Life rolls on for Azariah Southworth.

Southworth became a very public figure in April after he came out of the closet, a brave move for the host of a Christian kid's show. Though life's been hectic over the past few months, this Nashville-based boy remains committed to the Bible and is proving it by joining Soulforce Q on a six-week tour across the United States.

Southworth gushes:

I’m so excited to be a part of a passionate and young group, working towards equal rights for GLBT students at these Christian colleges. It will be a life changing experience for me, I’m excited to learn each of their stories. I know we will be greeted with hostility at some campuses and arrested if we enter onto their property, but it will be worth it. Their policies of discrimination must end. I’m excited to be a part of something which is beginning the end of these policies.

CONTINUED »

A gay/straight activist super team took to Greenville, South Carolina's mean streets Monday night. After marching to city hall, the group set up camp in the popular Piazza Bergamo to remind pedestrians that gays face discrimination.

Participant Susan Craine told NBC affiliate WYFF, "They're human just like us. Why wouldn't we stay out for them? This is the last civil rights frontier."

Craine and her allies joined hundreds of others in for the Soulforce-sponsored straight-led, seven-day protest extravaganza, Seven Straight Nights For Civil Rights. Alright!

The Equality Riders woke up to some naughty obscenities after a group of punk haters went wacko with some lipstick. The gay activists on wheels had just kicked off their second annual tour and stopped by Dordt College in Sioux City, Iowa.

In case you're not up on all the activist gossip, the Soulforce Equality Ride tours the country and goes to universities to discuss "the damaging effects of homophobic doctrine, the false notion that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender identities are sick and sinful". That is, why butt fuckers and carpet muncher won't be rotting in hell. Dordt College students seem to think otherwise, for among the graffiti one can see some scrawling that appears to say, "God doesn't like gay feary [sic] fucks".

They also left images of penises and this image to the right. We think it's supposed to be a vagina, a hypothesis founded on nothing but the fact that it was right next to the aforementioned penis. If it is meant to be a vagina, it's not a very good rendition. Also, why did they put a vagina next to a penis? Shouldn't the vagina go with another vagina?

Oh well, best not to expect too much from such a brood. The haters, however, guaranteed a spot in our annal of queer graffiti: Yeah, Spray It!

Too bad it wasn't under better circumstances, huh?

• Army Staff Sgt. Edmundo F. Estrada from Virginia's Fort Eustis has been charged with rape, indecent assault, having an inappropriate relationship with a trainee, and cruelty and maltreatment of subordinates, after another solider alleged Estrada forced him to dress up like Superman and then, well, raped him. He told his victim that he'd previously "help soldiers with their self-confidence and alleviate depression". Um right… Could it be Devery L. Taylor's going to get a cell mate? [Pilot Online]

• The media's been so focussed on Ann Coulter's faggot flinging that no one's acknowledging her suggestion that gays should be Republicans: "Gays make a lot of money and are victims of crime… [And] Republicans are anti-tax and anti-crime." Lane Hudson says she's sort of, not really saying gays should be protected by hate crime laws. Do you agree or do you think Hudson's had a few too many poppers? [News From The Left]

• Long Hill, New Jersey mayor and practicing lesbian Gina Genovese will be running for Senator. That's really all you need to know. [The Star Ledger]

• Soulforce rides again! And they're coming to a town near you! [Soulforce]

• So, too, are Scissor Sisters! [Scissor Sisters]

• We knew it all along: Britney Spears is the anti-Christ! [Mollygood]

• Rich old tax evader and gay marriage activist Charles Merill wants to be the next non-gay gay artistic messiah. To this end, he's entered a painting into Charles Saatchi's art competition, Smackdown. And, not surprisingly, he wants you vote. How do we know? He sent out his own press release. [Earth Times]

• DNC Chairman Howard Dean on the late AIDS activist, Bob Hattoy: "This weekend, America lost a true champion for justice. Aside from being a fierce advocate on causes ranging from LGBT rights and HIV issues, to civil liberties and the environment, Bob Hattoy was a wonderfully charming man with a tremendous sense of humor… Through Bob's life and service to our country, we are all reminded of the need to do more to encourage greater participation of all Americans, including gays and lesbians, in our political process." [365 Gay]

Two intrepid activists from Soulforce (the people who rode around on buses getting arrested at various Christian colleges) will try to join the army today as an act of protest against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." We wonder if they will actually meet with a recruiter or if they will be shown the door for arriving in a huge pink bus. Hopefully the police won't be called in to quell the disorder that these two homos might cause, because we all know: the very infrastructure of the army could be threatened if these prospective recruits tell without being asked.

Openly gay men try to enlist in military [Washington Blade]
Soulforce [Official Site]

• Opponents of samesex marriage shouldn't get their panties in a bunch. In the places where the gays can marry legally, not very many of them are choosing to do it. [AP]

• Twenty West Point cadets, 14 of whom are straight, anonymously donated $670 to the Soulforce Equality Ride. The "cuteness" of one of the one of the female riders was a reason cited for the donation. Those randy army ladies can be such rascals. [Ex-gay Watch]

• Even with the internal support, twenty-one Soulforce riders were detained briefly yesterday and then released with tickets after trying to demonstrate at West Point to protest Don't Ask, Don't Tell. [365 Gay]

• An openly gay former staffer for President Clinton has called for a boycott of donations to the Democratic party until they make a commitment to countering anti-gay initiatives. We will gladly participate since we are completely broke anyway. [Washington Blade]

A bill is being passed through the US Congress that would allow religious schools to bypass local non-discrimination laws, and legally reject students that do not fit their religious doctrines.

The bill, an amendment to the Higher Education Act, says that school accrediting boards cannot make adherence to non-discrimination laws a requirement.

Obviously, this is in reaction to issues like the Soulforce Equality Ride, as well as the University of the Cumberlands' decision to expel a student for saying he is gay. Cumberlands, a private religious school, is supposed to receive public funding for a new School of Pharmacy, but the ACPE (Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education) may not approve any school that does not abide by its policy of non-discrimination, which (thankfully) includes sexual orientation. Oops.

CONTINUED »

• 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]

• The Soulforce Arrestmobile stops off in Utah, at Brigham Young University; five people get cuffed. We're not sure what they were expecting. After all, this is the school that kicked out Julie from The Real World New Orleans, after she was filmed sleeping in the same room as a boy–and sharing a house with a homosexual! Mormons don't mess around, just watch Big Love and you'll see. [Salt Lake Tribune]

• Also in the "no duh" category: San Francisco has been officially recognized as the world's gayest city, with 20% of all men being of the homosexual variety. Big fun. Although we didn't know 25% of them have HIV. Not that San Francisco is a hotbed of HIV infections; in fact, the city is seeing a 10% drop in HIV infections among gay men.

We presume the high numbers are a result of people with HIV moving to San Francisco, to take advantage of the excellent health care, as well as HIV+ people who are generally much healthier with the current medications available than they were in the past. [Reuters]

• Chrysler Motors is drawing the ire of an ever-increasing mass of people for it's "Silly Little Fairy" ads. We've watched the commercial a few more times, and we agree it's pretty rude. There's laughing with, and then there's laughin at. We're just wondering: where is the "Gay And Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" (GLAAD) in all of this? Oh, handing out awards to Charlize Theron for a movie she did three years ago, so they can sell tickets to a party and keep the money. They're much to busy to be doing any actual work countering defamation. [ConsumerAffairs] and [24/7Gay]

• Paula Abdul claims she got drunk and fell down was assaulted by a man at a "private party" over the weekend. Oh Paula, just because Fox signed you for three more years doesn't mean you can go starting fights. [AP]

• Kids in California won't have to rely on their parents to teach them what "gay" is for much longer if a controversial new bill is passed that would require homosexuality to be addressed in a positive way in school textbooks. So now instead of "James Buchanan the bachelor President," California might teach "James Buchanan the possibly gay President who lived with a man that many called 'Aunt Fancy.'" [Pink News]

• A fraternity at the University of Vermont allegedly engaged in Brokeback Mountain-themed hazing, which is illegal in Vermont (hazing, not cowboys fucking). We hope that photos surface. [WCAX]

• Child molestation between adults and their step-children is totally legal in Connecticut as long as both parties are the same sex. At least for now. [Washington Blade]

• Those intrepid Soulfource Equality Ride members (are there any left that aren't in jail?) are taking their big bus to the Mormons. [Deseret News]

The SoulForce Arrest-A-Mobile stopped off at Oral Roberts University, dropping off a few more protesters into the hands of the local police, forcing them to pay bail and support the local economy that suppresses the gays they are trying to help.

Wait, did that come off a little harsh? Sorry. We know we're supposed to be supportive. We acknowledge their hearts are in the right place. But there comes a point when a "protest" turns into a "spectacle," and people start to watch like they're watching a car accident. I.e., going to religious colleges to protest about gay rights–and letting them know you're coming, so they call the cops to meet you when you show up–we're just saying, we can hear the tires starting to squeal.

Although on the other hand, they're getting some pretty good street cred, right? That's fun.

SoulForce Arrested At Oral Roberts University [KOTV]

• Soulforce's "tour" bus has been vandalized with graffiti. We just hope the spray paint color the vandals used is much more eye-pleasing than school bus yellow. [WBIR]

• Don't expect to see the South Park episode with Tom Cruise refusing to come out of the closet anytime soon. It seems that not only does the Scientologist have control over his wife, but also over Viacom. [NY Post]

• Who cares about drama and sexual tension on the set of Project Runway. What we really want to know, is WTF was Guadalupe on during the reunion show? [The Village Voice]

• Barefoot Britney steps on an old needle lying on the ground. Gay fans say: "Was she exposed to HIV?" Kevin Federline says: "Oh, there it is." [ShowBiz News]

• Anti-gay public school to open in Oregon. Since when are church schools funded by taxes? [basicrights]

• A male student is in trouble for wearing dress and a wig to his prom. “'The only thing that Mr. Lofy did wrong was wearing a purse that didn’t match the dress and open-toed shoes before Memorial Day," says his attorney. We had no idea lawyers had any sense of style. [MSNBC]

Seven members of the Soulforce Equality Ride were arrested at Pat Robertson's Regent University today, for tresspassing on school grounds as they tried to speak out against the school's homophobic policies.

Several days ago, they were arrested for tresspassing at "gays are the devil" Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, as they tried to speak to any gay students. This time, officials at Regent University warned them they'd be arrested if they set foot on school grounds, and yesterday they chose to protest across the street…but today, they went for it.

We're not sure what to make of Soulforce. On one hand, everyone has the right to free beliefs, and that includes the right to dislike whoever you want. Soulforce isn't protesting against a government agency funded by tax dollars that we all pay; they are entering private property. They are asking to be arrested.

On the other hand, the great civil rights leaders of our past had to break the law to accomplish change. Blacks, women, Jews were all arrested and harrassed by the law, when they forced their way into places where they weren't welcome.

For that matter, if Pat Robertson ever stepped foot in the Queerty offices, we'd…well, we'd probably find it hilarious. But we'd definitely call security, if for no other reason than to take pictures of him being arrested and then use them for our Christmas cards.

Soulforce arrested AGAIN [365gay.com]