The New York Times must really be out of things to cover. Gay Cable’s Like Straight, Except for Nervous Jokes highlights how viewers won’t see homophobic jokes on Logo.

The most striking difference between Logo and other networks is what the gay channel doesn’t have: straight men humorously acting out their subliminal fear of homosexuality. Those kinds of jokes are rampant elsewhere: whether it’s a “Saturday Night Live” skit, the guys needling each other on “Entourage” or a sendup of homophobic hysteria on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” young men on television now make the same kinds of gay jokes that abound in “Wedding Crashers” and “The 40-Year-old Virgin” (”Know-how-I-know-you’re-gay?”)

As I’ve been watching the coverage of Katrina, I’ve been wondering how long it would be before some religious right group blamed the hurricane on the queers. Today I take a look at Google News, and here we go:

An organization of Christian fundamentalists claims the destruction brought on by Hurricane Katrina is God’s judgment against New Orleans for holding festivals like the annual gay Southern Decadence party.

“Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city,” said Repent America director Michael Marcavage on the organization’s Web site. “From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence,’ New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same.”

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Klaus Wowereit, the gay mayor of Berlin, will be welcoming those gathered for the Folsom Europe 2005 street festival.

Parts of the welcome letter he will be reading:

“The international leather and fetish scene is meeting for the second time in Berlin for the Folsom Europe 2005 street festival. Welcome to Berlin!…

Berlin is a tolerant and open metropolis. We are proud that people from different backgrounds and with different preferences feel comfortable here and party together.”

Berlin conservative leader Nicolas Zimmer calls the letter “not in line with the dignity of the office” of mayor and I’m sure he’s not alone.

You would think a mayor has more important things to do. No, I don’t think Folsom Europe 2005 is all that important.

What else ya got for me? This:

*House of Blues Refuses to Cancel All Concerts by Homophobic Reggae Singer
*Utah Supreme Court Hears Lesbian’s Child Custody Case
*Lesbian Newsreader Awarded $16,000
*Right-to-marry case proceeds in Maryland
*SNL’s Cheri Oteri to play lesbian villain in Southland Tales
*Study: More Homosexual Characters On TV

Here’s a twist on “He’s cheating on me with a younger woman.” Shelly Pickering found her husband cheating on her with a younger man, and she’s heading to court in Vancouver to challenge the legal definition of adultery after she was told by a judge that he would not order an immediate divorce because the definition of adultery in common law does not include homosexual relations. I take it she has no interest in joining them. Heh.

The traditional definition of adultery, which dates back to church-based courts in England, is “penetrative sexual contact between a man and a woman not married to each other and one of whom is married to someone else,” notes Ms. Pickering’s lawyer, barbara findlay (who spells her name in lower-case letters).

Ms. findlay argues that the definition of adultery is as outdated as the original common-law definition of marriage, which was based on procreation. Times have changed, along with the definition of marriage, and so too should the definition of adultery, she said.

Naked Boys Singing will resume at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center in mid September. Previous post here.

As 365Gay.com reported on Saturday the City of Milwaukee has admitted it made a mistake when it busted the production. (story)

Police shut down the show (story) saying the center did not have a city theater license.

With the city now admitting that the Center is exempt from the law because of its non profit status, the organizations lawyer has announced the show - that features full frontal nudity - will return to the stage in mid September.

The local production of the show opened August 11 without incident and was to have run until September 3.

Police say they began looking into show after evangelist Drew Heiss filed an open records request for a copy of the center’s licenses to serve alcohol, show nude photos and have nude dancers.

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And Fred Phelps is at it again.

SMYRNA, Tenn. — Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq.

The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars’ down a highway, waving flags and screaming “God bless America.”

“My husband is over there, so I’m here to show my support,” 41-year-old Connie Ditmore said as she waved and American flag and as tears came to her eyes. “To do this at a funeral is disrespectful of a family, no matter what your beliefs are.”

The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps’ children, grandchildren and in-laws.

The church members carried signs and shouted things such as “God hates fags” and “God hates you.”

About 10 church members protested near Smyrna United Methodist Church and nearly 20 stood outside the National Guard Armory in Ashland City. Members have demonstrated at other soldier funerals across the nation.

The funerals were for Staff Sgt. Asbury Fred Hawn II, 35, in Smyrna and Spc. Gary Reese Jr., 22, in Ashland City. Both were members of the Tennessee National Guard.

Hundreds of Smyrna and Ashland City residents and families of other soldiers turned out at both sites to counter the message the Westboro Baptist members brought.

So many counterdemonstrators were gathered in Ashland City that police, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers were brought in to control traffic and protect the protesters.

The church members held protesting permits, and counterprotesters in Smyrna turned their backs to Westboro Baptist members until time expired on the protest permits.

“If they were protesting the government, I might even join them,” Danny Cotton, 56, said amid cries of “get out of our town” and “get out of our country.”

“But for them to come during the worst time for this family _ it’s just wrong.”

The Bi Men Network is honoring 80 companies as the best for bisexuals worldwide.

These companies include:

Barnes & Noble
Bank of America
John Hancock Financial Services
Merrill Lynch & Co.
Pitney Bowes
UPS (Is this one a joke? I wouldn’t want to be a bi man working at UPS.)

See the full list here.

Stewart McCloud, Founder & President of the Bi Men Network, on the chosen companies:

“While no major companies tally GLBT employees these 80 major employers provide warm, comfortable and inclusive work environments where GLBT employees can make their unique contributions. Diverse teams engender creativity - and creativity coupled with enthusiasm is a major edge in any field today.”

A document produced by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries aims to ban gay men from entering seminaries to study for priesthood. Should gay men be banned from becoming priests, I’ll take that as a flat out admission of the church’s understanding that being queer isn’t a choice; only acting on it is. Priests are not currently asked to share their sexual orientation; only to take a vow of celibacy.

Army soldiers marched in Manchester’s annual Gay Pride March hoping to attract more recruits from Manchester’s GLBT community. Think you’ll be alive the day this happens at a US pride event?

This is really sad:

“My sense from even the most out, comfortable, well-adjusted, emotionally healthy gay people is that there is concern about when to identify as gay in the newspaper,” explains Kelly McBride, the ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, a school in St. Petersburg, Fla., for journalists.

The issue becomes more complicated after the person has died and the reporter has to rely on siblings, parents and children to articulate their loved one’s wishes. And it is not only the dead person’s privacy that is at issue, McBride points out; a partner may not want to be identified as gay.

What else ya got for me? This:

*Gay revolution puts red China in the pink
*Australian, Fijian acquitted of homosexual crime
*Gay-marriage challenge seen defeated in Massachusetts
*Romney plays ‘Hardball’ on gay marriage, 2008
*Making a Switch: Trans-gendered Sportswriter Changes Byline
*Provocative covers in LGBT history