After Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin said back in October that the committee would hold a hearing in November in hopes "to find a way to repeal 'Don't Ask, Dont' Tell,'" the community was feeling pretty good. President Obama had made some strong statements in our favor during October's National Equality March weekend, including promising to repeal DADT. Some of the major faces of DADT were getting more and more airtime on news networks (and including our own November cover, featuring Victor Fehrenbach and Dan Choi) to talk about the detrimental effect of the rule.

Now comes that punch in the gut we all feared.

The planned hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee to take up DADT's repeal has been postponed. Indefinitel...

Before she was breaking glass and lighting her piano on fire at the AMAs (which we'll get to in a minute), Lady Gaga sat down with Fuse TV for an interview and further proved her commitment to the gays (the full piece airs tonight on Fuse). In talking about homophobia and dropping F-bombs in music, Gag's said:

"I feel even just in the music industry that there's very public misogynistic and homophobic behavior. When I hear one of the most famous rappers in the world say something homophobic on the radio, I want people to yell at him. I don't have to say who because they know who they are. It's not just hip-hop, it's everywhere. It's wrong. I'm not trying to create and generate more hatred in the world...

The mother of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, the Puerto Rican teen brutally murdered last week, has finally spoken out about the tragedy and her feelings about her son. JoeMyGod shared the statement, which came via the Blabbeando blog.

"When my son told me he was gay, I told him, 'Now, I love you more'. I want to tell the world that hatred is not born with human beings, it is a seed that is planted by adults and is fostered creating a climate of intolerance and violence. We must change our ways and understand that anyone...

The Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (ya know, the people who are in charge of the Oscars) had $450,000 to dish out to 24 film festivals around the country. And one of our very own got in on the honor.

The Academy awarded a $30,000 grant to Outfest: The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The grant will be used to reach new audiences, specifically youth 18-25, and audiences who have little exposure to LGBT images.

“To be recognized by the Academy Foundation for inclusion in such a distinguished and prestigious grant program is not only an honor, but a testament to the filmmakers who will benefit from these resources,” says Outfest Executive Director Kirsten Schaffer. “It is very exciting...

We showed you a behind the scenes teaser earlier this week, so of course we'd bring you the final product. Here's Janet (looking super cute) in "Make Me." It's no super-impressive Gaga vid, but it makes us wanna dance none the less!

Long Beach councilmember Robert Garcia—whom you probably recognize as one of Instinct’s 2009 Leading Men—has banked a major victory for the city after his was adopted by the city this week. Beginning in January, the city will only enter contracts with companies that provide the same employment benefits to registered domestic partners that are provided to married spouses.

The LB now joins Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Seattle and a handful of other cities across the U.S. that have Equal Benefits Ordinances in place.

“This is truly a historic day for human rights and equality in Long Beach,” Robert said. “Long Beach is living up to its reputation as a strong supporter of LGBT equality and social justice, and I’m...

The hottest (and perhaps only) reason to watch the new school 90210 is Trevor Donovan, who reminds a few of us Instinct boys why we love living in So-Cal: surfers. Trevor doesn't like to wears shirts, which is a coincidence, because when we too don't like it when he wears shirts!

Yum!

Not even two hours after our International Transgender Remberance Day post comes sad news out of Italy of the murder of Brenda, a Brazilian transplant living in Rome.

Brenda was in the unfortunate position of being a friend to a trans prositute caught with an Italian politician, and had been forced to call the police in the past after threats of violence from Eastern European gangs.

From HuffPo:

A transsexual Brazilian prostitute known as 'Brenda,' who was linked to a sex scandal involving former Italian politician Piero Marrazzo, has been found burned to death in her Rome apartment, according to reports.

Sources told Reuters that magistrates were treating the death as murder. A bottle of whiskey and packed suitcases were found near her...

Today is International Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day set aside to make one self and one's friends and family aware of the horrific number of hate crimes committed against the T in our fair GLBT.

Perhaps a poignant way to observe the day is with a high-profile video of Chaz Bono's appearance on Good Morning America. The interview has sparked much criticism of both Chaz and GMA. What do you think of it?

Sure, we're all waiting for the eight new songs on Tuesday's Fame Monster, but video has recently surfaced showcasing Lady Gaga (when she was still Stefani Germanotta) performing two original songs at her NYU talent show. From this video you can see and hear that had the Lady not started clubbing with the gays she might have gone more a Norah Jones route, rather than the transtastic Michael Alig reincarnate currently overtaking the world.

What do you think of vintage Stefani aka Lady Gaga?

Finally. The tease of the week is over and we have full video showcasing the season 2 contestants on RuPaul's Drag Race. Now we only have to make it to February to watch the show...

(Click "comment" bar to view the preview video)

After yesterday's open letter to Brad Pitt's scruff, we didn't want ya'll to think we don't have soft (or hard) spots in our hearts (and various other locations) for fur. In fact, though not quite a cub/bear, Eric from our Sandstorm fashion spread in April 2002 came to mind when we thought of just how hot hair can be. And we wouldn't want to leave his scrumptious co-models, Chepe & Sean, out of the picture, either.

Yup, menage-a-trois and furry yummy guys basically sums up another great week here at InstinctMagazine.com!

Eric

Eric and Sean

Chepe

Don't forget--you can order back issues, including April 2002 featuring these models, through our "Subscriptions" link, always found at the top of our fancy webpage here.