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.

Pedro Zamora and his Real World roomies

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.

• The Real World: San Francisco's Pedro Zamora died 14 years ago today. The sweet and adorable AIDS activist was the first gay man that many people welcomed into their living rooms. We miss you, P!

• Mickey Rourke recently lashed out at an unnamed gossip writer, calling him a "faggot", and has since apologized for using the term. Related: Mickey Rourke is still alive.

• The Top Ten Hottest New Members of Congress. Hey, why not?

• Above, an exclusive clip from our newsy sib site 365Gay of San Fran mayor Gavin Newsom speaking out against the Prop 8 passage.

• And speaking of Prop 8, you New Yorkers who want to speak out against the injustice in California (and other states) should hoof on over to the Mormon Temple in Manhattan tomorrow evening for a peaceful protest. I'll be among the several thousand expected to attend, so totally say hi.

• Hell hath no fury like a Sue Ellen completist scorned: Dallas reunion goes sour.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

What tragic news to have to share: Twenty-three-year-old Korean fashion model and actor Kim Ji-Hoo was found dead in his home this week. What is being considered by police to be a suicide suicide note was simple but heartbreaking:"I'm lonely and in a difficult situation. Please cremate my body."

According to police reports, it was the reaction to his coming out that caused the young man to hang himself:

Police said his suicide reflects public prejudice toward gay people and their difficulty in succeeding in the entertainment industry.

Following the announcement of his sexual orientation, Kim's management agency did not renew his contract and many TV programs and fashion shows cancelled his appearances. His blog was bombarded with numerous messages denouncing his sexual orientation.

"He underwent many professional and personal difficulties following his coming-out,'' Kim's mother said during police questioning.

And hatred and ignorance claim another victim. When will this end? It's easy to say "Well, that's Korea, though. Their culture isn't as supportive to gays." But is it really that different? Sunday is the 10-year anniversary of the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, and lives are still being lost to hatred and fear at home and abroad.

Over the weekend, Tina Fey did a hilarious send up of Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. And SNL hasn't been the only one poking fun at the Alaska Governor who has foreign policy experience because she can "see Russia from Alaska." But Palin's nomination and McCain's campaign aren't very funny if you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. 

Last week Palin was interviewed by ABC's Charlie Gibson and one of the questions Gibson asked touched on gay issues. Here was the exchange:

GIBSON: Homosexuality, genetic or learned?

PALIN: Oh, I don’t — I don’t know, but I’m not one to judge and, you know, I’m from a family and from a community with many, many members of many diverse backgrounds and I’m not going to judge someone on whether they believe that homosexuality is a choice or genetic. I’m not going to judge them.

There are a whole litany of issues with that exchange starting with Gibson's question which is, frankly, stupid. This is the one question he asks her about gay issues? Nothing about same-sex marriage or gay adoption? Most legitimate scientists agree that being gay is at the very least significantly influenced by biology with some sociological components also possibly occurring. Call me crazy, but something tells me that a woman who is open to teaching creationism in public schools probably hasn't kept up on the latest scientific literature concerning homosexuality.

Thanks for the wastd opportunity, Charlie. 

Sarah Palin being interviewed by Charlie Gibson

So what might Palin actually do when it comes to gay issues if she gained the top spot? Well, apparently she won't "judge", especially not those who believe that "homosexuality is genetic or a choice". Call me super cynical, but I can't help but notice she doesn't actually say she doesn't judge gays and lesbians.

More importantly, what of Palin's actual actions while in office thus far? The folks over at gay rightwing blog GayPatriot tout the fact that as governor, Palin vetoed a bill that would have denied equal benefits to the same-sex partners of state workers, something the court said the state couldn't do. So did Palin veto the bill because she thinks gays should have benefits in the work place? Yeah, and I'm a moose.

In fact, the only reason Palin signed the veto (on which her Republican predecessor Governor Frank Murkowski had refused to act after calling the court's ruling against discrimination "shameful") was because the state attorney general told her doing otherwise would be unconstitutional. Said Palin at the time, "Signing this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office." In fact, Palin later issued a statement saying "The governor's veto does not signal any change or modification to her disagreement with the action and order by the Alaska Supreme Court. It is the governor's intention to work with the Legislature and to give the people of Alaska an opportunity to express their wishes and intentions whether these benefits should continue."

Because that's what non-judgmental folks like Palin do -- put the rights of a minority up for a public vote. 

What? You were expecting something from her about wanting to treat those Alaskans of "many diverse backgrounds" with some semblance of equality. R-i-i-i-ght. And I've got a bridge to nowhere to sell you. Indeed, Palin promptly signed a bill allowing state legislators to hold a special session just so they could craft a bill to get around the court's ruling. (But the GayPatriot folks say her actions show we should trust her because she follows the law. I call this "spinning" or simply delusional.)

Photo credit: AFP/Robyn Beck

Granted, other than the obvious joke above, there's nothing funny about this: It seems that 22-year-old porn actor Kurt Wild has been fired from a Subway restaurant outside of St. Louis after a customer recognized him from his other line of work and raised hell with the management.

According to this site, Wild sent them an email with the following:

"I just wanted to tell everyone that I was just fired from my work at subway because I have done gay porn. A customer said they wouldn't even eat there at subway anymore because of my past work and said that if I wasn't fired then they would boycott the store. What I say is, if one person can try to ruin me everywhere I work... maybe I should take a stand and boycott their store too if they can't let people's privacy be treated right. I should have the right to work anywhere I can and it isn't right or fair that people can keep me from working simply because of a "gay" issue. If a girl did what we do it would probably be ok.. and if a guy does straight porn.. he is bragged about. When I do gay porn, I feel a bit lynched for the rest of my life. Not right. Thanks for reading. - Kurt Wild"

Now, there are a number of questions I have about this.

First, how on Earth did this customer, who apparently isn't a fan of gay porn given his or her response, know that Wild was in gay porn in the first place?

Second, how does having a documented history of being sexually active make you unfit to serve sandwiches? I guess they should fire all of the employees that have children as well?

And third, what - do they have no Quizno's in that town? Subway is sooooooo 2004... 

I'm not going to tell you where you can find more examples of Wild's work, because this is a family site and you guys can find that on your own. But I will include the box cover for one of his titles after the jump, for curious readers. 

George Lucas offended racial minorities in The Phantom Menace with the Jar Jar Binks character. And now it looks like the upcoming CGI film The Clone Wars (which leads into a TV series on The Cartoon Network) is going to give us gays a chance to share that experience. One of the new characters introduced in Clone Wars is Ziro the Hutt (Jabba's uncle) who is, as MTV Movies' Shawn Alder put it, "a gay stereotype that makes what Jar Jar Binks represented to the island of Jamaica look subtle by comparison."

Sadly, it sounds like the stereotyping is deliberate:

So how did a character who wasn’t even supposed to speak English wind up sounding like that? Because George Lucas insisted on it, Clone Wars director Dave Filoni confessed.

“Ziro, Jabba’s uncle, originally spoke in Hutt-ese, like Jabba and then he had a different sluggish voice just like Jabba, and then George one day was watching it and said ‘I want him to sound like Truman Capote.’ He actually said that and we were like ‘Wow!’ ” Filion revealed. “It’s a hybrid of it but the inspiration is definitely there on Capote. It’s one of those things that takes him from being an interesting character and I think really does put him over the top and does something. He’s a favorite among the crew here.”

I've been looking for a video clip of Ziro to judge for myself with no success. Still, if Lucas directed the Clone Wars crew to base Ziro on Truman Capote, it's no surprise that the character is tripping some sensitivity meters. Based on the character biography found at Wookiepedia (which contains spoilers, if you care) Ziro sounds as admirable as Jabba, which makes him yet another scheming, lisping villain.

Worse, Filoni says the character is probably asexual and, therefore, not gay. So, the closest the Star Wars films have gotten to having any gay characters is a villain meant to sound like an effeminate gay man ... so Clone Wars gets to play to homophobia without actually having any gay characters.

My days as a Star Wars fan ended in 1999 when I saw The Phantom Menace. Honestly, I was a little bit tired of Star Wars by then; the hype was a little too inescapable for a little too long for me. I was hoping that seeing a really cool movie would rekindle my fondness for that "long ago" and "far away" world but that hope started fading the first time Jar Jar spoke with his stereotypical accent. 

I was offended by the stereotyping, but worse, they killed the wonder of Star Wars, where aliens previously felt like aliens and not characters based on a certain type of human. 

Does this news affect anyone's plans to see the movie? Was anyone planning on seeing it in the first place?

With the AfterElton.com Greatest Gay Movies Poll in full swing (if you haven't voted yet, please do so!), we thought we'd take a look at the flipside, the bottom of the barrel, the worst of the worst when it comes to gay depictions on film.

Like the "best of" poll, these are not necessarily gay themed films meant for a gay audience, but rather there's something so egregious or offensive, or just plain wrong in them, that the film negatives deserve to be chopped up to be used as ukulele picks. These are films I saw once, and hope to never see again.

These selections are mine, and mine alone, so if you disagree with them (and you will), please take it out on me and not anyone else at AfterElton.com. (Well, except Brian, cause that's funny.)

Note - these films will be graded using the Cruising scale, with five being the worst.

The Choirboys 

Released in 1977, The Choirboys had an impeccable pedigree; It was adapted from Joseph Wambaugh's bestselling novel about street cops, and it was directed by Robert Aldrich, who gave us such classics as Kiss Me Deadly and What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?

Unfortunately, Wambaugh was so horrified by the result, he demanded his name be removed from the credits.

I know how he feels. In fact, I wish I could have been around when the movie was being made, so I could invest in it, then demand that my name be taken off of it.

The movie is about a bunch of drunken louts who harass people, beat up women, and eventually murder someone. Did I mention that these guys are cops, and supposed to be the heroes? It's a non-stop calvacade of racism, sexism, and homophobia.

In one infamous scene, a cop is handcuffed to a tree in the middle of a cruising park, after his pants have been removed by his police pals. A grossly stereotypical predatory queen walks by carrying a purse, and walking a pink poodle, and proceeds to smack his lips and lisp his way through a conversation with the increasingly angry cop.

If that's not bad enough, later in the film, one of the cops murders a gay park hustler, but in the film's "happy ending", the guy's cop buddies help him cover up the crime, and he gets away with it!

So how bad is The Choirboys? Let me put it this way: the most sane, reasonable character in the film is played by ... James Woods.

Cruising rating

The Rock 

One of the myriad of bad action films Nicolas Cage made immediately after winning the Oscar, 1996's The Rock would be just another forgettable "blow'd up real good" spectacle were it not for one scene that had my eyes roll completely out of their sockets, bounce down the steps, and hail a cab to Hollywood to smack the screenwriters.

In this scene, Sean Connery is getting his hair cut by a flamboyant barber (played by...Anthony Clark?) when some bad guys interrupt with guns blazing, sending the barber into a hysterically screaming, hands waving fit. They find him a few minutes later, literally cowering in a corner, sobbing uncontrollably.

So what's the point of including a scene like that? Easy, it gets laughs from the target audience, namely young, straight men. The producers know who their audience is, and they know exactly what to feed them.

Cruising Rating

See more barrel scrapings after the break.

(NOT) SPENDING MONEY IN SAN DIEGO:
A few months back, I told you about how gay activists were boycotting the Manchester Grand Hyatt, a major location for those attending Comic Con International at San Diego, because of the hotel owner’s donations to anti-gay causes including Proposition 8 which will de-legalize gay marriage in California.

It does my heart good to hear that the boycott is being discussed by some of the creators who will be attending the Con this week. At this point, it’s too late to decide to give up a room at the Hyatt as a moral stand. However, as Christopher Butcher points out, the Hyatt is also a popular place to get a drink with three bars that are usually crowded every night and, thus, it’s still possible for LGBT-supportive Con attendees to take a stand – with so many bars in the area, why not spend your drinking money elsewhere?

Being one of the closest hotels to the Convention Center, the Manchester Grand Hyatt is known as a good place to spot comic creators and one reason to get a drink there is the possibility of spending time around popular artists and writers. Hence, I’m happy to see various industry names like SLG Publications’ Jennifer de Guzman, DMZ and Channel Zero creator Brian Wood, supporting the boycott in comment threads at Butcher's site and at The Beat. Meanwhile, the always-outspoken Lea Hernandez suggests people save their bar tabs and send it to the hotel as documentation of how much money they didn’t spend at the Hyatt’s bars.

Oh, and while we’re on the topic of who gets your money when you’re in San Diego, might I remind you about the time the nearby Omni Hotel shut down Margaret Cho’s performance because they disapproved of her material?

WHO WATCHES THE FILM TRAILER EDITORS?:
Last week, we got a trailer for the Watchmen movie and, overall, it looks great. Still, I’ve got to ask – why does a trailer for a movie that’s supposed to deconstruct and examine the superhero genre look so much like a typical superhero movie trailer? I’m a little worried here.

You can check out the trailer here, what do you think?

I know a high-profile, big-budget movie like Watchmen isn’t going to find a wide enough audience by playing up the themes and moral questions raised by Alan Moore, but without those parts why bother turning Watchmen into a movie? Maybe I would feel better if there were a falling bottle of Nostalgia Perfume amongst the visuals?

WE'VE GOT MEET UP SIGN!:
If you want more to anticipate in San Diego (and if you’re going, you’ve got plenty of good stuff ahead) here’s one more thing to get excited about – the Gays in Comics meet up on Saturday night. This year’s event at Flicks will be the first team-up between Prism Comics and gay comics site Pink Kryptonite. I really need to make sure I don't miss another trip to Comic Con next year.

After the break: Anti-gay comics and comic book villainesses!