Congressman Barney Frank (Getty Images/Alex Wong)

Fallout from President-elect Barack Obama's decision to have Pastor Rick Warren deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration next month continued this week with the story getting a great deal of ink from the traditional press. Earlier in the week, Obama issued a statement regarding his choice while yesterday MSNBC's Rachel Maddow weighed in and out Congressman Barney Frank issued a statement. 

Read all the details after the jump!

Dennis Miller, Bill O'Reilly

Man, some conservatives just can't get over themselves about gay men and sex, can they? And given how many times they go after Barney Frank, it sure seems as if they can't handle a gay man with power who doesn't conform to their stereotypes of gay men. Case in point, Miller uses the issue of the government's recent bailout of AIG as a chance to crack a joke about Barney Frank wanting to get arrested.

Let me save Miller the bother of apologizing. It's not accepted because I wouldn't believe it had an iota of sincerity to it. 

Sick.

Lance Bass and Lacey Scwhimmer (Photo: Kelsey McNeal/ABC)

Following this assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Above, Lance Bass wows the crowd with his and Lacey's spotlight dance during last night's group number. All three judges agreed that Lance and Lacey were the stars of the routine, and we'll find out tonight if it combined with his barefoot samba will put him through to next week.

• In related news, happy birthday to gay-fave Kathy Griffin, who just last night cheered on gay BFF Lance on Dancing With the Stars and will no doubt celebrate tonight with some Clay Aiken-related cake.

• Questionably-named radio host Lars Larson ran a fake political ad calling gay politician Barney Frank "Barney Fag" ... which is particularly unoriginal considering that the name was coined years ago by Fred Fagstone. (I mean really, seriously?!)

• Above, from 365Gay: Could the gay vote be the swing vote in today's election?

• Our condolences go out to the family of Barack Obama, whose grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, passed away yesterday at age 87. The family plans to have a small, private ceremony to honor her.

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I love Barney Frank. As chaiman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, this past week he's been all over the news channels discussing the 700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout. Regardless of what you think about the proposed bailout plan (and feel free to share in the comments section) there is something quite reassuring for the GLBT community in having him be so visible of late.   

The man is enormously popular with his constituents. First elected in 1980, he’s been re-elected 12 times. (Republicans haven’t even bothered to field an opponent for his house seat since 2002).

Frank is also one of only two openly gay members of the U.S. House of Representatives (the other being Tammy Baldwin).  He came out publicly in 1987.

1990 was probably a low point in Frank’s political career.  His former housemate Steve Gobie went public with claims that he had been operating a male escort service out of Frank’s apartment.  Ironically, Republican Larry Craig led the charge to have Frank expelled or censured over this scandal. Ultimately, the House voted only to reprimand him.  Even with that incident hanging over him, Barney Frank won his 1990 re-election bid with 66% of the vote.

Throughout his political career Frank has been a staunch advocate for GLBT causes. He has also publicly threatened to out closeted politicians who use their seat of power to advocate anti-gay positions.

As Frank explained what has come to be called “The Frank Rule:”  “I think there’s a right to privacy. But that right to privacy should not be a right to hypocrisy. And people who want to demonize other people shouldn't then be able to go home and close the door and do it themselves.”

All too often closeted homosexuals are the most publicly homophobic – so you can’t help but wonder if Frank’s not so veiled threat to out closeted anti-gay politicians has helped to reduce the homophobic vitriol in American politics.

Bless you for that and a thousand other things, Barney.

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Today is the 68th birthday of Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank. Frank is one of two openly gay Congressman (the other being Tammy Baldwin) According to Washingtonian magazine, a survey of Capitol Hill staffers named Frank the "brainiest", "funniest", and "most eloquent" member of the House. He is also credited with the "Frank rule" which holds that it is acceptable to out a closeted gay person, if that person uses their power or notoriety to hurt gay people. As Frank himself has described it:

I think there's a right to privacy. But the right to privacy should not be a right to hypocrisy. And people who want to demonize other people shouldn't then be able to go home and close the door and do it themselves.

• The Beckham's waxy buildup in nation's capitol. Madam Tussauds has loaned wax replicas of David & Victoria Beckham to man a "kissing booth" at the Cherry Blossom Soccer Tournament in Washington, D.C. Are we sure these aren't the real mccoy's? With Posh in particular it's hard to tell.

• Matilda Rose may not be the only progeny of Heath Ledger. She might have an older sister.

• Sony Pictures television officially launched C-Spot yesterday, which is a new online comedy channel. One of the series running for the next thirteen weeks on C-Spot is Gaytown which chronicles the travails of a straight man trapped in a gay world — pointing up all the little injustices gays face in the real world, except in reverse. Here's the second episode, where closeted straight dudes are busted in a Gaytown public restroom in the middle of their fantasy sports draft:

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A group of LGBT activists (including Scott Hall, Frank Kameny, US Representative Barney Frank and Amazing Race winner Chip Arndt) are working towards the creation of a memorial to victims of anti-gay hate crimes. The effort, Gay American Heroes, aims to "honor and remember LGBT victims of hate crimes" while also seeking to increase awareness about violent crimes against LGBT people. The exhibit will show pictures of hate crime victims, along with their names and stories, on a 100 foot long display of rainbow colored panels. Included will be the recently murdered Michael Sandy pictured here.

The exhibit is meant to travel and be displayed in college campuses, gay pride events and other communities. It will include interactive elements including an "Adopt-A-Hero" program that will send a card to friends and family of the Hero, letting them know that their loved one has not been forgotten. Visitors will also be able to submit the name of a friend, family member or lover who was lost to a hate crime or print out information about one of the exhibit's Heroes to take home.

More information about the project can be found at the Foundation's website. The exhibit hopes to be completed in December.

The power of an exhibit like this is that it makes people see hate crime victims as people, rather than statistics. By hearing stories of the Heroes, strained claims that adding LGBT people to hate crime protections will stifle the free speech of anti-gay activists lose their power. I'm reminded of Lavender Liberal's video tribute to Hate Crime victims, which made it hard not to see the tragedy of all these lives interrupted by intolerance, a powerful message.

Meanwhile, a similar effort is being spearheaded by Pam's House Blend contributor TerranceDC. He is writing Wikipedia entries on hate crime victims, to make sure those stories are easily found and can be referenced in debating hate crime legislation. As always, humanizing the issue and showing that it has happened to people they could imagine knowing and loving is a very potent argument.

Thanks to Towleroad.com for the head's up.