[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/tigerwoods.jpg[/img2]One of the women who reportedly slept with Tiger Woods is set to write a book claiming she saw him having sex with other men.

Sicillian model Loredana Jolie Ferriolo, the thirteenth woman linked to the golfer, has reportedly been trying to sell her story for $1 million.

RadarOnline.com reports that Ferriolo has graphically described Woods' alleged gay encounters.

She said the book would detail "his healthy appetite for arranged sex, threesomes, girls next door, girl-girl, and an answer to all the rumours surrounding Woods' sexuality".

Her representative told the website: "She is in talks with a number of publishing companies regarding a tell-all book deal."

There has been a lurid stream of allegations about Woods' extra-marital affairs since November, when it was reported he had an affair with nightclub manager Rachel Uchitel.

Thirteen women have now alleged they were sexually involved with him, although as yet, Ferriolo is the only one to allege he had sex with men.

Another woman claims to have a sex tape of the disgraced star but porn producers Vivid Entertainment say they cannot ascertain whether it is him.

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/gaymarriage.jpg[/img2]Next Monday, a federal court will examine for the first time whether the US constitution allows states to ban gay marriage.

The case, brought by two gay couples who argue that California's ban violates their constitutional rights, will be heard on January 11th and is expected to last two to three weeks.

It has divided gay rights activists, some of whom say the move is premature and destined to end in failure.

If the case is successful in the San Francisco district court, it is deemed unlikely to succeed in the Supreme Court, where conservative judges have been keen to support all pro-gay initiatives other than marriage.

More than 30 US states explicitly ban gay marriage. If the case is successful, it would reverse years of such legislation.

Gay marriage was legalised in California in May 2008. However, the voter initiative Prop 8 defined marriage as being between a man and a woman in November 2008.

The argument that the ban is unconstitutional was rejected by California's Supreme Court in May last year.

The gay couples in this case are Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, of northern California, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, who live in southern California. They are being represented by Ted Olson and David Boies.

Olson and Boies acted on opposing teams in the Bush v Gore case of 2000. The choice of the pair, with Olson a conservative and Boies a liberal, is seen to make the point that the lawsuit is a human rights issue rather than a case of left against right or Democrat against Republican.

The pair are expected to counter arguments that anyone can marry so long as they choose a partner of the opposite sex. They will also argue that civil unions are not adequate or equal to marriage and that banning gay marriage is not a legitimate government interest.

Tomorrow, US District Judge Vaughn Walker, who is overseeing the case, will hold a pretrial hearing on whether to televise the trial.

Under a new pilot programme introduced last month, cameras will be allowed into courtrooms in Western states during civil, non-jury cases for the first time.

Although the two gay couples and their representatives are keen to have the trial broadcast, gay marriage opponents have said witnesses may be intimated and lose the right to a fair trial.

Attorney Theodore Boutrous, who is on the Olson-Boies legal team, wrote to Walker arguing that the concerns over intimidation were "utterly unsubstantiated and groundless speculation".

He added that the case was of "such transcendent importance that every Californian should be afforded an opportunity to view the proceedings".

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/eltonanddavid.jpg[/img2]Elton John has spoken for the first time about supporting Eminem in his battle to quit drugs.

Eminem revealed last May that the veteran singer offered him advice on how to rid himself of the painkiller addiction which developed during his break from the limelight in 2005.

John, 62, has also recovered from his own drug problems, having checked into rehab in 1990 to recover from his addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Speaking to Danny Baker on his Radio 5 Live show at the weekend, John said: "I've been helping Eminem in the last 18 months and he is doing brilliantly.

"When you give it up, you tend to think everybody else has given it up, but of course it is just as prevalent as it ever was. And nowadays pills, such as downers, are even more damaging."

John and his civil partner David Furnish recently said they were concerned about George Michael, saying his friends had approached them to ask for help with his alleged drug problems.

Michael later retaliated that the pair should keep their noses out of his business.

John said: "I'm there if people want my help. If people ask for help you can tell them where they should go, but there is no point advising someone if they don't want to do it."

"People used to tell me to clean my act up and I didn't want to know," he said.

"And I know that George has been very vocal in the papers saying that Elton should shut his mouth and how he is sure I would love him to come and bang on my door and ask for help."

Of his own 16-year drug addiction, John said: "I didn't want anybody's help. I used to get very annoyed. In fact, I didn't speak to some close friends for a year because they dared to tell me I was being an idiot."

Police in the US are investigating a detective who appears to draw his gun during a mass snowball fight on the streets of Washington DC.
The video appears to show the detective holding a gun in his left hand as he begins to approach a large group of people, which had gathered for the snowball fight.
People in the crowd can be heard saying "he has a gun".
Police say they are looking into reports that the plain-clothed police officer stepped out of his own vehicle and drew his weapon after his car had been hit by snowballs.
The video was provided by Reason.TV, a libertarian organisation in the United States.

Lawmakers in Mexico City have become the first in Latin America to legalise gay marriage.
City legislators passed the bill 39-20, with five abstentions. The city's mayor is now widely expected to sign the bill into law.
Gay marriage is only allowed in seven countries and some parts of the US. Certain parts of Latin America allow civil unions for same-sex couples.
The Catholic Church and conservative groups had opposed Mexico City's move.
The bill calls for a change in the definition of marriage in the city's civic code - from the union of a man and a woman to "the free uniting of two people".
Regional differences
Lawmaker David Razu had proposed the change to give same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples regarding social security and other benefits.
Mexico City's legislature is dominated by the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party, which has already legalised abortion and civil unions for same-sex couples.
Spokesman Oscar Oliver told AFP news agency that city legislators were now taking up a measure in the bill that would allow married same-sex couples to adopt children.
A handful of cities in Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia permit gay unions.
Uruguay alone has legalised civil unions nationwide and allowed same-sex couples to adopt children.
Last month, an Argentinean court narrowly blocked what would been the continent's first gay marriage.
In a last-minute challenge, a court referred the case to the country's Supreme Court, which is due to rule on the issue.

BBC News - Mexico City backs gay marriage in Latin American first

Quote:The Cardiff Blues full-back, 35, told the Daily Mail newspaper that keeping his sexuality a secret had made his adult life agony and feelings of guilt towards his wife Jemma plunged him into depression.

From the Gay City News website

Quote: "Ten young Iranian men, including eight teenagers, are currently awaiting execution for sodomy, and two more are being re-tried on the same capital charge...

... Nemat Safavi, now 19, was arrested in June 2006 at age 16 for alleged sodomy, and the Criminal Court in Ardebil sentenced him to death. But the Supreme Court overturned his sentence on March 4, 2009, and sent the case to another criminal court in Ardebil for retrial. Saeed Jalalifar, a member of CHRR who recently obtained a lawyer for Safavi, was arrested on November 30 and is still in prison.

Gay City News spoke by telephone through a translator with that lawyer, 32-year-old Masomeh Tahmasebi. She said she had been denied the files relating to Safavi’s death sentence and would only learn more about the case when she traveled next week to meet with him in Ardebil, a northwest frontier province whose former governor is President Ahmadinejad and whose population is largely made up of ethnic Azeris, who are racially persecuted by the Islamic Republic.

Tahmasebi explained that it was often very difficult for defendants in sodomy cases to find competent lawyers. “Because of the social stigma attached to sodomy cases, many lawyers are not willing to take on such cases because of fears of accusations that they might be gay themselves,” she told Gay City News. “And because of this same social shame, families often do not contact lawyers to defend the accused, so as a last resort the court assigns a lawyer pro bono, who often does not get the case until the day of the trial. So most of these sodomy cases are badly defended.”

That means, Thamasebi added, that “the only real chance left for the defendant is international human rights pressure and protest against the application of the death penalty — but often this occurs so late that the window of opportunity to prevent these executions is very small.”

In recent weeks, the Ahmadinejad regime has increased its monitoring and disruption of Internet and telephone communications in an attempt to stifle opposition and criticism, and this reporter chillingly experienced this first-hand while interviewing the two Iranians quoted here. During the interview with Thamasebi, when Ahmadinejad’s name was mentioned, the communication was abruptly terminated in mid-sentence. And in the interview with Misaghi, when the question of organizing to repeal the death penalty for sodomy was brought up, the communication was similarly cut off quite suddenly."

Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles elects openly gay bishop.

This was taken from the L. A. Times website today: Article dated December 5, 2009 | 3:07 pm.

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles today elected the first openly gay bishop since the national church lifted a ban that sought to bar gays and lesbians from the church's highest ordained ministry.

Clergy and lay leaders, meeting in Riverside for their annual convention, elected the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, 55, who has been in a committed relationship with another woman since 1988. Another gay candidate, the Rev. John L. Kirkley of San Francisco, withdrew late Friday.

Full article here:Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles elects openly gay bishop | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Glad to see a church being postive, lets hope the other dioceses follow the policy of appointing more gay bishops.

Just a few things in the gay news this week that caught my eye...

You may have heard that a Gay Marriage bill was defeated in the New York State Senate (it had already been passed by the State Assembly). This was despite a Democrat majority in the senate, a total of 8 Democrats voted against along with all the Republicans. From what I read the debate preceding the vote left something to be desired, few of the nay voters felt any need to give and meaningful justification of their vote. However a number of Senators spoke in favour of the bill. Here is Senator Diane Savino.




A heterosexual man, Ted Cox, recently posed as a gay man in order to investigate ex-gay conversion therapy. Here is an interview with him describing what he saw.

Pink News carried the story of a 18-year-old who was jailed for trying to kill his, older, gay lover. While obviously its not something to laugh at, the story did contain the following..

Quote:Harding later returned to the property, in Workington, Cumbria, to stab Monan. The older man avoided injury because he was wearing a thick dressing gown.

I know some of you aren't the remotest bit interested in why some people are gay and others not. Pink News has run these two articles over the past couple of days, which I found iinteresting:
Gay by nature: Part one - from Pink News - all the latest gay news from the gay community - Pink News
Gay by nature: Part two - from Pink News - all the latest gay news from the gay community - Pink News