Maleforce

Gay-pop icon Lady Ga Ga has caused a stir with her latest publicity stunt 'confirming' she's a hermaphrodite and giving fans an eyeful at Glastonbury - all hail the new Madonna.

Is there anywhere left to go in the rock'n'roll taboo stakes? There certainly is! Lady Ga Ga has delighted her fans by pushing the kind of boundaries not seen since Madonna shocked her way to the top in the mid 80's. Back then, it only took a kiss with a black 'Jesus' to get Madge ex-communicated and on the front pages - but these days it seems it takes a little, er, extra to make the grade...

Footage (and wonderment) has been viraling across the internet of Ga Ga's performance at Glastonbury 2009 where the 'Poker Face' star is shown high-kicking off a motorcycle giving 80,000 music fans, well, let's just say every reason to believe the "Is she or isn't he" rumors currently clogging up the blogosphere.

The singer's management has branded the rumors as "ridiculous" but a supposed 2008 blog post by Ga Ga on, um, 'Starrtrash' tells a different story... "It's not something that I'm ashamed of, just isn't something that I go around telling everyone. Yes. I have both male and female genitalia, but I consider myself a female. I have both a poon and a peener. Big f*cking deal."

Right now the singer, real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (try saying that with a poker face) is currently remaining schtum on the matter - no doubt thrilled with the amount of column inches this tale is racking up.

Love her or loathe her, with this sort of gusto Lady Ga Ga is destined to swipe Madonna's crown - at the very least she's making that little extra go a very long way.

In a surprising twist that's set to spin deerstalkers the world over, crimebusters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go gay in the new Guy Ritchie flick. But has the director made a big mistake?

Well, some would say it's elementary, my dear Watson! - we all knew there was a subtle bromance going on between super sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his devoted side-kick...but in the new Guy Ritchie adaptation things are heading one step further...into the bedroom.

Robert Downey junior, who plays the English detective in the film has revealed to News Of The World "We're two men who happen to be roommates, wrestle a lot and share a bed. It's bad-ass'. Ok, take into account Holme's side-kick is heart-throb Jude Law who berates Holmes for his, ahem, violin playing at "three in the morning", his mess, general lack of hygiene and "stealing my clothes"...and you may get an inkling where this is all leading...

The film, to be released at Xmas has already ruffled the feathers of New York film critic Michael Medved who thinks the homoerotic twist will spell disaster at the box office for Richie, "There's not a seething, bubbling hunger to see straight stars impersonating homosexuals. Who is going to want to see Downey Jr. and Law make out?" he asked The New York Post .

Brokeback who?

Not bereft of quite a bit gay attention himself (after all he was married to gay mega-magnet Madonna) Guy Richie will be counting on the success of Sherlock Holmes following his return to form with Rocknrolla.

The BT group has been named the world's most gay-friendly company with the likes of IBM in hot pursuit. The survey, the first of its kind, was carried out by IGLCC and includes international corporations Intel, Phillips, Kraft Food and UBS.

In an interview reported by UK online gay newspaper pinknews.co.uk BT's head of diversity practice Dennis Gissing said "We have, for many years, been placed highly in a number of influential benchmarks in the UK, but, as a global employer, to attain global recognition really is a great achievement of which we can all be proud."

The announcement also included unveiling of the IGLCC International Business Equality Index, a 'measurement of the performance of multinational corporations in relation to diversity and inclusion issues' focusing on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered employees. IBM and the Dow Chemical Company are named as runner ups in the report with the full list of companies representing 1.7 million employees in 227 countries.

Ian Livingston, BT's CEO said "I am absolutely delighted with this recognition. Diversity must be, and is, at the heart of our business and having the policies and the practices in place to support the LGBT community is essential to our success".

Anne Heal, BT's senior champion for sexual orientation added: "BT has been providing same-sex partner benefits to employees since the early 1980s and will continue to look at ways in which we can ensure that our people can be 'who they are' at work without fear of discrimination or prejudice."

Bucking broncos! Gay men are shaking up America's mid-west macho world of the 'Rodeo King' by staging the second annual 'Stampede' Gay Rodeo. Gay cowboys the length and breadth of the United States are gearing up for what promises to be an action packed weekend of bareback bronc riding, steer wrestling, calf roping and barrel racing.

Organised by the Liberty Rodeo Association Stampede will include two balls, more than a dozen rodeo competitions, dancing and some 'camp' events such as goat dressing and a wild drag race. Sounds like a hell of a lot of fun to us!

It's expected that cowboys and girls from all over the United States will attend the event being held in Philadelphia July 31st - Aug 2nd. The event highlight will be the main rodeo competition at Lulu Shriners Rodeo Grounds in Plymouth, two hours north of the city.

Speaking to The Philadelphia Gay News Stampede director Jim Gallucci said the intention of the stampede is to bring together a diverse mix of community "It's open to everybody, whether you're gay, lesbian, straight. It's a lot of friendly, fun competition, but also a way to meet people without having to go out to a bar. There's a real sense of community"

And what about when the sun goes down after a hard day of bronco busting? What's a lonesome pistol-packin' cowboy to do? That'll be line dancing at the spur-tastic 'Independence' and 'Freedom' balls then! Hosted by Philadelphia's Loews Hotel the two galas will kick off and close Stampede and include performances from country singer James Allen Clark and an awards ceremony.

Ride 'em cowboys!

The U.S. Government is injecting $400,000 in to research to help find out why gay men have risky sex when drunk. It is hoped the study will help develop venue-based initiatives to help deter unsafe sexual behaviour.

The two year study, overseen by the National Institute of Health is being conducted with the help of six gay bars in Buenos Aires. Why bars and clubs in the Argentinean capital were chosen isn't entirely clear, however according to an online abstract of the study 'Targeting public venues in Buenos Aires where men meet, alcohol is consumed, and sexual behavior occurs, the goal of this 2-year exploratory study is to understand the various factors that contribute to the creation of a high risk sexual space?...While the cost of treatment for HIV is covered by the government, programs in HIV prevention are limited.'

The study which began in September 2008 focuses on a specific type of circumstance that leads to unsafe sex occurring '..although there has been much research on venues, alcohol use, and sexual risk behaviour, no studies have sought to understand the interaction between these three factors, an essential step in developing interventions that target HIV risk behaviour in these settings.'

A recent foxnews.com report quotes NIH officials as saying 'the study is doing valuable work to address high HIV infection rates among homosexual men in Argentina, and that plans developed there could be translated for use in the United States and elsewhere'.