THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Ryan Murphy has confirmed that there will be a carnival theme for the next season of American Horror Story, subtitled "Freak Show," according to NewNowNext.com . Freak Show will take place in 1950 and star Jessica Lange as "a German ex-pat who is managing one of the last freak shows in the U.S." The 13-episode run is set in Jupiter, Fla., and will follow Lange's struggle to keep her business running at all costs. She's rescued a gang of nightmares who perform in her circus, including "Horror" vets Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett and Frances Conroy.

Hip-hop artist Lil Wayne has signed openly gay rapper Fly Young Red, the creator of the highly buzzed about "Throw That Boy P***y," to his label, according to a Fusion press release. Wayne stated, "Good music is good music—gay, straight, black, white, blue, or purple. Good music is just good music." Fly Young Red told Fusion's Alicia Menendez that he wrote "Throw That Boy P***y" for gay clubgoers exclusively, but that he eventually wants to expand his audience.

Blondie lead singer Deborah Harry, 68, has now said that some of her own most satisfying sexual encounters were with other women, The Daily Mail reported. When asked whether long-standing rumors of her affairs with girls were true, she said, "Yeah—let's say women are more sensual." Harry, who enjoyed a long-term relationship with fellow band member Chris Stein, did not name any of her female lovers. She also insisted that her most enduring relationships had been with men and that she longed to fall in love again.

Former RuPaul's Drag Race winner BeBe Zahara Benet has launched a Kickstarter campaign, "The Return of Savage Beauty," for support of her upcoming album and tour. In part, she says, "The money we plan to raise from this campaign will be used to cover manufacturing, distribution, marketing, videos, staging, touring expenses, among other costs. Now you know a girl don't have that Oprah coin yet and being an independent artist, she needs to take what she can get, honey." Her goal is $18,000, and the campaign ends May 22.

In a competition, Tom Rothman's TriStar Productions has come away with rights to Ricki and the Flash, a package featuring Oscar winners Meryl Streep, Jonathan Demme and Diablo Cody, according to The Wrap. Ricki and the Flash is about a rock n' roll-loving woman who chased her dream at the price of her family, but gets a last chance to, perhaps, make things right. TriStar sealed the deal by making a commitment to fast track production, which will start in the fall, giving Streep plenty of time over the summer to hone her guitar-playing skills. Demme ( The Silence of the Lambs ) will direct.

Lesbian writer Alex Marcoux has announced the release of Bella Books' edition of her work A Matter of Degrees. Jessie Mercer, Marcoux's protagonist from Back to Salem, is back in this tale of intrigue and suspense as she infiltrates an all-male secret society to solve her brother's murder. Resorting to extreme actions, she impersonates being a man and enters the world of Freemasonry. The Bella Books edition is a revision of The Haworth Press version published in 2006, and it is now available in trade paperback and eBook.

Former NFL defensive back Troy Vincent said that during the decade he played with the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins, he had six teammates who were openly gay in the locker room but not in the media, Sports Illustrated reported. "I'm not going to share their names, but in my 15 years, there were six individuals who were at least openly gay in the locker room," Vincent said, via Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post. "No problem. From my days in Miami until I ended in Washington, they were just my teammates."

After more than three years away from music, R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan made her return to the stage, in London, according to BET.com . "It's been a while," Sullivan said, as she performed to a sold-out crowd at KOKO in London's Camden Palace. During her show, the singer-songwriter performed hits like "Need U Bad," "Lion, Tigers & Bears" and "Bust Your Windows," as well as a rendition of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky." She also confirmed work on a third album, Mona Lisa, and previewed a new song, "Masterpiece."

Former *NSYNC star Lance Bass teased fans on April Fools' Day by announcing the boy band is planning an official comeback, complete with new songs and a world tour, according to Binghamton Homepage. He wrote, "*NSYNC Announce Reunion: 2 New Songs, Tour Coming in 2015," and linked the tweet to an article about the band's reformation. He then tweeted, "Happy #AprilFoolsDay!" The "Bye Bye Bye" hitmakers performed for the first time together in over a decade at the MTV Video Music Awards last year.

Lewis Tice, a longtime champion of LGBT cinema who worked as a publicist, producer, film critic and film-festival programmer, died April 1 at 44, according to Variety. Tice had exec-producer credits on Blood for Irina and Bear City and he also helped launch Latter Days, Another Gay Movie and Mysterious Skin for TLA Releasing. Throughout his career, Tice worked at Sundance, the Chicago International Film Festival, Frameline and more than 20 other fests.

Nicole Richie's Twitter feed has launched her return to television, according to USA Today. The 32-year-old former reality TV star-turned-designer, who is also an author and actress, is heading to VH1. #CandidlyNicole ( premiering July 17 ) is based on her AOL Web series, which was adapted from her Twitter feed, made up of her musings about everything from parenting to pop culture to random observations.

Lindsay Lohan has not gotten the comeback she wanted, according to Radar Online. The actress' reality TV show on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network kicked off with decent ratings but has plummeted ever since, with her second episode dipping a whopping 24 percent—and more viewers watching SpongeBob SquarePants. However, Keeping Up with the Kardashians ( which is on E! ) is also losing to the animated show.

Long-running daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives made history the week of March 31 by airing the first wedding between two males with the marriage of Will Horton ( Guy Wilson ) and Sonny Kiriakis ( Freddie Smith ), The Hollywood Reporter noted. The storyline began in 2011. However, this isn't the first same-sex wedding to air on a soap. ABC's All My Children was the first to air one back in 2009, with the nuptials of Bianca Montgomery ( Eden Riegel ) and Reese Williams ( Tamara Braun ).

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson has only been married since last July, but he said he's already seeing the perks of tying the knot with lawyer Justin Mikita, according to ABC News. "When you are having an argument or something, it doesn't feel quite as 'Oh my gosh, he's going to walk out the door'" he told ABC News. "[Instead] you married me so, we'll get through this." He even added that being married has meant "less drama" and that they sometimes share clothes.

Anderson Cooper has revealed that he will not be inheriting any money from his mother Gloria Vanderbilt's $200-million fortune, according to The New York Post. The CNN host said his 90-year-old mother, the great-great-great-granddaughter of the railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, has told him he won't get any of her wealth when she dies—and he says he doesn't need the money. Cooper, 47, makes around $11 million a year at CNN and lives in a converted firehouse in Greenwich Village and also has a Hamptons estate in Quogue.

True Blood begins its 10-episode seventh and final season Sunday, June 22 on HBO, according to a press release. The series takes place in a world where vampires and humans coexist after vampires have come out of the coffin, thanks to the invention of mass-produced synthetic blood that means they no longer need humans as a nutritional source. The series follows waitress and part-faerie Sookie Stackhouse ( Anna Paquin ), who can hear people's thoughts, vampire Bill Compton ( Stephen Moyer ) and vampire Eric Northman ( Alexander Skarsgard ).

Paula Deen and her younger brother, Bubba Hiers, have closed the Savannah seafood restaurant that served as the backdrop to a workplace discrimination lawsuit that stained the celebrity cook's reputation, The Huffington Post noted. Deen and Hiers co-owned Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House for a decade before the abrupt closure April 3. The restaurant closed less than a year after Deen was stung by her admission in a deposition that she had used racial slurs in the past. She was questioned by attorneys representing a former Uncle Bubba's manager who claimed she was subjected to racial slurs and sexual innuendo from Hiers.

Bill Maher joked that there's a gay mafia and "if you cross them, you get whacked," according to The Wrap. The comedian made the comment April 4 on his HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher. During a panel discussion on the recent resignation of Mozilla chief executive and co-founder Brendan Eich, Maher asked his panelists their thoughts on the Mozilla scandal.

A contestant of RuPaul's Drag Race has come out as HIV-positive, according to HIVPlusMag.com . Joshua Jones, a 23-year-old drag queen whose performer name is Trinity K. Bonet, revealed his status after a recent episode of RuPaul's Drag Race Untucked, a show following RuPaul's Drag Race. Jones said, "I was diagnosed in August 2012, and I have so much to live for. I have so many goals and aspirations that I want to conquer in my life, so I'm not going to let an obstacle get in the way. ... I'm hoping that by sharing this that I will be affecting somebody's life." Jones is the second RuPaul's Drag Race contestant to come out as HIV-positive; the first, Ryan Ong Paolo, whose drag name is Ongina, came out in season one.

Barbara Walters will sign off from the daytime talk show The View on May 16, according to The Wrap. ABC will use that Friday as a day of celebrations and tributes to the 84-year-old journalist, who joined the network in 1976 and became the first female anchor on an evening news program. She later became the co-host of ABC's 20/20 and launched The View, an all-women roundtable talk program, in 1997. Walters will continue to contribute to ABC News as events warrant, the network said.

On the heels of the success of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Disney has set the next film in Marvel's Captain America franchise, dating Captain America 3 for May 6, 2016, according to Deadline.com . "Winter" debuted to $93 million-$95 million the weekend of April 5-6 alone. That broke all previous daily and opening-weekend April records previously held by Fast Five in 2011, and it is roaring overseas with an estimated $300 million in global gross on a $177.6-million budget.

Jillian Michaels reportedly wants to leave The Biggest Loser again, according to People.com . A source said that Michaels "is turned off by the mean-spirited story lines and poor care of the contestants." Michaels, 40, had already left the series once, returning in 2013 for season 14.

Neil Patrick Harris is among those being mentioned as possible replacements for David Letterman, who recently announced he's retiring in 2015. The Huffington Post noted that Harris has said, "That hasn't even been a conversation at all. It would be an asinine amount of work." CBS chairman Les Moonves chose Harris to host the Emmys the last two times the network aired the awards show.

Who's The Boss star Danny Pintauro and his longtime boyfriend, Wil Tabares, have tied the knot, according to The Huffington Post. Pintauro, 38, described the April 3 nuptials, which were held on the beach in Dana Point, Calif., as a "dream come true" in an interview with US Weekly. Pintauro and Tabares both reside in Las Vegas, where Pintauro—who came out of the closet in 1997—works as a restaurant manager.

During a recent double episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, Roger—the wise-cracking alien from American Dad—was crowned the winner of "Gayest Cartoon Character of All Time," according to a Logo press release. Among the other 32 characters people could vote on were Peppermint Patty, Snagglepuss, He-Man, Vanity Smurf, Family Guy's Stewie, South Park's Big Gay Al and Saturday Night Live's Ambiguously Gay Duo.

Bravo's extensive 2014-2015 programming slate has a few surprises, including new scripted series, a wedding series spinoff for Real Housewives of Atlanta's Kandi Burruss and a new series starring Top Chef judge Tom Collichio that Gordon Ramsay is producing, according to The Wrap. One scripted series is Odd Mom Out, a comedy about the very wealthy individuals of New York's Upper East Side. Unscripted new shows include Top Chef Duels, Million Dollar Listing: Miami and Ladies of London.

Out director Lisa Cholodenko has been appointed a guest director of the Los Angeles Film Festival, Advocate.com reported. The festival is scheduled to run from June 11-19 in downtown L.A. Cholodenko has helmed numerous LGBT-themed projects, including her debut feature, High Art, starring Ally Sheedy, and the 2010 movie The Kids Are All Right, with Julianne Moore and Annette Bening.

While at a London store, designer/movie director Tom Ford ( A Single Man ) revealed he secretly tied the knot with his longtime partner Richard Buckley, according to the New York Daily News. "We are now married, which is nice," Ford nonchalantly told a reporter as he showed off his wedding ring. Ford, 52, and Buckley, 66, began dating 27 years ago and share a son together, Alexander "Jack" John Buckley Ford, who was born in October 2012.