ScienceDaily (2007-10-30) -- The AIDS virus entered the United States via Haiti, probably arriving in just one person in about 1969, earlier than previously believed, according to new research. The research is the first to definitively pinpoint when and from where HIV-1 entered the United States, and shows that most HIV/AIDS viruses in the US descended from a single common ancestor. ... > read full article
Documents: Washington GOP lawmaker Richard Curtis had sex with man
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Search warrant documents obtained by KXLY-TV provide more details about a gay sex extortion attempt involving state Representative Richard Curtis of La Center, in southwest Washington.
He was in Spokane last week for a Republican Party meeting and staying at the Davenport Tower hotel.
The documents say he met a man at an erotic video store and had sex at the hotel. The man reportedly demanded $1,000 and Curtis called police. No one has been arrested and the Spokane prosecutor will decide whether to file a charge.
In his only public comments about the incident, Curtis told The Columbian newspaper that he did not solicit anyone for sex and is not gay.
Rock Hudson bedded James Dean to win bet with Liz Taylor
From PinkNews.co.uk
A former Hollywood starlet has revealed that actress Elizabeth Taylor made a bet with closeted gay actor Rock Hudson about which one of them could seduce James Dean.
The much-married Ms Taylor lost out, according to Noreen Nash.
Dean starred in the movie Giant with Taylor and Hudson, but he died before the film was released.
"Elizabeth and Rock took bets on who could get James Dean into bed first.
"I had an idea Rock would win but Elizabeth wasn't so sure. James was troubled but gorgeous," said Ms Nash, according to the Daily Express.
She reports that Ms Taylor lost her bet just days into the filming of Giant in 1955.
Dean was killed in a road accident on September 30th 1955 in a road accident.
The true nature of his sexuality has been endlessly argued over in the five decades since his death.
Some friends claim he only engaged in gay sex for "trade," others that he was bisexual.
Rock Hudson's death from AIDS in October 1985 brought the disease into the consciousness of many Americans for the first time.
His worldwide search for a cure drew international attention.
After his death his long-time lover Marc Christian successfully sued his estate, again calling attention to the homosexuality Mr Rock had hidden from most throughout his career.
Elizabeth Taylor eventually married eight times, twice to Richard Burton, and won two Academy Awards.
Fred Thompson quizzed on civil unions
BY STEPHEN FROTHINGHAM, Associated Press
Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson told New Hampshire voters Monday that efforts in some states to recognize same-sex marriage are a "judge-made controversy." Civil unions will become legal in New Hampshire on Jan. 1, allowing gays to apply for the same rights as married people. Same-sex unions from other states also will be recognized in New Hampshire if they were legal in the state where they were performed.
Questioned about civil unions after a speech at a dental benefits company, Thompson said, "I would not be in support of that."
But when he elaborated, he switched from civil unions, which give gays legal rights equivalent to those of married couples, to same-sex marriages, which are legal only in neighboring Massachusetts.
"Basically so far, it is a judge-made controversy," Thompson said. "No state or governor has signed off on such legislation on the state level that has endorsed marriage between the same sexes. There may have been a couple of courts that said the Constitution of their states has required that, so it's a judicially made situation as far as I am concerned."
Massachusetts' highest court ruled in 2003 that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. But high courts in several other states have refused to follow suit, including Maryland last month. Cases are pending in Connecticut and California.
Edward Paul, an employee of the Delta Dental Plans Association, asked the question Monday, but had trouble being understood.
"I'm proud to say that in January 2008 New Hampshire has passed a law facilitating civil unions here. ... What is your belief for federal civil unions to be passed?" Paul asked.
"Soviet Union?" Thompson responded.
"No, civil unions," Paul said.
"Oh. No, I would not be in support of that," Thompson said.
Paul said he wasn't surprised, or impressed.
"I think he needs to do more homework on whatever state he's in and I don't think he did on that question," said Paul. He said he is a registered independent who plans to vote in the Democratic presidential primary.
Thompson's campaign has said the candidate would let states decide whether to sanction civil unions. He has supported federal action to protect states from having to recognize gay marriages performed in other states. As a Tennessee senator, he voted against legislation to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation.
On Monday, Thompson also filed the paperwork to get on the ballot for the GOP primary in New Hampshire.
Republican presidential hopeful, former Sen., Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., accompanied by his wife Jeri Kehn, second from left, smiles after filing his declaration of candidacy papers to have his name on the ballot for the New Hampshire presidential primary at the State house in Concord, N.H., Monday, Oct. 29, 2007.
Photo gallery: SAVE's 12th annual Halloween Ball
It's become one of the best-loved gay events in South Florida. More than 500 people dressed up (or undressed) for Saturday's 12th annual Halloween Ball benefiting SAVE, Miami-Dade County's largest gay-rights group.
Here are lots of pictures I took at the ball. (Click them to enlarge):
Lance Bass talks about Lou Pearlman, being gay in book
BY KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press
Girls were camping outside his hotel rooms, he was selling millions of albums and touring the world as part of 90s boy band 'N Sync. But Lance Bass was also living on $35 a day thanks to a miserly contract with former manager Lou Pearlman and agonizing over how to hide his sexuality from bandmates and millions of teenage fans, according to his book "Out of Sync," released this week.
Oh and Justin Timberlake was responsible for breaking up the band, Bass says in the candid tell-all book.
The 28-year-old pop star raised in a strict Christian family says he knew he was gay at age 5 and recalls having innocent crushes on boys. He recounts the horror of his mom finding out he was gay after she read it on the Internet. And how his coming out on the cover of "People" magazine brought flowers and phone calls of support from Elton John and Jennifer Lopez.
But before he was embraced as a gay man, Bass says he spent years worrying about what his secret would do to the band.
"I really felt it was going to ruin our reputation, that was going to be the stigma of our group," he told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.
Bass struggled to fit in with the rest his bandmates, who had girlfriends. He faked it enough to get by and only once let a man back to his hotel room during the 2000 Celebrity tour.
No one found out about the hotel room, but Bass says bandmate Joey Fatone once walked in on him during a party at the height of the group's fame sitting close to another man.
"Later on he told me he knew right then and there I was gay, but that he really didn't care one way or the other," Bass writes.
The small-town boy from Clinton, Miss., says he liked Pearlman from the start, describing the now notorious boy-band mogul as "a large man" who "had a way of making you feel special."
"He had all these limos and Rolls-Royces and was always using them to take us to great dinners in upscale restaurants," according to the book.
Later they realized they were actually paying for the dinners and the clothes, all recoupable fees by "Papa Lou." The relationship ended in an ugly legal showdown after the band learned Pearlman had made himself an unofficial sixth member of 'N Sync, taking a sixth of all earnings on top of his fees for being their manager, record company and producer.
In 1998, the band had sold 3 million albums, but was "dirt poor." At 'N Sync's first check presentation years after the band had formed, Bass describes his shock as he was handed a check for a mere $25,000. He ripped up the check and left the room. The band eventually terminated their contract with Pearlman and signed with Jive Records.
Pearlman is now behind bars after being indicted on three counts of bank fraud and single counts of mail and wire fraud. His possessions, including platinum records and memorabilia from the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, were hawked earlier this year. A judge recently approved the sale of Pearlman's $7.1 million Orlando home.
"He was too greedy, and in the end it destroyed him," says Bass.
Bass, who now stars in the Broadway show "Hairspray," says he naively missed warning signs that Timberlake was planning to abandon the group for a solo career. After months of waiting to record another album, Timberlake stunned the group at a charity basketball game in 2004, saying the group wasn't as focused as they had been and that no one was operating in the best interest of the band.
The rest of the group considered continuing without Timberlake, but eventually went their own way.
Even after the split, Bass tried to foster his hetero image for the sake of tween fans, but as his dating relationships with men became more serious, it was harder to duck the paparazzi.
As for the recent troubles of Britney Spears, who used to hang out on their tour bus in her pajamas while dating Timberlake, Bass says she has distanced herself from her former friends.
"I personally don't think she wanted anyone in her life that she knew previously that would be a good influence on her," he said. "I think she wanted to go through her rebellion stage."
New Research Finds Gay Men, But Not Lesbians, Are Discriminated Against in Jobs
DURHAM, N.H. – Gay men working in management and traditional blue-collar, male-dominated jobs make less than straight men because they are discriminated against by their employers, according to new research released today by the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics.
Lesbians, however, do not experience similar discrimination in the labor market, according to Bruce Elmslie, professor of economics, pictured, and his co-author Edinaldo Tebaldi, former assistant professor of economics at UNH now at Bryant University. Their research appears in the Journal of Labor Research in the article “Sexual Orientation and Labor Market Discrimination.”
According to the authors, gay men who live together earn 23 percent less than married men, and 9 percent less than unmarried heterosexual men who live with a woman. Discrimination is most pronounced in management and blue-collar, male-dominated occupations such as building and grounds cleaning and maintenance; construction and extraction; and production.
The authors also found that lesbians are not discriminated against when compared with heterosexual women. They conclude that while negative attitudes toward lesbians could affect them, lesbians may benefit from the perception that they are more career-focused and less likely to leave the labor market to raise children than heterosexual women. According to their study, 18.1 percent of lesbians have children, compared with 49.4 percent of straight women.
“Employers could reasonably infer that a lesbian applicant or current employee will have a stronger attachment to the labor force than will a heterosexual woman,” the authors said.
The authors note that previous studies of attitudes of heterosexual men toward gay men and lesbians shows that the bias against gay men is much stronger. Other studies show that gay men are more likely to be the victim of violence because of their sexual identity than lesbians.
The authors cite a number of possible factors as to why gay men experience labor discrimination and lower wages in certain industries. There is strong evidence indicating discrimination is tied to employer and employee bias.
“Employers may disapprove of gay lifestyles and act on this bias in making hiring decisions,” the authors said. Employers also may discriminate against gay men in response to the desires of the majority of employees. If employers consider mixing heterosexual and homosexual employees distracting and detrimental to productivity, the authors said the employers may consider it profitable to discriminate.
Gay men also may experience labor market discrimination because customers may not want to interact with them, thus influencing hiring practices. “If customers prefer to interact with heterosexual employees, the owner will act on the customer’s taste for discrimination,” the authors said.
Finally, discrimination may occur as a result of anti-gay attitudes associated with AIDS and misunderstanding as to how HIV is transmitted. Previous research shows that people with HIV/AIDS have higher rates of absenteeism from work. The authors theorize that biased employers may be reluctant to hire gay men because they are concerned about a loss of productivity if a worker becomes infected with HIV/AIDS.
“If employers perceive one group to be generally less productive or more costly than other groups, individual members of the negatively perceived group will receive lower wage offers regardless of their true characteristics,” the authors said.
In this study, employee/employer bias was the most prevalent and overwhelming indication of discrimination against gay men. If the discrimination was consumer-based, the discrimination would be more evident in the services industry where there is direct interaction between employees and customers. If the discrimination was tied to AIDS/HIV status, the distribution of discrimination would be more uniform across industries.
The authors analyzed labor and wage information from more than 91,000 heterosexual and homosexual couples collected by the U.S. Census March 2004 Current Population Survey.
