundits, like Chris Matthews, CNN's John King, Keith Olbermann and others. Here's what Matthews had to say when asked about how the zeitgeist has changed over the past four years:

It’s a much different climate. It’s a totally different climate. It’s much more evenly matched, you know what I’m saying? [The marriage issue] is no longer a slam-dunk like it was as a statute. I think people are thinking about it, evolving on it and I don’t think it has the scare factor, culturally, that it had…. I think a lot of things have unintended consequences. You know, look at the Larry Craig story – it was so sad, that it made a lot of people say, “Wait a minute. If you don’t respect individuals, they’re not going to respect themselves.” And I think that’s a very good conservative argument for marriage. You know what I mean?

Olbermann echoed Matthews remarks, but put further emphasis on the economic influences: "When nobody can afford to go to a gay wedding, a straight wedding or a protest of a gay wedding, [the issue] is not going to make any difference." That doesn't mean, of course, that sexuality won't come into play in other, more local ways.

Kansas-based Democrat Gail Finney's not into her party's ideological big tent. Or at least not if it's going to cost her an election.

Early this week, as the state was preparing to go to the primary polls, Finney surrogate Dr. Peggy Elliott launched a mail and phone campaign smearing Finney rival Inga Taylor, pictured, who could have become the state's first lesbian, black lawmaker.

CONTINUED »

Things got heated after Donald Hitchcock's failed mediation with the Democratic National Committee.

A former gay outreach officer, Hitchcock's suing the party organ for discrimination and wrongful termination. He claims Chairman Howard Dean and other leaders sacked him in retaliation for his boyfriend's public criticism of the party. The DNC denies the allegations and potential settlement talks crumbled last week.

And months of tension exploded soon after…

CONTINUED »

A Northern Ireland church could be in a heap of trouble.

The Advertising Authority’s currently investigating whether a Presbyterian parish violated advertising codes by releasing an advert condemning gay pride.

In addition to calling same-sex love an abomination and gays as “perverts,” the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church also suggested that pride events may bring on more anti-gay violence:

In the advertisement, the church — led by the Rev David McIlveen — justifies its hostility towards the gay community by ‘quoting’ from the Bible and lambasts the need for a parade which celebrates a “profitable lifestyle”.

The church condemns recent homophobic attacks, but said some attacks may have been “provoked” by a section of the gay community’s “desire to be known for a perverted form of sexuality” and called on followers to continue to protest against them despite these attacks.

“It is a cause for regret that a section of the community desire to be known for a perverted form of sexuality, which in certain incidences has provoked the unacceptable and totally unjustifiable response of violence. Such a response, however, must not intimidate the church into silence,” the advertisement says.

So, while they don't condone violence, they're not going to work to end it… Love that moral relativity!

Ed note: We hate having to report stories like this…

The murder trial of eighteen-year old Jamaican Shanniel Hyatt began in England this week. Hyatt stands accused of strangling 39-year old trans woman Kellie Telesford after discovering her nuts and bolts. Then, after he had covered her dead body with a sheet, Hyatt proceeded to loot Telesford's apartment, according to prosecutors.

Hyatt, meanwhile, insists he didn't kill Telesford, but his story's anything but straight…

CONTINUED »

A Utah newspaper sparked a war of words after publishing a lesbian couple's civil union announcement. And, rather than folding to cancellation demands and irate readers, nor blatantly supporting the scores of supporters, the paper decided to boil it all down to the nitty gritty green:

…Kresta Spencer and Carrie Taylor's ad about their upcoming union in Salt Lake City ran July 27 in The Herald-Journal.

Since then, the newspaper has received two letters to the editor (one for and one against), 10 e-mails, several phone calls and four subscription cancellations over publication of the announcement.

A Friday letter to the editor denouncing the ad drew about 160 pro and con comments on the paper's Web site by late Monday.
…
The paper released a statement Friday, saying editors followed a policy on gay-wedding announcements - written in 2006 in case the situation ever arose. The Spencer-Taylor ad was the first. "Since wedding announcements are paid space…the newspaper management feels a responsibility to give all paying customers equal access to the service," the statement read.

Money: a value we can all understand…