Study: Faces May Reveal Whether People Are Gay 

Pink News UK reports:

According to a study published this week, people may be able to determine at a glance whether another person is gay.
A University of Washington study published in the Public Library of Science found that people were often able to accurately guess another person’s sexuality by briefly looking at their face.
129 students, 92 of whom were women, were shown black and white photos of a woman or a man for 50 milliseconds and were able to guess the sexual orientation of the subject with above-chance accuracy.
Participants guessed women’s sexuality accurately 65 percent of the time and men’s sexuality accurately 57 percent.
Study authors say it is not completely clear how the snap judgements are formed, but believe the results show ‘configural processing’, quickly identifying how another person’s face is made up in terms of distance between features, and ‘featural processing’, examining individual features, helps people determine sexuality.
As part of the investigation, students were shown images of men and women for a fraction of a second the right way up and images upside down, when ‘configural processing’ is impaired.
Success in guessing the sexuality of another person upside down was less, but it was still above a rate of chance.
Joshua Tabak, a psychology student at the University of Washington said: “It may be similar to how we don’t have to think about whether someone is a man or a woman or black or white.
“This information confronts us in everyday life.”
Tabak added that “people from older generations or different cultures who may not have grown up knowing they were interacting with gay people” were less able to guess sexuality accurately.
The study paper itself suggested that if the results are accurate, “it would appear that minority sexual orientation is not the concealed stigma that many argue it is. Indeed, the need to protect gay people from discrimination would seem increasingly urgent to the extent that minority sexual orientation is tacitly inferred from aspects of personal appearance that are routinely available for inspection (e.g., faces).”

Ray Ban’s New Gay-Inclusive Campaign

The New Civil Rights Movement reports: 

Sunglass manufacturer and style icon Ray Ban five years ago began their “Never Hide” campaign, but now it’s become gay inclusive — a gorgeous development. Begun in 2007, Never Hide was created to make the now-75-year old company more enticing and appealing to a younger market. One of their newest ads features two men dressed in 1940′s-era business suits, walking down a cosmopolitan street, holding hands, with the headline “Never Hide,” at the top of one version, and on the bottom of another. The image is part of a campaign by the advertising agency Marcel, in Paris, France.

“Never pretend. Never be afraid. Never give up. Never Hide,” a 2007 press release reads:

• The campaign, comprised of a film and a series of situations for print media, outdoor and the Internet, was created and is developed around the concept “NEVER HIDE.” Having the courage to express your true self, your thoughts and your personality genuinely, to stay faithful to the values of authenticity and uniqueness have, in fact, made up the DNA of the Ray-Ban brand since its beginning in 1937 to today. And it is these qualities that characterize true leaders.

There’s also a Ray Ban Facebook page with lots of photos and videos, as well as a Never Hide website loaded with photos and videos.

The gay Never Hide ad is also featured on Ads Of The World.

This is the first obviously gay Ray Ban ad we could find, and we’re hoping they do a great many more, including more diverse ones, because the more we see ourselves, and the more the non-LGBT community sees us, the more equality and acceptance we are capable of achieving.

And just in case you’re wondering, we aren’t associated with Ray Ban in any way, and are not compensated for this piece at all — we just really love the campaign and the gay-inclusivity and really hope to see more!

Gay & Fierce iPhone 4S Update 

Spread The Word: All Dead Mormons Are Now Gay

Like Bill Maher says, if they get to do stupid rituals, why can’t we, too? 

Davey Wavey: Gay People, Endangered Species?

Davey Wavey: Big Gay Vs. Little Gay!

Davey Wavey: Things NOT To Ask A Gay Guy

Simply an old-fave. His videos are gold.

Grindr App Hacked by Evil Aussie! Your Dick Pics May Soon Hit The Internet

Queerty reports:

Rutrow! Gay hookup app Grindr has been compromised by a hacker based in Sydney, Australia, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
The hacker found a frighteningly easy way to log in as a user other than yourself, impersonate them, and steal any and all revealing pictures that had been exchanged in “romancing” sessions.
Now Grindr CEO Joel Simkhai and his underlings are scrambling to put out a patch that blocks the security loophole. “We are certainly aware of a lot of these vulnerabilities and they will be fixed as fast as humanly possible,” he said.
But did they really know these obvious chinks in the force-field existed? Wouldn’t they have already fixed such errors in the almost 3 years the app’s been out?
An expert in the matter said that the hacking merely overcame embarrassingly low-grade security. The expert said Grindr and its pointless straight cousin Blendr “had no real security,” calling them “very poorly designed … [with] poor session security and authentication.”
Apparently the hacking website had been up and running for months before it got shut down last Friday, and any ol’ Internet Joe Schmo could access it.

• The website, registered on July 14 last year, allowed the hacker to search for any Grindr user regardless of their location, and capitalised on the vulnerabilities to offer other services not designed by the apps.
• Material seen by this website suggests that a number of Australian users had their Twitter profiles linked to Grindr profiles on the web page, making it easier to find users.
• At one point, according to sources who saw the website before it was taken down, it listed users’ Grindr pseudonyms, passwords, their personal favourites (bookmarked friends) and allowed them to be impersonated, and thus have messages sent and received without their knowledge. At one point, the website also allowed users’ profile pictures to be replaced.

So, is there anybody who go on the hacker’s website before it got shut down? Want to come forward with more of this type of stuff?

I only wonder…

INDIANA: Nation’s First Pro-Gay Plate Issued

And those Loving Christians ain’t loving it. 

Jimmy Kimmel: Karl Malone For Salt Lake City - It’s The Gay Place To Stay

Nate Berkus Show: The Gay Fred Astaire

CENSUS: USA’s Ten Gayest Cities

Of Terms of the percentage of self-identified same-sex couple households.

Gay Porn Found During Raid At Gathafi’s Home (Belongs to Al-Saadi Al-Gathafi… Allegedly!)

The Advocate reports:

Libyan rebels took control of Tripoli over the weekend and looters immediately raided the Gadhafi family’s luxurious compound of mansions, removing expensive cars, clothing, and bottles of alcohol. One rebel interviewed by AP says they “are not condoning looting of private property, and only allow the wrecking of symbols of the Gadhafi family’s abuse of power.”

The AP also reports that in the office area of one villa, journalists saw large piles of catalogs for yachts and cars, and the gay porn DVD Boyz Tracks slipped out of the stack of documents.

The 38-year-old Al-Saadi was described in a 2009 WikiLeaks cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli as “having a troubled past, including run-ins with police in Europe, drug and alcohol abuse and excessive partying.”

According to Rachel Maddow, “Gathafi” is the right way to spell their last name (As if that’s what grabbed your attention).

Dave Franco Learns To Love Himself… Literally

Petition: Let Bert & Ernie Get Married

Joe.My.God. reports:

A petition drive launched on Change.org asks the producers of Sesame Street to allow long-rumored boyfriends Bert and Ernie to marry.

Chicago resident Lair Scott started an online petition at Change.org to pressure the Sesame Street Workshop to “Let Bert & Ernie get married on Sesame Street.” The petition reads, “We are not asking Sesame Street to do anything crude or disrespectful…. It can be done in a tasteful way. Let us teach tolerance of those that are different.” As of this writing, the petition had collected more than 1,600 signatures. But are Bert and Ernie even gay, never mind ready for the ultimate commitment? Scott clearly thinks so. In an interview with ABC News.com, Scott said, “A lot of people have wondered about Bert and Ernie…. Living in the same bedroom and the same home would make anyone question their sexuality.” His aim, he added, is to get 20,000 petitioners to encourage the Sesame Workshop to either marry Bert and Ernie or introduce a gay or lesbian character.

Sesame Street has denied that Bert and Ernie are gay ever since the rumors started over 20 years ago. The usual response: “They are puppets. They don’t exist below the waist.” 

The Advocate reports:

No matter how many people sign a petition urging Bert and Ernie to come out of the closet and get married, PBS says the characters “are best friends” and nothing more. 

And fans might be surprised to learn that “even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as mostSesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.” 

The statement was posted by PBS on Facebook in response to a petition posted on Change.org. Proponents made the case that if the beloved Muppets were to come out, it “would show children and their parents that not only is it acceptable but also teach children that homophobia is wrong, bullying is wrong and that Sesame Street should recognize that there are LGBT relationships, families, and include them in their show.”

But that’s not how PBS sees its purpose.

“Bert and Ernie are best friends,” the network said in its statement. “They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves.”