Whatever progress Hollywood looked to be making in telling mature, well-observed stories of sheepwrangler-on-sheepwrangler action in Brokeback Mountain appears at first glance to have been set back considerably by the impending release of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, an Adam Sandler comedy about two straight firemen who unconvincingly masquerade as a gay couple in order to get into Jessica Biel's pants. Don't let the stereotype-laden and unfunny trailer that's been running ad nauseam since April give you the wrong idea, however. A GLAAD authority has seen the movie twice, and stamped it Gay Kosher:

• Isaiah Washington: Gay's Anatomy [iklipz.com]

In its current issue, The Advocate pointedly asks why I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry was scheduled to premiere opposite Outfest's opening night—the one night that was sure to siphon off at least some of the rose-tinted limelight away from the festival and towards the Adam Sandler and Kevin James comedy about healthy, American males masquerading as (ha ha!) betrothed sodomites:

Former Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington has been devoting a good portion of his newly cleared schedule to the granting of angry, uncensored interviews, in which he connects the not-so-obvious dots to help us better see T.R. Knight as the Machiavellian, closet-exiting opportunist he truly is. And while the natural impulse for most of us would be to set up folding chairs in order to take in one of the most spectacular career-immolations in recent memory, Washington is quick to point out to EW that the offers have been flooding in since Dr. Burke's untimely demise:

Feeling, perhaps, that a single, lesbian-authored petition that lumped him in the same ABC discard pile as Star Jones would hardly be sufficient to clear his good name, Isaiah Washington has finally taken the business of salvaging his reputation into his own hands—and in the process, shed some light on what exactly it was he was referring to in his now-legendary, post-axing battle cry, "I'm mad as hell and not going to take anymore." In an interview yesterday with the Houston Chronicle, Washington outlined his side of the story, describing the actions of an ambitious young actor, who leaped upon an offensive word regrettably uttered during a set dispute and rode the six-letter missile to new heights of stardom:

W magazine profiles John Travolta in their current issue, naively noting how "at 53 [he] still has a good head of hair and wields his famous blue eyes to powerful effect." When the topic shifts to his upcoming turn as Hairspray's zaftig hausfrau Edna Turnblad, Travolta explains how he firmly told producers that he would only take on the gender-bending role if they promised to build him the kind of plus-size, womanly curves recently dubbed by the LAT as the "new look" of Hollywood:

While Isaiah Washington's dishonorable discharge from Grey's Anatomy may have been greeted with silent, satisfied approval from a significant portion of Hollywood's velvet community—comforted in the knowledge that their telekinetic Gay Death Rays were still functioning at maximum, career-annihilating capacity—other members of the LGBT community were less than pleased with the outcome. Lesbian and African American blogger Jasmyne Cannick, for example, strongly feels Washington's termination was just the latest example of a racist shitcanning trend emerging at ABC:

Following last year's Fanisode contest comes The L Word's latest foray into the arena of cutting-edge promotion: The series has teamed with cyber community Second Life to create a Virtual Lesbian World, where fans can dress up an avatar (Butch and Lipstick options not yet available), and mingle with other L-Word fans at the virtual The L-Word Club (pictured above, looking not unlike the virtual L-Word Women's Detention Facility), grab a coffee at The Planet café, or catch a lecture at the Amphitheater.

With news that a Berkeley watchdog group has discovered an abandoned Pentagon plan to develop a "hormone bomb" that would turn enemy soldiers into lusty, same-sex-craving flesh addicts, producers—whose antennae are always attuned to a juicy, plucked-from-the-headlines story—instantly went into a Gay Bomb movie pitching frenzy. Studio executives were soon inundated with varying takes on the basic Manhattan Project-meets-The Birdcage premise. ("Ours is a musical!" "Ours is from the Gay Bomb's point of view!" "Ours dares to keep the cameras trained upon steamy displays of insurgent-on-insurgent action!") Ultimately, it was the little-known indie team who envisioned a Dr. Strangelove update, featuring Jake Gyllenhaal in full cowboy regalia bareback riding the Gay Bomb out the bay doors of a mirror-tiled B-52, that won Hollywood over for its bold, fabulous vision.

Earlier today, sensing that the residents of his sleepy municipality might have been startled by the locust-like swarm of helicopters suddenly darkening the morning sky, West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tempore Jeff Prang issued a statement to his constituents aimed at soothing nerves frayed by the arrival of the noisy, airborne interlopers:

If you need an example of how desperate networks become during awards season, look no further than today's For Your Consideration ad for The L Word (click above for the full version), in which Showtime demonstrates it craves Emmy legitimacy so badly that it's conspicuously de-emphasizing the show's lesbian spirit in a transparent, misguided attempt to increase its appeal to voters. Even worse than the cynicism behind this strike at the program's Sapphic core is that the ploy could easily backfire, driving away viewers who fear that Showtime has suddenly removed all the hot-girl-on-even-hotter-girl action that made the show popular in the first place.

Grey's Anatomy's T.R. Knight, who reluctantly found himself the face of a new generation of TV actors forced to openly acknowledge their sexuality after a meanie co-star with a toilet mouth and nasty temper called them a bad word during a Hollywood workplace fracas, has stated that he was in the dark regarding his fate on the show. Similarly, gayhabbed nemesis Isaiah Washington—recent star of his very own "don't call people epithets, it hurts their feelings" PSA—was also questioning whether his services would again be required at Seattle Grace, especially after the season-ending cliffhanger had him skipping town. Cast members have recently said they were confident everyone would return—something EW.com confirms today through a well-placed source:

A Rosieless The View hasn't quite been the must-see daytime TV minefield of recent months, but even its gentler incarnation has something to offer viewers looking for their daily dose of ribald and uncensored yenta talk. (From what we hear—we can't really be bothered to tune in without the threat of Elisabeth Hasselbeck getting her face eaten off at any moment hanging over the proceedings.) According to ever-vigilant AfterElton.com, however, Joy Behar couldn't resist bringing up the topic of Hugh Jackman, to whom all signs point to Gay:

Back in the fall of 2005, Brad Pitt and George Clooney were widely reported as having co-invested in the Boom Boom Room, a Laguna Beach gay bar and hotel, though the actors' reps denied their involvement at the time. Its official buyer, Beverly-Hills-based billionaire Steven Udvar-Hazy, has now put the property back on the market. Smelling an opportunity to hang ten on a wave of some well-timed Oceans publicity, Lily-White Coastal Community Citizens for the Right to Get Hammered on Planter's Punch Among Their Own, Man-Loving Kind have enlisted the actors' help in an ad found on page 14 of today's Variety.

The Illinois Review blog (the "crossroads of the conservative community") posted a review of Shrek the Third that, despite acknowledging a positive, "pro-life" ending, still gave it a thumbs down. Their reasoning: They felt that the mannish character of Doris the Ugly Stepsister, voiced by CNN's trusted talk icon Larry King, is the byproduct of the Hollywood propaganda machine aimed at luring America's youth towards the evils of transgenderism:

Potty-mouthed actor Isaiah Washington currently awaits a call from his agent that will determine whether or not he will continue to show up to the Grey's Anatomy set every day, carrying a warm smile and a box of Sprinkles cupcakes for his co-workers. (It's a small, peacemaking gesture, meant to say, "How could I possibly hate Gays when I come bearing cupcakes—the gayest dessert there is!") In the meantime, you can enjoy what might be your last rendezvous with Dr. Preston Burke as a series regular tonight on the Grey's finale, during which the actor's GLAAD-mandated PSA will run. GLAAD's website offers a preview of the spot, which contains in its call for a choke-free, homoinclusive society the following quote: "When you use words that demean a person because of their sexual orientation, race or gender, you send a message of hate." The spot is truly a master class in "sincerity for the camera," and perhaps the actor's most stirring statement on the matter since a moment of publicist-unassisted damage control inspired him to announce, "I love gay. I wanted to be gay. Please let me be gay!"

As Grey's Anatomy star and Advocate coverboy T.R. Knight gradually morphs into the New Face of Hollywood Gay Pride—less rainbow Spandex and Mardi Gras beads, more begrudging acknowledgments of one's predisposition towards men and appearances on Ellen to tattle on one's homorageoholic co-star—the actor's fate on the series that made him famous is still up in the air. Asked by Access Hollywood if his contract has been renewed, Knight said:

AfterElton.com has more from the upcoming Advocate cover story featuring reluctant gay hero T.R. Knight: Pressed for his take on what we will heretofore refer to only as The Incident, the actor avoided directly attacking the actions of slur-slinging nemesis Isaiah Washington, as well as seemingly unsympathetic showrunner Shonda Rhymes, choosing instead to answer an entirely different set of innocuous questions that existed only in his own mind:

Because T.R. Knight's personal journey from fresh-faced actor, to innocent slur victim, to tireless crusader for bullied gay TV stars' rights only grows more fascinating the more he talks about it, we turn now to the upcoming issue of The Advocate, which features the accidental hero on their cover. (And upon which he demonstrates even further signs of saintliness by acting as full-time caregiver to the quadriplegic canine companion co-star Katherine Heigl adopted for him.) As is so often the case in tales of Hollywood closet-emergence, Knight was discouraged from coming clean with the world so soon after his big break:

We're always up for checking in with theorist Camille Paglia, whose column in Salon.com (ad view req'd) bounces from topic to topic like a post-feminist superball ricocheting off the walls of popular culture. In the current edition, she weighs in with her thoughts on everything from the Democratic presidential debates to the Virginia Tech tragedy to the lack of well-written roles for African-Americans on All My Children. But it's her staunchly pro-Trumpian take on the subject of Rosie O'Donnell we chose to single out for special recognition: