Can't Sue For Being Called Gay

NEW YORK - A companion of late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith can sue an author for defamation but not over gay sex claims because homosexuality is no longer viewed as contemptible, a U.S. judge said on Wednesday.
Howard K. Stern is suing Rita Cosby and the Hachette Book Group over Cosby's bestseller "Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death."
Stern is the former lawyer and boyfriend of Smith, the Playboy playmate and Guess jeans model who died in 2007 from an accidental prescription drug overdose.
Stern claimed the book, which was published six months after Smith's death, contained 19 libelous statements, including that he had engaged in oral sex at a Los Angeles party with Larry Birkhead, the father of Smith's child, and that Smith had later called Stern gay.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin ruled the defamation case could proceed on 11 of the statements.
Chin dismissed Stern's claims that statements implying he was homosexual were defamatory, although he acknowledged that gays and lesbians still suffered prejudice.
"I respectfully disagree that the existence of this continued prejudice leads to the conclusion that there is a widespread view of gays and lesbians as contemptible and disgraceful," the judge said.
Chin ruled that Hachette could not be sued because it had no reason to doubt the truth of the book. But he noted Cosby, who is also a television reporter, had to answer to claims that she knew some of her sources were not truthful.
"Cosby's actions are extremely troubling, and suggest that she was attempting to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses," the judge said.
Hachette gave Cosby an advance of $405,000 plus royalties for the instant bestseller, the ruling said.
A lawyer for Cosby, Elizabeth McNamara, said she was pleased the case had been narrowed down.
"As to the remaining statements, we are fully confident that a jury will dismiss them as well once it hears all the evidence surrounding Howard K. Stern's life with Anna Nicole Smith," she said.
Stern's lawyer, Lin Wood, called the decision a victory.
"Defamation cases brought by public figures, such as Mr. Stern, only go to a jury in the most egregious of cases, and Judge Chin has found the case against Cosby to be one of those cases," Wood said in a statement.
In a separate case, Stern, 40, and two doctors face an October hearing in Los Angeles on charges they were illegally supplying Smith with prescription drugs for years.
from Reuters

Stewie Get's Outed

Seth MacFarlane is finally spilling the secrets of "Family Guy" — including the fact that, yes, baby Stewie is gay.
"We had an episode that went all the way to the script phase in which Stewie does come out,” MacFarlane, the show’s creator, says in the September issue of Playboy magazine. “It had to do with the harassment he took from other kids at school. He ends up going back in time to prevent a passage in Leviticus from being written: ‘Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is an abomination.’
"But we decided it’s better to keep it vague, which makes more sense because he’s a 1-year-old. Ultimately, Stewie will be gay or a very unhappy repressed heterosexual. It also explains why he’s so hellbent on killing [his mother, Lois] and taking over the world: He has a lot of aggression, which comes from confusion and uncertainty about his orientation."
In the issue MacFarlane also weighs in on why Protestant Lois seems to have a Jewish accent.
"Watch this season!” he says. “Lois finds out she is, in fact, Jewish.”
As for his advice to girls who are like Meg (the nerdy, unpopular sister), the funnyman says, “I guess maybe her parents aren’t as loving as they should be. As a result, I would say, ‘Your parents are assholes. Get out of the house as soon as you can.”
The hit Fox show, which kicks off its eighth season on Sept. 27, has even generated a spinoff, “The Cleveland Show,” which focuses on main character Peter Griffin’s neighbor pal Cleveland Brown. Fans of the program will be happy to know that there will definitely be some crossover between the two shows.
But how did Cleveland — who some fans consider one of “Family Guy’s” least-interesting characters — score his own series?
“Cleveland is soulful and dimensional,” MacFarlane says. “Maybe he didn’t have enough to do [on “Family Guy”], and as a result, he came off dull. He makes a point of saying that in ‘The Cleveland Show’ pilot: ‘I’m sick of being just an accessory to Peter’s world. I’ve got my own shit going on.”
from New York Daily News

'Love Won Out' To Have New Organizers

Focus on the Family announced on Tuesday that it will be passing the reigns of its Love Won Out conferences on homosexuality to another ministry.
The move is a logical step, the Colorado Springs-based evangelical organization said, especially as it faces a "serious" budget shortfall.
"Everyone knows these are challenging times for organizations and individuals all across the globe," said Gary Schneeberger, vice president of media and public relations for Focus on the Family, in a statement. "It is not an inexpensive undertaking to put on a Love Won Out event; and contrary to what our detractors say, the conferences rarely have recouped the financial investment made in them. That is a cost we have always paid because of the positive impact the events have had."
Jim Daly, president and CEO of the family ministry, said income is down nearly $6 million from what they planned for this year.
Starting November, Love Won Out conferences will be led by Exodus International, one of the largest Christian organizations that deals with homosexual issues and promotes "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ." Exodus has always contributed to and been a part of the conferences.
Although financial realities played a role in the conference's transition, Schneeberger said the move also makes strategic sense.
"Exodus is really the one who should be running 'Love Won Out' anyway," he said, according to The Associated Press.
Launched in 1998, the Love Won Out conference has traveled to churches around the world, educating Christians on how to respond to the issue of homosexuality in a biblical way and offering hope to those struggling with same-sex desires. The conference has been met with dozens of protests by gay activists who claim the event sends a message of homophobia and hatred.
But James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and a preeminent evangelical, has stressed that Love Won Out conferences are not about hate or rejection.
"Regardless of what the media might say, Focus on the Family has no interest in promoting hatred toward homosexuals or anyone else," he last year as the ministry marked the 10th anniversary of Love Won Out. "We also don't wish to deprive them of their basic constitutional rights. The Constitution applies to all of us."
While the conservative family group opposes redefining marriage, Dobson said they are committed to loving homosexuals and reaching out to them.
Focus on the Family will continue to support Love Won Out financially and by providing speakers.
"After all, we're still in the truth and grace business," commented Melissa Fryrear, director of the ministry's gender issues department and a Love Won Out speaker and host for more than six years.
The transition comes as Exodus International is boosting efforts to educate and equip mainline and evangelical churches to respond to homosexuality compassionately and effectively. Last month, Exodus announced plans to merge with outreach ministries of the Presbyterian and Reformed faith communities and The United Methodist Church.
Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, said the Love Won Out conference is "a natural fit" in their ongoing efforts.
"Love Won Out has been and will continue to be a powerful event dedicated to helping the global Christian church better understand and more effectively reflect biblical truth and Christ-like compassion to a hurting world," Chambers assured.
The final Love Won Out conference for 2009 is scheduled for Nov. 7 in Birmingham, Ala., and will be led by Focus on the Family before the transition.
from The Christian Post

Durex Launches Extra Large Condoms

UNITED KINGDOM - Tesco condoms - every little helps!
A supermarket giant is to cater for well-endowed men by stocking extra large condoms.
The new condoms - which are 10mm longer than the average 205mm version and 1mm wider - will go on sale in Tesco branches across the UK from Wednesday.
A store spokeswoman said the launch of the Durex Extra Large range follows "overwhelming consumer demand".
Healthcare buyer Nicola Evans added: "These new condoms are designed to allow larger men more comfort than ever before.
"We know through customer research that there has been a growing demand for an extra large condom that is easily available in high street pharmacies.
"In the last year there have been more than 200 calls from customers requesting the availability of an extra large condom."
The most popular ranges of condoms at the supermarket are currently Durex Fetherlite and Durex Extra Safe.
Durex Extra Large condoms will cost £9.53 for a packet of 12 and will be sold exclusively at 400 Tesco stores.
from Press Association

Fired Gay New Anchor Speaks Out

MIAMI, FLORIDA - Recently fired Local 10 anchor Charles Perez took his side of the story to the Daily Beast , in a wide-ranging column explaining why he'll continue his suit against WPLG, claiming they fired him because he was gay, attacking the state of the news business, positioning himself as a gay rights hero, and saying the station pressured him not to get married or have children with his male partner.

One of my colleagues, a higher-up at the station, told me: "The weekends will be better for you, anyway, Charles. You and Keith [my partner] want to have kids. It's a lot less high-profile there."
It was a suggestion that never would have been made to one of my straight colleagues, male or female. The only thing I could take from it was that my profile as a gay man, especially if I were to have kids and, God forbid, get married, would render me less promotable and less advertiser-friendly.
In fact, over the previous five months, I'd been told, "Don't get married, Charles. We don't need that." I'd also been told not to have children. In essence: "You're the main anchor and you're gay, but let's not push it."

If that allegation is true, it illustrates an interesting sacrifice that gay and lesbian professionals, especially those in the public eye, could be pressured to make. Miami might be perfectly accepting of a gay news anchor. In fact, before Perez was fired, the top two prime-time newscasts were co-anchored by openly gay men, but are we -- or any other market -- ready for the openly gay anchor who's married with children? Viewers might love it when straight female and male anchors banter about cute things their kids do, but are people ready to hear the same filler from the gays?
Perez's other allegation, one that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, is that Local 10 News is soft.

The news business has become a place of fear, where principle and the news have become the casualties and ratings and dollars the prizes. A perfect example: In the runup to the war in Iraq, Mohamed El-Baradei, the top man looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, stood in front of a dozen microphones in Paris and announced that there weren't any. It was a front-page story in Paris, London, Moscow, and Tokyo. It was buried in the New York Times. I, however, read it.
I went to one of my bosses at Miami's Fox affiliate, WSVN, and said, "We have to run this. This is big!" He said, "Charles, that's not what our advertisers want to see." We never ran it.
Today, the major news outlets are held hostage by what they "think" their advertisers -- and by extension their audiences -- want to see. Sacrificed is the news we may need to know. As a result, they contribute to building a less-educated electorate that only wants more of the Twinkies it has been fed.
from The Miami New Times

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