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April 28, 2012

Fox news analyst Monica Crowley  uses Twitter to apologize for homophobic Twitter comment

Fox News contributor Monica Crowley is walking back one of her tweets. On Thursday, 26 April,  she wondered about Sandra Fluke's announcement about being engaged.

'To a man,' the Fox News analyst asked on Twitter, as reported by the Huffington Post.

April 28, 2012

School staff banned gay man from speaking at his brother's graduation after they found about his sexuality from Facebook

A gay graduate was banned from speaking at his Catholic school after the staff learned of his sexuality from Facebook.

Dominic Sheahan-Stahl had been invited to speak at his younger brother’s graduation ceremony on 20 May at Sacred Heart Academy in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, but the invitation was withdrawn.

Sheahan-Stahl graduated from the school in 1998, and had received numerous honours and awards while at Sacred Heart. He has since been living his life as a proud gay man in New York City.

April 26, 2012

Will help users locate content more efficiently on Internet entertaiment site

Hulu is making it easier for visitors to find LGBT films and television shows on the popular internet entertainment site by giving them their own separate category heading for the first time.

Such acclaimed films as Latter Days, A Marine Story, The Crying Game, Velvet Goldmine, Come Undone and the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk are available in the section as well as classic television fare including Queer as Folk, Tales of the City and The Big Gay Sketch Show.

April 26, 2012

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Ellen DeGeneres, Peter Thiel, Ryan Murphy, and Rachel Maddow are top 5 - Anderson Cooper #6

Out.com unveiled its annual Power 50 list of LGBT individuals on Thursday (26 April) and placed Apple CEO Tom Cook at the very top of it.

Cook was followed on the list by talk show host and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres. Rounding out the top five are venture capitalist and hedge find manager Peter Thiel, Glee creator and executive producer Ryan Murphy and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.

April 26, 2012

Says 'it would be infinitely better for the community' if Anderson Cooper, Kevin Spacey and Jodie Foster were out

CNN newsman and daytime talk show host Anderson Cooper has never discussed his sexuality publicly and blogger Perez Hilton thinks it's time he should.

'Look at someone like Anderson Cooper who even Out Magazine has reported as being gay,' Hilton says in an interview with BigThink.com that surfaced on YouTube this week. 'Has Anderson Cooper come out? No. That's his choice. He's going to remain in the closet even though everybody knows he's gay. And that's okay because it's his story to tell if and when he's ready.'

April 25, 2012

Fred Karger's ad, which features two men kissing at the end, has been reposted on site with a parental warning

Mitt Romney has the Republican nomination for president all but sewn up but that hasn't stopped Fred Karger from pushing on with his long-shot candidacy leading up to the June 5 primary in his home state of California.

Karger, who proclaims himself as the first openly gay candidate of either major political party to run for President, has gotten the kind of publicity that money can't buy in recent days for his 'Sexy Frisbee' campaign video.

April 23, 2012

Mike Buonaiuto on how and why he created a short film for the pro-gay British group Coalition For Equal Marriage

I’ve often heard that a powerful idea can be all that matters to inspire art and for me that couldn’t be more spot on.

I watched the news like everyone else, showing thousands of British soldiers returning home from battle, reunited with their loved ones. It was then that it struck me that all those men and women fight for the UK, yet a proportion of them who just happen to be gay cannot engage in one of our country’s most celebrated traditions; marriage.

April 18, 2012

Anti-gay Facebook group targeted 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn, who friends and family claim was always 'happy'

A gay teenager from the US state of Iowa killed himself after classmates set up a Facebook hate group and allegedly sent him death threats.

Kenneth Weishuhn, 14, from the city of Paullina, was found dead on 15 April.

His sister Kayla said his friends at South O’Brien High School began bullying him after he came out to them.

‘People that were originally his friends, they kind of turned on him,’ she told KTIV.

‘A lot of people, they either joined in or they were too scared to say anything.’

April 18, 2012

FCKH8 campaign to donate 10c to anti-bullying groups every time YouTube video is viewed

With so many It Gets Better videos flying around on YouTube, it's easy to overlook the forgotten victims of the gay rights campaign - homophobes.

It Doesn't Get Better for gay hate campaigners is the snarky message from the FCKH8 gang, whose latest video features US comedians, including Glozell, Miles Jai, Chris Thompson, Tyler Oakley and Shane Dawson.

The gay rights group will donate 10c to anti-bullying groups every time the video is played.

April 17, 2012

We have 10 pairs of tickets to the London show up for grabs

GSN loves British TV property development show Grand Designs (and presenter Kevin McCloud).

For our non-UK and Australian readers, Grand Designs follows people as they build their own homes - often with big budgets and highly innovative architecture thrown in. Naturally there are plenty of disasters as well as some inspiration along the way.

So we can’t wait for Grand Designs Live, the programme’s contemporary home show which is taking place at London’s ExCeL Centre from 5 to 13 May this year.

April 12, 2012

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver indicates no one would choose to be gay

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White was asked a simple question by a fan on Twitter: Would he rather lead the league in receiving stats or win a Super Bowl?

Instead of giving a simple answer, White chose to express his feelings in this bizarre way: 'Would u rather be gay or straight come on u know that answer.'

April 12, 2012

British Coalition for Equal Marriage supporting new military-themed commercial

A teaser for a new advert supporting lesbian and gay marriage equality in Britain has been released.

Director Mike Buonaiuto is producing the commercial to run on YouTube - starting in the next two weeks - in support of the campaign for equal marriage rights.

The commercial will show members of the British forces arriving home and being greeted by their loved ones. It will attempt to rally support from Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #equalmarriage.

April 7, 2012

Sunil Babu Pant gathers signatures for 'third gender' option on social networking site

Nepalese member of parliament and LGBT campaigner Sunil Babu Pant has started a petition to make Facebook a more inclusive place for transgender and gender variant people.

The All Out campaign calls on Facebook to change the current profile settings and add an additional 'third gender' for  members whose gender identity doesn't fit within simple male or female checkboxes.

April 3, 2012

Twitter followers launch racist, 'fatphobic' attack on lesbian comedian Amy Lamé after appearance on 10 O'Clock Live

Lesbian comedian Amy Lamé has received racist death threats on Twitter after taking part in a British TV debate about obesity.

The outspoken broadcaster appeared on Channel 4's irreverant current affairs program 10 O'clock Live last Wednesday (28 March), alongside Embarrassing Bodies' Dr Dawn Harper and Supersize Me documentary maker Morgan Spurlock.

April 3, 2012

Shopping with your friends. What's not to like? We look at the new Facebook app that brings social shopping to your computer

Shopping online has just got sociable. A new Facebook app, called Shopcade, aims to bring shopping and social networking together for the first time.

Until now buying on the internet was quick and easy but not much fun. Can Shopcade change that? Well, that's for you to decide. But what it does do is let you share and discuss things with your mates before you buy, even if they’re miles away. And being able to see what products are popular and trending among your friends means you’re always up to date with what’s cool.

April 2, 2012

Gay Star News and a chimp offer you all the latest LGBT news and more into your inbox every Monday to Friday

We're continuing to develop and listen to what our readers want from us. So our marketing team and a chimp (the Mailchimp species) have been busy in the GSN office creating a free daily newsletter.

With a round up of the day's global news sent directly to your inbox it really is easy to catch up on all the latest headlines.

We know you like to be social, so each story has a Twitter and Facebook link so you can easily share a particular story to your followers too.

March 31, 2012

Childhood friend being investigated for threatening to go public with details of what he said was a gay relationship

A childhood friend of Minnesota Twins pitcher Paul Pavano is being investigated for an alleged extortion plot in which he expected to be compensated for not going public about a relationship he says he and the major leaguer had in high school.

Christian Bedard, 36, had been allegedly posting comments about Pavano on the Facebook page of  the athlete's sister, Michelle DeGennaro, who contacted police.

March 30, 2012

Nepal's first openly gay politician Sunil Babu Pant warns Mark Zuckerberg after he failed to address gender concerns

Nepal's first openly gay politician Sunil Babu Pant has threatened to publicly denounce Facebook unless the site allows users to list their gender as 'other'.

March 29, 2012

The new craze in apps is Draw Something, a Pictionary if you will, but the game connects via Facebook so you can compete with your friends.

Everyone's talking about Draw Something, the iPhone and Android game which lets you play a kind of comuterised Pictionary with your friends.

The game was only released seven weeks ago and has already been sold for a whopping $180m (€135m) to Zynga, the people who own FarmVille.

March 27, 2012

The London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard adds counseling via email and online chat to services

The UK’s National LGBT helpline has expanded its free and confidential support services to include online chat and email communication.

After 38 years of providing 24-hour counselling, information or just someone to talk to, LLGS volunteers can be reached for a chat through mobiles and smart phones.

Younger people are particularly using the digital media options, since their living situation might not make it possible to carry a phone conversation about their sexuality.

March 24, 2012

Reportedly breached decency codes but company has since reposted it

An advertisement for a cultural project against homophobia that featured two men kissing on the lips was temporarily removed from a Facebook page because it apparently breached the social media company's decency code.

The code bars images of a 'political, sexual or other sensitive' nature.

March 22, 2012

Nepal MP tells Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg not to ‘sideline’ people who don’t identify as ‘male’ or ‘female’

A Nepalese member of parliament and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex campaigner has appealed to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to make the social networking site more inclusive.

In an open letter to the multi-billionaire king of social media, Sunil Babu Pant says Facebook is ‘sidelining’ people who don’t identify as ‘male’ or ‘female’ by only giving those two options at sign-up.

March 14, 2012

Homophobic hackers take over Gay Day Magazine’s internet accounts, emails, Twitter and Facebook

Homophobic hackers have attacked Tunisia's main LGBT title, Gay Day Magazine, taking over it's internet accounts, emails, Twitter and Facebook.

This comes after several previous attacks which hacked Gmail, Twitter and the main site, renaming account titles to 'Garbage Day Magazine', clearly a homophobic reference.

March 13, 2012

Commentator had been pulled from air for anti-gay tweets

CNN has lifted commentator Roland Martin's suspension five weeks after the network banned him from the air for tweets he wrote during the Super Bowl that were viewed by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and others as homophobic.

CNN had never put a time limit on the suspension. The network merely stated early last month that Martin 'will not be appearing on our air for the time being.'