[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/manzella.jpg[/img2]A US Army Sergeant has expressed his surprise that he wasn’t dismissed after admitting he was gay on live American TV.

Last month Army Sgt. Darren Manzella told CBS 60 Minutes that his army colleagues knew his sexuality. The programme also showed a video of Manzella kissing his former boyfriend.

"I thought I would at least be asked about the segment or approached and told I shouldn't speak to the media again," Manzella told USA Today .

Manzella is an army medic who has just returned from Kuwait. He previously earned a Combat Medical Badge for service in Baghdad.

He was the first active-duty gay service member to speak on television about life in the army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy which bans openly gay people from the US Armed Forces.

Manzella is only one of many other army members who have decided to be open about their sexuality with their troops and commanders yet have not been discharged.

Gay advocacy group, the Servicemembers Legal Defence Network, has said it knows of about another 500 gay army members who are serving openly without any consequences.

"That's the highest number we've ever been aware of," says SLDN spokesman Steve Ralls.

"Their experiences point to an undeniable shift in the armed forces."

Over 11,000 troops have been dismissed under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy approved by former President Bill Clinton in 1993.

Discharges peaked at 1,273 in 2001 but halved in 2005.

The policy prohibits anyone who "demonstrates a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" to serve in the US forces.

Serving gay men and lesbians are also not allowed to tell anyone about their sexual orientation or relationships.

"A lot of service members are getting 'wink-wink' treatment from their commanders," said Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Centre at the University of California, which studies the policy.

Elaine Donnelly, whose Centre for Military Readiness favours the ban on homosexuals, has been "bothering" superiors at Manzella's base at Fort Hood, Texas to do something about his appearance on the live show.

"We have yet to get an answer," she says. "His commanders should be disciplined appropriately for failing to do their duty."

Manzella came out to his commander a year and a half ago because he was receiving anonymous e-mails threatening to expose him.

His case was investigated in 2006 and the Army viewed the video of Manzella kissing his ex-boyfriend.

They later told him they had found no evidence of homosexuality.

"They recommended that I just go back and keep doing my job," he said.

After that, he was sent to Kuwait for his second Iraq war deployment.

Eugene Fidell of the National Institute of Military Justice, a group of military legal experts, said "military managers may be turning a blind eye because it's a nuisance, and we need these people."

I wasn't *totally* sure if this belonged in this board, or humour, but LOOK! MY AUNTY JENNY'S PANTS ARE IN THE NEWS!

LMFAO!


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7167549.stm

Ok, now we have some famous entertainment folk out of the closet but who would YOU like to see out in the open?

[Be careful and not get yourself [or this forum] in trouble with your comments]

A friend just told me this story and it's really creepy/weird... but just wow...

It's the true power of love =D



my uncle was driving safely, his girlfriend sitting in the passenger side, she leaned over and gave him a hug and a kiss, there was a breaze ... the car windows were wound up... and suddenly they realised there was a hole through the windshield and side of the car, decapatating the head of the passenger side seat... a truck with no lights had passed then, with steel girders sticking out the side , no signs no warning nothing if she had not hugged him, she'd be dead

Any of you guys able to tell me anything more about an actor I have seen. in gay porn movies named "Dakota Blaze". Looks a real gentle guy and a bunch of nerves. I'd be grateful to know a bit more about him and how many movies he has made.....Bobby

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/thenakedman.jpg[/img2]A new book by a well-known British academic suggests that some men are gay because they don't break with other boys during childhood and retain some of their juvenile characteristics when they become adult.

In The Naked Man: A Study Of The Male Body, Desmond Morris questioned why "a certain percentage of adult human males, with or without the approval of society at large, find members of their own gender attractive."

His answer is that it happens for social reasons, therefore discrediting any "gay gene" theory.

But he also changed his previous theory that people would become gay because of the lack of absence of a father or a male role.

Comparing experiences of young heterosexuals and homosexuals, the best-selling author believed that the main change would happen at the pubertal phase.

At about the age of five, sexes would draw apart and a boy would play only with other boys, a phase that: "will last about ten years, during which time he will be going through an intensive educational period, programming the amazing computer inside his skull."

For many boys, with the flood of sex hormones during puberty the interest in girls would suddenly rise.

But not for others, because according to Morris "they get stuck in the stand-off phase, and stay there for the rest of their lives."

During the ten-year learning phase, male-to-male attachment would become so powerful for them and "if there are any special social factors adding their weight at this point, the break can be thwarted."

Morris suggests that some gay men may have had unpleasant experiences with girls during the stand-off.

"Or he may have found the boyish sex games that are so common in the stand-off phase to be particularly exciting and this may have fixated him on other males as sexual companions.

"For him it is impossible to make the switch because he cannot bear to leave behind what he had before."

He concluded that men are "made gay" because they keep juvenile characteristics when they become adult, what is known as "neoteny."

The 79-year old zoologist and anthropologist also said that gay men tend to be more creative than heterosexual as "the playfulness of childhood is continued into adulthood," which he claims explain why so many artists and creative people are gay.

Morris is best known for his series of "popular science" books in the 1960s and 1970s, such as The Naked Ape.

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/jodie_cydney.jpg[/img2]Two-time Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster has made a small but significant move to acknowledge her sexuality.

Accepting an award at a Hollywood breakfast last week, the Silence of the Lambs star paid tribute to "my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss."

The reference to her long-term partner is a first for Ms Foster.

She has been in a 14-year relationship with Cydney Bernard and they have a son, but Ms Foster has always refused to answer questions about her personal life.

In the last year some younger Hollywood actors, such as Grey's Anatomy star TR Knight and Doogie Howser MD star Neil Patrick Harris, have found themselves effectively outed by gossip websites.

In May an American gay publication took the controversial step of naming a series of Hollywood stars it claims are gay, and urging them to come out of the closet.

Out featured two models holding masks of actress Jodie Foster and American TV news anchor Anderson Cooper in front of their faces, with the headline "The Glass Closet: Why Stars Won’t Come Out And Play."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/g-a-y.jpg[/img2]Speculation has been building about a forthcoming takeover of London nightclub, Heaven, by G-A-Y, the clubbing brand owned by promoter Jeremy Joseph.

The news follows reports that G-A-Y will be soon be forced from current home, London's Astoria on Charing Cross Road, so it can be demolished as part of plans for a new Crossrail station, which have recently been given the go-ahead.

Mr Joseph refused to comment directly for legal reasons but said "I'm always looking for venues. It's a matter of finding the right ones."

He added: "It's like buying a house. Until it's all gone through, it could fall through."

The Pure Group, who run Heaven, were unavailable for comment.

G-A-Y which, which occupies The Astoria on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for different events, regularly attracts mainstream pop acts such as Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Westlife.

Heaven, situated in the arches beneath Charing Cross train station, became London's most famous gay nightspot when it opened in 1979, attracting stars such as Grace Jones and the Eurythmics to perform there.

In recent years, however, it's popularity has waned with increased competition from clubs in Vauxhall and Westminster Council's stringent crackdown on drug-taking have deterring clubbers.

The G-A-Y franchise includes two other bars, G-A-Y Late located just off Charing Cross Road and G-A-Y bar on Old Compton Street in Soho.

The MAMA group, owners of the Barfly music venue chain and the management company of top British bands such as the Kaiser Chiefs, recently bought a 75% shares in Manto Soho Limited (MSL), the company which operates G-A-Y bar and G-A-Y Late.

Ghetto, a gay club on Falconberg Court, just off Charing Cross Road, is also facing closure because of the Crossrail station.

... How many gay celebs can we list, between us?

I'm forever hearing peop,e suggesting THIS person is gay, or him out of whatever is gay...

I want a list.

My ten...

1. Elton John
2. Will Young (Will Yum...?)
3. Stephen Gately
4. Matt Lucas
5. George Michael
6. Graham Norton
7. Boy George
8. Scott Mills (News to me..!)
9. Ian McKellen (Is that actually right..?)
10. Dale Winton!

Come on people... Help me out!

x x x

Okay, I have to share this because it is the funniest and strangest thing my family has done.

3 years ago, my grandfather passed away from a sudden heart attack. It was very sad and my entire family was hit pretty hard.
However, the summer before he passed away, my grandfather decided to grow a crop of marijuana (pot). Well, at the end of the summer he was paranoid that the cops might discover it, or other members of my family might steal and sell it. So he cut and he brought it to the person he trusted most in all the world, my mother. He knew that neither she, my father, or myself would smoke it or sell it. So my mother hid it in tupperware containers in a closet.

One day when I came home from university for a visit, she took me to the closet and showed my the large stash. I was very confused and disturbed, but she let me in on the story. So I was amused at this and I didn't really care since my grandfather just wanted to make a little money.

Anyway, before he could sell it, he passed away. Now my mother was stuck with his crop. Well, she decided that she would sell it. She found a buyer and managed to get a couple thousand dollars for it. Then the following day she took my grandmother and they made a down payment on a headstone. We all say that my grandfather would applaud us for buying his headstone with the money made from his marijuana crop.

Isn't that a great story.