Gay brothers Dan and Sam McMillen finished as runners-up in the latest chapter of TV's The Amazing Race, according to People magazine.Sam, 23, said, "We got to see the world and we got to do it together," as he and Dan, 21, successfully ran "Operation Don't Kill Each Other." San Diego, Calif.-based couple Meghan Rickey and Cheyne Whitney won the CBS show's 15th installment.
Singer Bruce Springsteen has expressed his support of same-sex marriage. On his Web site, BruceSpringsteen.net, he wrote, "I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with [ New Jersey ] Governor Corzine when he writes that, 'The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is—a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.' I couldn't agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now." The vote on a marriage-equality bill in New Jersey's Senate has been delayed.
Shortly after bisexual reality-TV star Tila Tequila announced that she was engaged to Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson, socialite Courtenay Semel is saying that the engagement is a sham, according to Advocate.com . Semel, daughter of Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel, told E! Online, "Casey can't stand Tila. They've only spoken once, and they're doing this as a publicity stunt to get back at me." Tequila and Semel briefly dated last year.
Gay icon Liza Minnelli quietly settled a sexual-harassment lawsuit brought by former chaffeur M'Hammed Soumayah, according to an Advocate.com item. The parties settled Nov. 13—four days before Minnelli was supposed to testify in court. The terms of the agreement are confidential, but Soumayah earned $283,000 annually.
GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios told Sirius XM host Michelangelo Signorile on a recent show that his organization handled the Adam Lambert-ABC controversy poorly, according to Advocate.com . GLAAD originally allied with the network when it removed Lambert following his American Music Awards performance. The organization initially said, "It would appear that the kiss between Adam Lambert and his keyboardist did not factor into ABC's decision," but subsequently distanced itself from that statement.
Next year's Lilith Fair tour will offer something for everyone. According to Hitflix.com, co-founder Sarah McLachlan will perform, along with veterans Erykah Badu, Tegan and Sara, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow and Indigo Girls. Newcomers will include Mary J. Blige, Corrine Bailey Rae, Sara Bareilles and Miranda Lambert. Among the stops on the tour are New York City, Denver, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto. See www.LilithFair.com .
Actor Colin Firth has said that gay actors still face limits, according to MonstersAndCritics.com . Firth, 49—who stars in the upcoming film A Single Man as a gay professor and has played a sexually ambiguous individual in the 1986 movie Apartment Zero—said "If you're a straight actor who takes on the role of a gay man, it's obviously not the same as being one in this business. I think there are still some constraints against being openly gay. It is to do with whatever sexual taboos are in place. ... There are not a lot of openly gay leading men."
Actor Ron Livingston's loan-out company, Coupleguys, is suing a man who is supposedly spreading online lies about him, changing entries to state that Livingston is dating a man named Lee Dennison, according to CourthouseNews.com . Livingston's actual wife is Rosemarie DeWitt, who played the title character in the movie Rachel Getting Married. Livingston, whose company is accused the unnamed defendant of libel and invasion of privacy, has been in the movie Swingers and the TV series Sex and the City.
The band R.E.M.—headed by openly gay singer Michael Stipe—has launched a new iPhone/iPod Touch application that will be available to users free of charge, according to a press release. R.E.M. iPhone is the official app that enables fans to stay up to date on all the latest R.E.M. happenings direct from the band's headquarters in Athens, Ga. Features include access to the latest R.E.M. news and tour dates, which are updated instantly; song clips from the band's entire catalog; and full-length videos from every R.E.M. album.
