Matt Drudge, the influential conservative web news aggregator, has prominently linked to a startlingly anti-American, anti-gay opinion piece in Pravda, a online Russian tabloid that uses the same name as the storied newspaper that served as a propaganda organ of the Central Committee of the Communist party until 1991.

It's very often those self hating gay people who in the closet are the most vicious towards other gays and lesbians as a way to kind of deflect attention from their own orientation.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pennsylvania attorney general says a legislative staffer wanted to dress up in a panda costume and have sex with a 15-year-old boy.

Attorney General Tom Corbett says 40-year-old Alan David Berlin, of Carlisle, was charged Thursday with attempted sexual exploitation of children and related crimes.

A Corbett spokesman says the boy's parents alerted authorities after finding graphic messages on his computer. He says agents found wolf- and cat-type costumes in Berlin's home.

A spokesman for Sen. Jane Orie says Berlin has been suspended. Berlin worked in the Senate about a decade, the past several years with the Allegheny County Republican.

Berlin is in the Dauphin County jail. Officials didn't know if he had an attorney.

Bill Donohue: Will Likely "Quietly Root For" Sotomayor (!): "Conservative Catholic activist Bill Donohue shocked me this morning by saying he will 'quietly root for' the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor. During an email exchange, he wrote:

I like the fact that she is not brandishing her religion. I do not want Catholic judges to rule as Catholics but as judges. I am all for Catholic legislators having a Catholic-informed opinion, but a judge has a different charge. Unless something pops that we don't know about, I am not going to oppose her. Indeed, the experiences I had working with the Puerto Rican community lead me to quietly root for her.

Though Rogers’ “outing” work continues to provoke controversy both inside and outside the LGBT community, he doesn’t view his activism as a revenge tactic or a personal attack, but as a way to stop anti-gay political figures from pursuing anti-gay policies. Not infrequently, those same figures end up working on the side of gay rights once they no longer have to put up a front to protect their “secret.”

As President Obama prepares to name his first Supreme Court justice, conservatives in Washington are making clear that his nominee will face plenty of questions during the confirmation process on the legal underpinnings of same-sex marriage.

• On-air and written apology as described above.
  
  
• An opportunity to be properly interviewed for a similar amount of time by an unbiased reporter who is willing to both challenge me and respect me enough to hear my answers.

If you came here from AOL or another site about Outrage, please take a moment to consider supporting BlogActive with a few bucks via PayPal. The only support for this work comes from readers like you. THANKS!

An activist devoted to 'outing' closeted gay lawmakers who work against gay rights drew the ire of a news anchor who said he wanted to punch the activist during a TV interview.

Mike Rogers runs the Web site BlogActive, exposing what he calls government hypocrisy by listing the names of politicians and staffers who vote against gay rights issues but may be gay themselves. On May 6, he appeared on 'Let's Talk Live,' a Washington, D.C., show co-hosted by Doug McKelway on News Channel 8.

During the show, McKelway isn't shy about letting Rogers know that he doesn't agree with his tactics. When Rogers accuses the host of implying that being gay is wrong, McKelway tells Rogers he'd like to 'take you outside and punch you across the face.' In a follow-up segment, viewer e-mails and McKelway's own co-host take him to task, but he refuses to apologize.

Google Search: 'McKelway'

As Florida Gov. Charlie Crist considers whether to enter the competitive race to replace Sen. Mel Martinez, some public talk has turned to the issue of his sexuality, thanks to Outrage, an independent film focused on politicians who are accused of hiding their sexual orientation.

During this appearance on an Arlington, Va., cable newschannel, Crist's name surfaced during a conversation on Outrage. The film names Crist among several political figures alleged to be hiding their sexual orientation, using comments from people who claim to be past lovers in addition to other material.

The newschannels' segment featured blogger Mike Rogers, whose blogActive site features similar reports on political figures, and host Doug McKelway in a heated argument that distracts from some key questions which deserve an answer:"

Channel 4 news anchor Doug McKelway apologized to viewers yesterday after he used the word 'pansy' on the air while chatting with reporter Jess Atkinson during Atkinson's live report on ice skaters on the Mall ...

'It was extremely inappropriate,' news director Dick Reingold said last night. Immediately following a commercial break, he said, McKelway returned to the air with the apology ...

'We thought it was important to present an apology for the remark as soon as possible,' Reingold said. He said no disciplinary action had been taken against McKelway but 'there will certainly be a follow-up today' ...

The incident occurred during the first half of the 5 p.m. news hour, which...

Does anyone, infamous or not, deserve to be outed? A tricky question, with the respectful impulse leaning toward discretion. (I must be part of the media conspiracy.) To Dick’s credit, though, he develops a thorough, reasoned argument—via the comments of, among others, BlogActive’s Michael Rogers and Larry Kramer (“Activism is about anger,” the latter says)—that those who harm the LGBT community with prohibitive legislation don’t deserve protection. New Jersey’s former gov Jim McGreevey speaks sincerely about his resignation (so does his bitter ex-wife); Barney Frank is, per usual, a blast of honesty.

By looking into the camera and saying you were going to have me back and then tossing it off to others is pretty deceiving and could be interpreted as trying to make me look afraid of challenging you. Can you give me the [telephone] number of the people who make the decision?

OK, Just talked to our news director. And he suggests the best time to have you back on is this coming Monday. Today's show is totally booked with guests. In addition to having to cancel people who’ve arranged the schedules around our show today, you and I would be cut short time wise. Monday , on the other hand, affords us more time to make good points in a less frenetic atmosphere. I hope you’ll do it.

All the law and policymakers identified have previously been 'outed' in print or online, but most either deny being gay or simply decline to comment on privacy grounds. Among those named in 'Outrage' are veteran California Rep. David Dreier, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, ex-Louisiana Congressman Jim McCrery, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and ex-Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, whose notorious 2007 arrest on suspicion of lewd conduct in a Minneapolis airport men's room effectively ended his political career."

Much of “Outrage” consists of interviews with journalists and activists who reflect on that history, including Andrew Sullivan, the blogger and author; Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat; and Larry Kramer, the novelist and playwright who was a founder of Act Up. Their reflections are interwoven with allegations about the sex lives of several well-known current political figures, including Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, Representative David Dreier of California and Larry E. Craig, the former Idaho senator whose arrest on a charge of soliciting sex in a Minnesota airport bathroom provides Mr. Dick with his most complete case study.

(In a somewhat manipulative passage he juxtaposes Mr. Craig’s denials of homosexuality with reflections by James E. McGreevey, the former New Jersey governor, on the psychic and spiritual costs of such denial. Mr. McGreevey is talking about himself, but the editing makes it seem as if he also has Mr. Craig in mind.)

The central claim of “Outrage” — advanced most ardently by Michael Rogers, a blogger who sees it as his mission to name names and reveal secrets — is that politicians who vote against gay interests while surreptitiously pursuing gay sex deserve exposure. There was a time when this position seemed much more radical than it does now, and I suspect that “Outrage” might create less of a furor than it would have a few years ago.

The Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, who is strongly considering a run for Senate, will be outed in a independent film being released tomorrow.

The film, “Outrage,” tracks the outings of prominent gay political figures, such as Crist and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman. It’s being produced by Magnolia Pictures and will appear in Landmark Theaters across the country.

“Using some firsthand accounts of former sexual partners, old campaign footage (to occasionally humorous effect) and commentary from gay political media watchdogs, the film makes the case for each man’s homosexuality, and presents his lifetime gay rights voting record,” according to one reviewer. “In each instance, the disconnect is staggering.

In his new film Outrage, Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) turns his camera on some of the nation's most powerful policymakers — politicians, in both legislatures and executive suites, who live what some say are closeted gay lives while chalking up what activists describe as deplorably anti-gay voting records.

You can hear the interview with Kirby here. It includes some audio clips from the movie, including one in which I talk about my work. Dan Gurley is also interviewed. Dan is a former bigwig with the RNC who was tossed by homophobic party leaders when I reported on his hyprocrisy. He now works for North Carolina's statewide LGBT rights organization.

For my first mobile photo post, here's a picture of Abby the Action
Cat on my balcony. I recently planted the garden.