By far one of the best allies our community has ever had, the fantastical Cyndi Lauper has proven her commitment to the gay community yet again, announcing that she is building a shelter for GLBT youth in New York.

"Kids are coming out in greater numbers as they see themselves accepted and represented on TV and in movies, but they're still being kicked out of their homes or running away and living on the streets. We need to make sure we're taking care of them," Cyn said.

The appropriately named True Color Residences, made up of 30 studio-style apartments, are slated to open in Harlem in time for winter 2011. Recognizing that many existing shelters only provide housing and assistance to youth up until the age of 18, the True Color Residences...

A troubling report was released today by the U.S. State Department detailing instances of “corrective” rape and other horrific treatment of gays and lesbians in Zimbabwe.

The findings reveal that lesbians face rape, often at the hands of family members, as a method to “cure” homosexuality, while gay men in the country are forced to have heterosexual sex.

“Some families reportedly subjected men and women to corrective rape and forced marriages to encourage heterosexual conduct,” said Amanda Porter, political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Sodomy is still illegal in the country and punishable by jail time and a hefty fine. There is one organization dedicated to the GLBT comunity in Zimbabwe. If you care to donate...

As poll number show more support for marriage equality than ever before and there is tangible progress on DADT, Rock for Equality reminds us that the next fight against GLBT discrimination looms on the horizon -- Social Security benefits.

If you were feeling a bit cheerless this Humpday because there’s still a ways to go before the weekend, MetLife’s “Still Out, Still Aging” study has arrived to commiserate with you.

The research, conducted in December, arrives at a bleak conclusion: GLBT adults are more likely to die alone than our heterosexual counterparts.

Who brought the cheesecake?

However, the study of adults age 45 – 64 also finds that two-thirds of the GLBT adults have a strong network of family and friends to rely on in the sunset years (which might not be much of a consolation prize, depending on your family).

Though the research didn’t delve into the complex factors that could create such a disparity, do you think that the environment and era the...

In an Australian radio interview last week Lady Gaga went one step further than her past touchings upon sexuality by insinuating she was born gay.

“There are transsexual women and transgender women and suddenly it becomes poisonous because there are some people in this world that believe being gay is a choice. It’s not a choice, WE are born this way."

Is she ditching the B for the L in our crowded acronym?

Later in the interview, Gaga explained the health concerns surrounding her recent New Zealand show.

“I was so jetlagged, I got in the night before and the jetlag just really caught up with me. I passed out about three times on stage that night but I got myself to the floor,” she said.

“I’d rather die on stage than walk...

...Well, The View already went gay when they added Whoopi, but that's another story for another time.

If you, like us, are in New York City this weekend for the big GLBT Expo (be sure to pop your gorgeous head in at the Instinct booth and say hi!) but are also secretly in town for Black Party (we won't tell), take a break between the two events tomorrow with one of our favorite new Big Apple events: Q Talk.

A mixed talk/variety show that reminded us of the view last time we stopped in, Q Talk puts for queens on stage with a microphone, some guests and a piano, and hilarity ensues! The monthly show starts tomorrow at 9:45, and will put you back on the streets just in time to get to Black Party.

For more info, check out www.Q-talk.net!

We’ve become hyper-aware and –vigilant about being discriminated against in the arenas of military and social laws, but an under-the-radar area of GLBT exclusion is only now coming into focus: science and medical studies.

Researchers at Philadelphia’s Fox Chase Center have crunched the numbers to arrive at a startling discovery: nearly 1/6th of clinical trials explicitly exclude GLBT participants.

Such trials bring to light new cures, medicines and therapies, and with a greater understanding of the breadth of disparities between heterosexual and homosexual or transgender health (depression, anxiety, suicide, to name a few), this outcasting in the modern clinical profession is outrageous.

Reports ABC:

"The National Institute of Health...

The notorious Black Party’s reputation certainly precedes itself, but this year something new is preceding the event: The Black Party Expo (BPX).

Sure, there’s also the historic GLBT Expo taking place in NYC the same weekend (which we’re proudly sponsoring!), but once you’re finished with business, perhaps letting loose at the city’s other fagulous gay convention, BPX (which serves as a behind-the-scenes look at Black Party), will do the trick better than some of us plan on doing later that night!

Boasting dozens of fetish and gay sub-culture vendors, countless adult film stars and nightlife fixtures and a few surprise (and surely outrageous) performances and fashion shows, BPX seeks to warm-up our nether regions for what the rest...

While a couple of bigoted parents sue in California to keep their children violent and intolerant, an entire organization based on lies, internalized homophobia and envy has stepped up a campaign against anti-bullying education by sinking to a new level. Considering the low levels previously reached by Exodus International, this one might defy gravity.

In the wake of the American Psychological Association deeming the group and its ilk based on harmful, futile concepts, the notorious “ex-gay” “conversion therapy” organization has increased the intensity and scope of it’s five-year-old “Day of Truth” campaign, a day intended to fight for the rights of students to be hateful, homophobic vessels of their ignorant parents’ archaic,...

New studies out of the Netherlands bring good news, but with possible negative implications. The research, presented at the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, shows that 25 year olds who are today diagnosed to be HIV positive can expect to live normal or near-normal lifespans, as long as treatment begins shortly after infection.

Men and women diagnosed aged 25 could expect to live just five months less than HIV-negative people and men diagnosed at age 55 would live 1.3 years less (women 1.5 years less). For patients diagnosed with HIV (but not AIDS) symptoms the figure was two years shorter for men and women diagnosed at 25, and six and 7.5 years shorter for men and women respectively diagnosed at 55.

The researchers...

One would think when doing a study on consumer spending habits, a survey of us Americans -- notorious for our love for shopping (as well as our avoidance of AmEx collections calls) -- would be included. Not so, believes OutNow, a leading global market research company in charge of an upcoming landmark GLBT study.

Such important items vital to the knowledge and politics of the American GLBT community within our own country such as our consumer habits, parenting, media usage, incomes, education levels, inspirations, discrimantions and more will be absent from the world's largest-ever survey of gay communities.

Included in the research, however, will be Latin America, as well as a handful of European countries such as France, Spain, Italy and...

While in competition with and cut from the same frilled-cloth as sister-channel Logo’s upcoming Ru U, VH1’s upcoming TRANSform Me gets a head start with a premiere scheduled for Monday, March 15 on the network.

The eight episode series seeks to transform fashion-challenged women on the inside and out by ambushing them with a makeover from three well-known transgender women. Though giving the trans community a face (or three in this case) on TV is amazing, the fact that part of the gist of the series is by surprising women who apply for a makeover with *shocking* a group of transgender stylist deserves a quick eye-roll. Do we really need to make it a surprise? Why can’t the applicants apply to the show knowing three fabulous transgender...