UPDATE: STATE REP. RICHARD CURTIS ADMITS TO GAY-SEX ENCOUNTER AND DRESSING IN DRAG

I don't even know what to say. So much has come to light since Washington State Representative Richard Curtis denied any gay-sex shanigians with a alleged male hustler Cody Castagna (btm. pic).

According to a police report just released, Curtis now admits not only the sexual encounter, but that he was also wearing women's clothing during the event. More from the Columbian...

State Rep. Richard Curtis, R-La Center, admitted to having sex with a man he met at an adult video store in Spokane last week, according to a police report released Tuesday afternoon.


The police report offers a damning and far different version of events from the brief account Curtis gave to The Columbian Monday, one that seems likely to threaten Curtis’ political future.

The report is filled with graphic details of an encounter that began at a porn store on a Spokane Valley strip and concluded miles away in Curtis’ room at the city’s poshest hotel.

The police report contains an account of how Curtis allegedly donned women’s clothing, red stockings and a black sequined lingerie top before engaging in a sex act at the store. He continued to wear them throughout the night under his clothing.

Spokane police have finished their investigation and referred the case to the prosecutors for possible filing of extortion charges against Cody M. Castagna.

Castagna is a 26-year-old waiter from the Spokane area who allegedly tried to blackmail Curtis for $1,000 and threatened to reveal his “gay lifestyle” to the lawmaker’s wife if he did not pay.

Curtis, 48, is married and has two daughters. The two-term legislator and retired fire department captain was in Spokane last week for a retreat with other Republican lawmakers in preparation for the 2008 Legislature.

During a brief phone interview with Columbian Editor Lou Brancaccio Monday afternoon, Curtis said he did not have sex with the man and is not gay.

According to the police report, Curtis allegedly offered to pay $1,000 to have unprotected sex with Castagna.

“I feel that, honestly, I’m being wrongly accused and that (Curtis) is using his power to take it off of him and put it on me,” Castagna told reporters during a press conference Tuesday. “He has completely changed what actually happened and turned it around for his favor.”

“He didn’t make any threats against this guy (Curtis),” added Castanga’s attorney, David Partovi. “This is an extremely a low-level situation that’s being blown out of proportion by somebody who is trying to save themselves.”

Curtis did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday. He initially told police that he did not have sex with the man but later recanted, according to the police report. He also told police that he thought he might have been given some type of drug because his memory of the evening was hazy.

After the two men apparently had sex, Castagna allegedly left the hotel room with Curtis’ wallet, the report says. Curtis agreed to give the man $200, which he left at his hotel’s desk, only to be confronted with a demand for an additional $800, the report says.

Spokane Police Detective Tim Madsen wrote in his report that Curtis wanted to keep the whole incident quiet. At one point, Madsen told Curtis that “the toothpaste was already out of the tube.”

“Curtis told me he was just trying to put the cap back on the tube,” Madsen wrote. “I told Curtis that the suspect may victimize other people in the future, and Curtis acknowledged that part of his job was to protect people in the state of Washington. … Curtis said he wished he would have just paid the additional money to the suspect because he didn’t wish the case to be prosecuted. If the incident became public, it could cost him his marriage and career.”

Madsen, in his report, said Castagna told him that Curtis wouldn’t say what he did for a living.

“I work to help people out,” Curtis reportedly said, before adding, “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

Castagna said Curtis told him that “his wife knew he liked men when they got married, but she was not into that, so he only did that when he was out of town,” the detective wrote in his report.

The entire incident might have never come to light if Curtis hadn’t contacted Sgt. Roy Rhine of the Washington State Patrol. Rhine, who works out of the patrol’s Southwest Washington office, is a fellow Republican who has run for the state Legislature.

According to a Madsen’s report, Curtis contacted a friend in the Washington State Patrol and wanted the agency to investigate “because the local police would talk and it would get out to the press.” The WSP referred the case back to local officials.

The police report and court filings say that Curtis met Castagna at a Hollywood Erotic Boutique store at about 12:45 a.m. Friday and later rendezvoused at Curtis’ room at the Davenport Tower Hotel at about 3:35 a.m.

As part of their investigation, Spokane police have seized video recordings from the hotel and the sex shop, computerized records of when Curtis’ hotel room door was opened and closed, and hotel records purportedly showing the rental of gay porn movies by someone in Curtis’ room.

Castagna’s Myspace.com Web page indicates that he is gay. A search for Castagna in court records turned up a number of cases in Spokane and King County on a variety of charges. Most cases were in juvenile court and involved charges of assault, theft, burglary and malicious mischief.

As an adult, court records showed that Castagna pleaded guilty in 2001 to a forgery charge and was sentenced to two months in jail and 12 months in community custody.

Partovi said he called the press conference Tuesday due to the severity of the charges being considered against his client.

“Extortion is a violent Class B felony. It starts with a serious jail sentence, and this guy (Castagna) didn’t do anything wrong — at that level, anyway,” Partovi said.

(photos courtesy The Columbian)

BLACKMAIL VICTIM IN ROYAL FAMILY GAY-SEX TAPE AND DRUG SCANDAL REVEALED

In and update to yesterdays stunning story, our lovely and talented friends at Towleroad have revealed the identity of the aforementioned drug/gay sex-tape scandal that's rocking the royal family...

Viscount David Linley, a furniture maker and the Queen's nephew, has been identified as the likely target of the extortion plot by socialite Ian Strachan and his accomplice Sean McGuigan I posted about earlier today. The two men are in jail after demanding £50,000 ($100,000) from the royal family to stop the release of a sex tape which allegedly shows a male member of the royals discussing performing an oral sex act on them. The video, shot on a mobile phone, also allegedly shows them discussing cocaine use.

Via The Daily Telegraph: "The royal, a respected fine furniture maker whose clients include Oprah Winfrey, did not hesitate in contacting police because the claims and so-called evidence against him were false – as the media has also discovered – and the footage did not implicate him in any wrongdoing. A police sting ensured the evidence was seized and the men were arrested with no money changing hands. They had allegedly attempted several times in the past six months to sell the footage to the media but an investigation proved the claim and the film were false. Buckingham Palace has refused to comment other than to say it was a 'matter for the police', while a court order has banned the media in the UK from revealing his or her name. Many royal watchers are expecting Viscount Linley, 12th in line to the throne and a father of two, to issue a statement to end the speculation and protect the rest of his extended family from unwanted publicity."

Linley is currently 12th in line for the throne.

MORE DETAILS ON STATE REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD CURTIS' GAY-PROSTITUE AND BLACKMAIL SCANDAL

Here is more information just in from KXLY TV on the alleged gay-sex encounter between the Republican Washington State Rep. and the male prostitute:

SPOKANE -- A state lawmaker from southwest Washington in Spokane for a legislative retreat last week may have done some socializing here that now has the attention of local detectives.

State Representative Richard Curtis (R-La Center) was in Spokane last week and reportedly had consensual sex with another man at a downtown hotel that later led to blackmail. However Curtis says there was no sex and he isn't gay. Now Spokane police are trying to determine if Rep. Curtis did in fact have a sexual encounter here that made him a target for extortion.

While most of the legislators attending the Spokane retreat stayed at the Red Lion Hotel it appears Richard Curtis ended up in a room at the Davenport Tower. The new hotel has the latest in video surveillance equipment in its lobby and major crimes detectives executed two search warrants there hoping to review Curtis' activities in public areas of the building.

Investigators are also looking for a still unnamed man who was with the representative. The pair reportedly had consensual sex inside the hotel and later Curtis was threatened that the liaison would not remain a secret unless he submitted to the extortion.

The alleged late night encounter is in sharp contrast to Curtis' political persona. While in Olympia, Curtis has voted against domestic partnerships for gay couples and opposed a bill that would have outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The Air Force veteran was also the co-sponsor of state legislation that would have barred protests within 500 feet of funerals.

It's still not clear who reported the attempted shakedown to Spokane police or if the two-term state representative is cooperating with investigators.

Late Monday The Columbian newspaper got a hold of Representative Curtis, who said that he did not solicit anyone for sex, that he is not gay and that he got into this mess just trying to help someone out.

(photo courtesy: KXLY)

MARRIED REPUBLICAN WASHINGTON STATE REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD CURTIS CAUGHT IN GAY PROSTITUTION AND BLACKMAIL SCANDAL

Here we go again.

Married Republican (of course) Washington State Representative Richard Curtis, who has a history of supporting anti-gay legislation (of course, again...within the last year he has voted against domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples, as well as opposing a gay rights bill) has been caught up in a gay prostitution and blackmail scandal.

Curtis says his many alleged assignations with the young man was simply his attempt to help out the fellow (sigh).

The Colombian has all of the poop:

State Rep. Richard Curtis, R-La Center, caught up in a statewide media frenzy over an ongoing extortion investigation in Spokane, said Monday that he is not gay.

"I committed no crime," Curtis said Monday afternoon. "I did not solicit sex. I was trying to help somebody out."

Officer Jennifer DeRuwe, spokeswoman for the Spokane Police Department, said police expect to wrap up their investigation in the next one or two days and forward their findings to county prosecutors for a decision on whether criminal charges should be filed.

Curtis, 48, has been besieged by phone calls since news broke about the two-term lawmaker being the alleged victim of an extortion attempt.

The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported Monday that the alleged extortionist is a reputed male prostitute. DeRuwe would not confim that report and said that prostitution did not appear to be involved in the case.

A Spokane TV station, KREM, reported on its Web site that Curtis and the man had a sexual encounter and were seen together at various spots around the city.

Curtis was in the city for a retreat with other Republican lawmakers to craft strategy for the upcoming legislative session.

Curtis talked briefly with Columbian Editor Lou Brancaccio at about 4 p.m. Monday and denied reports of a sexual relationship.

"I am not gay," he told Brancaccio. "I have not had sex with a guy."

Curtis said the case does involve an extortion attempt. He said he would release a statement Tuesday.

"It's been a rough week," he said.

"Look, the rest of this will all come out," he said. "I can't say anything more until I have talked to my attorney. I have never been in this situation before."

Police spokeswoman DeRuwe said she could not discuss how the case came to attention of Spokane police, nor could she provide details about Curtis' relationship with the alleged extortionist because the police investigation is ongoing.

"Obviously there is some sort of relationship between the two of them," she said. "Obviously one of them is a suspect and one is the victim."

IDENTITY OF ACCUSED ROYAL FAMILY DRUG AND GAY SEX-TAPE BLACKMAILERS REVEALED

In an update of yesterdays Royal Family Blackmail, sex-tape and drug shocker, the identities of the two alleged blackmailers (and participants in the sex-tape) have been revealed by the BBC News, along with more details of the whole lurid mess:

Buckingham Palace has refused to discuss the report in the Sunday Times, which said the case involved allegations of drugs and sex.

Two men, named as Ian Strachan (pictured above), originally from Aberdeen, and Sean McGuigan, appeared before magistrates on 13 September accused of blackmail.

The BBC understands the claims relate to a royal with a low public profile.

The two men, aged 30 and 40, who both now live in London, appeared before City of Westminster magistrates and were remanded in custody. They are due to appear at the Old Bailey on 20 December.

Both claim to move on the fringes of royal circles.

A Palace spokesperson would only say it was a police matter and Scotland Yard was investigating.

'Cocaine envelope'

The Sunday Times says two men contacted a member of the royal staff and demanded £50,000, threatening to go public with video recordings involving sex and drugs if their demand was not met.

The paper alleges that the extortion attempt was launched on 2 August when a man telephoned the Royal Family member's office and said he had evidence that they had supplied an aide with an envelope containing cocaine.

According to the Sunday Times, the caller then claimed that he had a video tape showing the aide performing oral sex on someone, whom the alleged blackmailer indicated was the Royal Family member.

During further calls, one of the men said that he had footage of an aide snorting cocaine, the paper adds.

The report alleges that a detective posing as a member of the royal's staff arranged a meeting at the Hilton hotel on London's Park Lane on 11 September, where parts of the video were shown.

But Scotland Yard detectives who had been secretly filming the meeting from an adjacent room then arrested the two suspects, it continues.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said the magistrates' hearing had been held "in camera", or in private, and that reporting restrictions had been imposed to prevent the victim or witnesses from being identified.

'Vast family'

Former Palace spokesman Dickie Arbiter said royal officials would have carried out their own inquiry into the validity of the Sunday Times story, but that it was unlikely that the name of the Royal Family member would be revealed.

"It's a vast family, there are nearly 40 members... We don't know, we won't know, until the case comes to trial at the Old Bailey in December, and we might not even know then, which member of the Royal Family [it is]."

Mr Arbiter added that he was surprised by how long it had taken for the story to break.

"It's taken six weeks for it to come to light, so how serious is the allegation?

"It's interesting too, that it's come out in the Sunday Times and not one of the usual tabloid scoops.

"So it's going to take the due process of the law to determine was this true or was this just another fake sting?"

BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY ROCKED BY GAY SEX-TAPE, DRUG AND BLACKMAIL SCANDAL

It's a tawdry tale of drugs, gay sex-tapes, and blackmail. The Times Online has all the royal shame...

A MEMBER of the royal family has been targeted in an alleged “sex and drugs” blackmail plot being investigated by Scotland Yard.

The royal - who cannot be named for legal reasons - called in the police after being approached by two alleged blackmailers in August.

The men demanded £50,000 not to publicise a video, which they suggested showed the royal engaged in a sex act. The case is understood to be the first time in more than 100 years that a member of the royal family has been the victim of blackmail.

During telephone calls to the royal’s office, the suspected blackmailers also claimed to have evidence suggesting that the royal had supplied an aide with an envelope containing cocaine. They claimed that they had a video tape showing the aide snorting the drug.

After the approach from the two men in August, the royal tipped off Scotland Yard. Detectives then set up an undercover operation to trap the suspects. On September 11, two men were arrested in a police sting at a London hotel. They were seized as they played what they claimed was the sex video in a suite at the Hilton hotel on Park Lane in Mayfair.

The men thought they were showing the film to a member of the royal’s staff. In fact, the man they met was an undercover detective from Scotland Yard’s kidnap and blackmail unit.

The Yard issued a statement yesterday saying: “Two men, a 30-year-old man and a 40-year-old man, appeared at City of Westminster magistrates’ court on September 13, each charged with one count of blackmail.”

Neither the royal nor any of the witnesses in the case can be identified after a judge issued a gagging order.

The alleged extortion attempt began on August 2 when a man telephoned the royal’s office. The caller identified himself only by his first name. He said he was aware that another man who worked on the royal’s staff had in his possession an envelope containing cocaine. The caller suggested the envelope was embossed with the royal’s personal insignia.

The caller then claimed he had a video tape that showed the royal aide giving someone oral sex. He indicated that the person was the royal. The caller asked for the royal to call him and left a mobile phone number.

During subsequent calls, one of the men claimed that the tapes showed a royal aide snorting cocaine. But the caller guaranteed that nobody would ever see them because they were safe in his flat. A Whitehall security official said: “He then said he wanted £50,000 from the royal for the tape.” The source said a senior legal adviser to the royal agreed with one of the men that he would see the tape before handing over the cash.

By this time a detective had been attached to the royal’s staff. He contacted the gang posing as a member of staff and the meeting was arranged at the Hilton. Parts of the video were shown and the meeting was secretly videoed by Scotland Yard detectives in an adjacent room. The two suspects were then arrested.

The official said the video also contained unsubstantiated allegations about other members of the royal family, including the Queen.

The case is the first in modern times that a member of the royal family has been targeted in an alleged blackmail plot. In 1891 the future Edward VII discussed with his solicitor paying off two prostitutes he had visited in return for letters he had written to them. Details emerged only in 2002 when the letters were sold for £8,220 at Bonhams, the auctioneers.

MAN TAKES PHOTOS OF ALLEGED BIGFOOT

Is this a photo (btm pic) of Bigfoot? My hirsute-ex on all fours? Read what ABC News has to say and judge for yourselves:

It's furry and walks on all fours. Beyond that, about the only thing certain about the critter photographed by a hunter's camera is that some people have gotten the notion it could be a Sasquatch, or bigfoot. Others say it's just a bear with a bad skin infection.

Rick Jacobs says he got the pictures from a camera with an automatic trigger that he fastened to a tree in the Allegheny National Forest, about 115 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, hoping to photograph deer.

"We couldn't figure out what they were," Jacobs said of the images captured on Sept. 16. "I've been hunting for years and I've never seen anything like this."

He contacted the Bigfoot Research Organization, which pursues reports of a legendary two-legged creature that some people believe lives in parts of the U.S. and Canada.

"It appears to be a primate-like animal. In my opinion, it appears to be a juvenile Sasquatch," said Paul Majeta of the bigfoot group.

However, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has a more conventional opinion. Agency spokesman Jerry Feaser said conservation officers routinely trap bears to be tagged and often see animals that look like the photos.

"There is no question it is a bear with a severe case of mange," Feaser told The Bradford Era.

P DIDDY LOVES BIG BOOTY

And who does't? (well, me actually; c'mon folks, there's a reason it's called a poop-chute!).

Here is P Diddy/Puff Daddy having a bootylicious (or is it bootielicious?) time out clubbin'.

COUNTRY MUSIC SUPERSTAR JOHN RICH EQUATES GAY MARRIAGE TO INCEST

Country Music Superstar Singer John Rich (above right) told the Tennesian that he is against gay marriage...

"I think if you legalize that, you've got to legalize some other things that are pretty unsavory," he says. "You can call me a radical, but how can you tell an aunt that she can't marry her nephew if they are really in love and sharing the bills? How can you tell them they can't get married, but something else that's unnatural can happen?"

"It's actually a risky thing for an entertainer to get into politics, but I'd rather take a chance on alienating some fans than sit by idly and watch Hillary Clinton go trotting into the White House."


So, is he just mad because they won't let him marry his Aunt? (Hey, it's all in the subtext baby!)

WOMAN BITTEN ON BOOTY BY BIG BROWN BEAR

You know, I don't know what all the fuss is about, I get bitten in the bum all the time, and I don't go rushing off to the hospital afterwards, in fact, I usually just end up with flowers and candy out of the deal.

Anyhoo, Yahoo has this all the bootylicious details...


ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A volunteer at the Eagle River Nature Center is recovering after being bitten by a brown bear sow. Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials say Sarah Wallmer was bitten on the buttocks on the Crow Pass Trail, about a mile from the nature center.

The attack happened Thursday as Wallmer was traveling to the Rapids camp yurt. She was running with her dog, about 10 minutes ahead of another volunteer.

Officials say she was making noise on the trail to announce her presence, but the blowing wind probably obscured her voice.

The bear charged her, and she dropped her dog's leash and turned her back to the sow. The bear bit her once.

The bear roared and left, presumably to chase the dog. The dog came back about 10 minutes later with the other volunteer on a four-wheeler.

She was treated at a clinic for four puncture wounds but a release from the state agency says she otherwise "appeared to be in good spirits."

Rangers and biologist say this was a chance encounter with the sow, who also had a cub with her, and no further action was necessary.

The nature center is about 20 miles northeast of Anchorage.

MAN CLAIMS SEXUAL ENCOUNTER WITH SENATOR LARRY CRAIG

It would appear that Larry Craig's closet-door now has a size 10 boot propping it open.

A big , hairy, former paramour of the Senator's, David Phillips, has come forward to describe, in lurid detail, his sin-sational encounters with everyone's favorite "not-gay" Politico.

It's pretty graphic, and, I do have some standards (really!), so you will have to click on the link at the end of the article to read more from Wonkette...

Phillips was recently in a bar minding his own business when he heard Craig’s voice on the television. “I went pale and nearly vomited,” Phillips says. It was the man he remembered from one of his creepiest sexual encounters twenty years earlier. “After a truncated meal I went back to my hotel room and began unwinding and jotting down the memories that the voice had opened. I recalled The Follies, the furtive groping and pawing there, the odd following of this man in my car….. Crap!”

Cick here for the rest of the Story...

MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHER ZACH PUCHTEL COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET

Former Minnesota Golden Gopher Basketball player Zach Puchtel recently came out of the closet as a gay-man, no, wait, he's bisexual, no, I think he's sayin' he's gay...hmmm...let's just say according to Outsports, he is adjusting his place on the Kinsey Scale...

Chances are, unless you're a Big Ten fan or follow college basketball very closely, you've never heard of Zach Puchtel. So, it might surprise you to know that, according to a Minnesota sports blog, the former basketball standout for the University of Minnesota came out of the closet months ago. Gopherhole.com today published a lengthy interview with Puchtel in which he talks about his sexuality to the press for the first time.

According to the interview and a short entry on a Harvard blog, last spring Puchtel stopped a fashion show called Eleganza and announced that he is gay.

"It was a spectacle because it was on stage, in front of about 3000 people," Puchtel told Gopherhole. "I stopped the show, walked to the front of the stage, and made my announcement that I was gay."

What's surprising is that so few people picked up on it, and it never got any traction in the press. While John Amaechi had come out, a former Big Ten player of the week coming out is, indeed, news; other than Amaechi, to the best of Outsports' knowledge, Puchtel is only the second Div. 1 male college basketball player ever to come out in the press.

For the record, Puchtel does not consider himself gay or straight. As he said in his blog, The Search:

"I am sexually attracted to men and women, and I enjoy being with women in intimate relationships. I think human beings are beautiful, and I try not to differentiate due to sex, race or any other minute detail. We are all humans, we are more than 99.9% similar in every way, and we all share this life together."

It is an interesting revelation, and indicative of where sexuality is headed in our culture. While many people don't want to believe that bisexuality is real, forcing people to "choose" between homo- and heterosexuality, more and more young people are finding themselves attracted to both sexes and allowing themselves to pursue those attractions. As former Out editor Brendan Lemon said in our book, The Outsports Revolution:

"So much of the attention to gay pro athletes has been, 'who's gay, who's gay,' and my experience of them has been much less categorical. … My perception of it, my personal experience of it, is much more bisexual than what gay sports fans might want to hear. … For most athletes I know who have been expressive or open or had experiences sexually, that's not how it works for them. Of the gay or bisexual pro athletes that I've met or know, about half of them are married to women or they have girlfriends. And that's something that neither the gays or the Middle American sports fan wants to think is true."

Puchtel revealed that he had shared his sexual attraction with teammate Spencer Tollackson. While many people assert that a big-time gay football or basketball player would find little support in his locker room, Puchtel told Gopherhole, "It didn't change anything, he was completely supportive." He added that he has told other former teammates, and that he has found support from them. "I haven’t told all of them, but those of them that I did tell were great. It makes me wish I wouldn't have waited so long; it was really a burden on me. I had a few good friends who were outlets for me, including Spence, but it was very difficult not being able to express my self truly.

Puchtel says he now wants to play in the NFL; he played football in high school and for Harvard before transferring to Minnesota to play basketball; the 6-foot-6 power forward certainly has the size to succeed there.

"I believe that I was put on this earth to play football," he said in his blog. "This is my next goal, and I don't see anything that can stop me."

But does coming out about his sexual attraction have an impact on his chances of making an NFL roster?

"Everything you do affects the future," Puchtel told Gopherhole. "I believe that they have no choice; it's discrimination if they don’t allow someone to play because of their sexual preferences."

We'll certainly be watching closely.

HILLARY CLINTON BRAGS OF FRIENDSHIP WITH NOTORIOUS HOMOPHOBE

You'd think Hillary Clinton would be watching her step with us homos considering her husbands betrayal of the gays (offering support of gay-rights during his campaign, then flipping and supporting 'Don't ask don't tell' during his presidency), as well as Barak Obama's current debacle (his taking an ex-gay homophobe on the campaign trail).

Well, according to Queerty, she hasn't...

Barack Obama isn’t the only Democratic candidate who should be called out for his anti-gay associates. As Paul Jenkins points out Hillary Clinton has also taken up with some queer bedfellows, including Reverend Harold Mayberry.

In this game, all candidates have been associated with homophobes. For instance, Hillary Clinton recently trumpeted her friendship with Harold Mayberry, of the First African Methodist Church in Oakland; her press release on the meeting/endorsement left out the fact that Mayberry believes homosexuality to be comparable to thievery.

It’s true, the Oakland-based Methodist, once said, “I’m not rejecting people. As God loves, we love. I don’t reject thieves, I reject thievery.” Too bad Clinton didn’t reject Mayberry’s endorsement.

Jenkins also takes on the Democrats’ backward sense of federalism, “Democrats can’t get enough of the federal government regulating every aspect of our lives, except on the one issue of same-sex marriage.”

And, he says, all of the major candidates’ marriage platforms reek of homophobia.
More bluntly, the leading Democratic candidates’ stance on same-sex marriage is in itself homophobic, although I don’t completely blame Clinton, Obama or John Edwards (actually, him I do blame for being a coward and trying to have it both ways by hiding behind both his faith and his wife). They are making a political calculation, and it is their right to do so; it is for the rest of us to show that calculation to be increasingly flawed.

CAUGHT RED-HANDED ON VIDEO: PRIEST SAYS HE WAS ONLY "PRETENDING" TO BE GAY

You know, I'm used to reporting stories of priests revealing they were pretending to be straight, when they were really gayer than a Cher concert (ba da bom!).

Well, unless I'm still asleep, and dreaming (which of course I know I'm not; otherwise I would be engulfed in angry monkeys wearing sun-hats, pinching me) we have a flip flop!

This mad-cap Monsignor is sayin' his homo-hi jinx caught on video tape (and broadcast on TV!) was just pretend, part of his "research" (wink..wink).

My peeps at the Ap have all the poop:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican official suspended after being caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man said in an interview published Sunday that he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.

In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico said he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst. He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about "those who damage the image of the Church with homosexual activity."

Vatican teaching holds that homosexual activity is a sin.

"It's all false; it was a trap. I was a victim of my own attempts to contribute to cleaning up the Church with my psychoanalyst work," La Repubblica quoted Stenico as saying.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Saturday that the monsignor had been suspended pending a Vatican investigation. Stenico is a top official in the Vatican's Congregation of the Clergy.

The Vatican after acted Vatican officials recognized Stenico's office in the background of a television program on gay priests that was broadcast on Oct. 1 on La7, a private Italian TV network. Stenico was secretly filmed making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful.

In the Repubblica interview, Stenico said he had met with the young man and pretended to talk about homosexuality "to better understand this mysterious and faraway world which, by the fault of a few people — among them some priests — is doing so much harm to the Church."

He said he had never been gay and was heterosexual, but remained faithful to his vow of celibacy.

Italy's Sky TG24 said Stenico had written a letter to his superiors with a similar defense.

Calls to Stenico's home and Vatican office went unanswered Sunday.

(photo via the AP)

POLICE OFFICER CONVICTED OF RAPING TRANSSEXUAL MAY GET NEW TRIAL

In a suprising twist to a bizarre case, a police officer convicted of raping a transsexual may get a new trial. Here is what 365.gay.com reports:

(San Antonio, Texas) A former San Antonio police officer sentenced to 24 years and four months in prison for the rape and beating of a transsexual woman should get a new trial the original judge in the case has told an appeals court.

Dean Gutierrez was sentenced in January in federal court for violating the civil rights of Starlight Bernal by committing aggravated sexual abuse while on duty. (story)

Last week he appealed to 5th Circuit federal Court of Appeals the have the conviction overturned for a new trial.

Now he has gained the support of federal Judge Xavier Rodriguez the judge who sentenced him.

Gutierrez claims that that Bernal entrapped him in a bid to extort money from him.

In a brief submitted to the appeals court this week Rodriquez says that new evidence and additional witnesses cast doubt on Bernal's allegations that led to Gutierrez's arrest.

Judge Rodriguez in his brief cites what he called new evidence showing the prosecution failed to turn over to the defense a notes that questioned Bernal's motives.

"The newly discovered evidence casts serious doubt on the essential testimony of the alleged victim, whose credibility is further challenged by much of the evidence and testimony produced at the post-trial hearings," wrote Rodriguez.

The Appeals Court has not indicated when it might rule. Legal analysts suggest that because of the recommendation from Rodriguez it would be unusual not to grant a new trial.

That would send the case back to Rodriguez's court.

Gutierrez was arrested by San Antonio Police following a lengthy investigation after Bernal filed a complaint.

She told investigators that on June 10, 2005 she was stopped by a San Antonio officer who said he needed to check for warrants. Bernal said that she was then attacked by the officer in his patrol car.

DNA tests on bodily fluids found in the vehicle and on Bernal led investigators to Gutierrez.

At his trial Gutierrez' attorney did not dispute the DNA evidence but argued that the sex had been consensual and Bernal had filed the charges against the officer in order to sue him in a civil case.

Part of the new evidence comes from a violent convicted felon who Gutierrez met in prison.

Chris Lyssy claims he sold Bernal drugs and that she told two of his relatives that she was going to set Gutierrez up to be blackmailed.

UPDATE: "CURIOUS GEORGE" WRITER'S GAY-SEX MURDERER SENTENCED TO LIFE

In an update to our previous story, one of the men accused of the brutal 'gay sex-ad' murder of longtime Curious George writer Allen Shalleck (above) has plead guilty, and been sentenced to life. 365gay.com news has the sad details:

(Boynton Beach, Florida) One of two gay men charged in the 2006 murder of Alan Shalleck, the collaborator of the "Curious George" books and TV series, has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

"You will die in a prison cell," Circuit Judge Edward Garrison told Rex Ditto, 31.

As part of a plea deal to avoid a death sentence, Ditto agreed to testify against his former boyfriend and co-accused Vincent Puglisi.

Puglisi., 56, is scheduled to go on trial early next year.

Shalleck's body was found in February 2006 covered with garbage bags on the driveway of his mobile home in a Boynton Beach trailer park.

An autopsy found that the 76 year old had been stabbed to death. There were more than 30 stab wound to the body and he had been struck more than 80 times with a blunt instrument.

The trailer home had been ransacked and jewelry and credit cars were missing. It was also discovered that money had been taken from Shalleck's savings account.

Tracing his final hours police determined he met his killers through a gay sex listing service. Using Shalleck's phone records investigators were led to Ditto and Puglisi.

Shalleck was the writer and director of more than 100 short episodes of Curious George, which aired on the Disney Channel, and co-wrote more than two dozen Curious George books with Margret Rey, who created the character with her husband, H.A. Rey, in 1939.

Despite the success of the books and TV series Shalleck never became famous or rich out of "Curious George".

He lived on his Social Security checks and made ends meet doing odd jobs.

J.K ROWLING ANNOUNCES HARRY POTTER'S DUMBLEDORE IS GAY

Wow, I didn't see this one coming (really). Kudos to Ms. Rowling for making this controversial announcement. I mean, hey, a major character in a blockbuster children's book/movie series being gay? It made my day. Yahoo has the good news:

NEW YORK - Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall.

After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members.

She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."

"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."

Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."

"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."

Potter readers on fan sites and elsewhere on the Internet have speculated on the sexuality of Dumbledore, noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past. And explicit scenes with Dumbledore already have appeared in fan fiction.

Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," she spotted a reference in the script to a girl who once was of interest to Dumbledore. A note was duly passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about her character.

Rowling, finishing a brief "Open Book Tour" of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said that she regarded her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority."

Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.

BARAK OBAMA BRINGS EX-GAY AND ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL DONNIE MCCLURKIN ONTO CAMPAIGN TRAIL

I told you so.

Since the campaigning began, all of my fellow homos have supported Barak Obama for President because they felt he would best support the interests of the gay-community. Why? Did he ever make brave, declarative statements to that effect? Is it because he is African American, and hence would understand a fellow minorities oppression? Sigh.

I expressed my doubt long ago when I wrote about Senator Obama's Conservative Christian roots, and refusal to initially answer when directly asked if he felt homosexuality was a sin (a well spun/damage control reply followed days later), and his refusal to support gay-marriage.

I hate to say I told you so, but hopefully this will teach my fellow queers never to support someone politically simply because they look good shirtless (above).

Now Obama has taken ex-gay, anti-homosexual Donnie McClurkin onto the campaign trail as he courts the votes of his fellow Conservative Christians. Towleroad has the details (thank god):


Barack Obama’s presidential campaign’s taking it’s show on the road with some holy rollers - and homo heads are spinning!

The Democratic senator and his staff announced the “Embrace the Change” gospel tour. The tour, which cruises around South Carolina, will include gospel acts Mary Mary, Hezekiah Walker, Bryon Cage and a real mensch named Donnie McClurkin, a man who would really like gays to embrace the change:

Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who has detailed his struggle with gay tendencies and vowed to battle “the curse of homosexuality,” said yesterday he’ll perform as scheduled at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, despite controversy over his view that sexuality can be changed by religious intervention.

Wait, let’s get this straight: Barack Obama, who pandered to gay voters at HRC’s gay forum, will now join forces with a self-repressed religionist? Obama, a man who preaches about political hope, has enlisted a McClurkin, who blames his homosexuality on being raped and one said, “I’ve been through this and have experienced God’s power to change my lifestyle…I am delivered and I know God can deliver others, too.” F**k, Obama should just hire Alan Chambers as his policy director!

Obama’s religious affairs director Joshua DuBois celebrated the announcement, saying
This is another example of how Barack Oba