Happy Lunar New Year!

Today is the Lunar New Year. In recognition, we've released a Be an Ally & a Friend PSA from our good friend Rex Lee from Entourage.

A Message from Entourage's Rex Lee

Keisha Gets Girlicious!

The Pussycat Dolls are back on The CW for another round of auditions, and network reps confirm that out performer Keisha is one of the 15 finalists competing this season. Unlike the last go-round, where contestants were vying to join the Dolls, this time they are looking to stay in the game for 10 episodes until the last three standing form a new trio named Girlicious, receiving a contract with Geffen Records.

According to Keisha's official online profile, she's a 22-year-old from North Hollywood, CA, who admires Beyonce and Aaliyah.

Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious premieres Feb 18 at 9PM ET/PT, with encores Wednesdays at 9PM ET/PT following new episodes of America's Next Top Model.

Incidentally, last season's winner, Asia Nitollano, a former New York Knicks dance team member from Mt. Vernon, NY, quit after she was crowned the winner, choosing to pursue a solo career instead.

YOU can be on The Real World

The Real World is at its best when its inclusive of LGBT people (like Davis, right), and now you can be the next MTV reality star!

If you're 18-24, you're invited to attend one of the upcoming casting calls:

February 9th in Salt Lake City, Chicago, and College Station, TX
February 12th in Amherst, MA
February 16th in New Haven, CT

For details on the above casting calls, or to UPLOAD A CASTING VIDEO, please visit www.bunim-murray.com.

The show is also recruiting in the following cities: Albuquerque, Ann Arbor, Austin, Boston, DC, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Little Rock, Madison, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Philadelphia, Richmond, San Antonio, Scottsdale, Seattle.

If you live within driving distance of one of these recruiting cities, please email casting@bunim-murray.com. The subject heading should contain ONLY the name of your city. Please attach a few photos of yourself as well as a brief bio, and also mention that you heard about this opportunity through GLAAD.

We'll see you on MTV!

Social Change Doc Funds Available

Submissions for the 2008 GUCCI TRIBECA DOCMENTARY FUND are now open!

The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund offers finishing funds to feature-length documentaries which promote social change and highlight critical issues currently absent from mainstream media. Applications will be accepted between February 5 and April 11, 2008 for grants ranging from 5k to 30k. The 2008 grantees will be announced in July 2008.

For on-line submissions and further information please visit: www.tribecafilminstitute.org

Access Hollywood's Shaun Robinson

To commemorate Black History Month, GLAAD released today a public service announcement from Access Hollywood co-anchor Shaun Robinson as part of its “Be an Ally & a Friend” campaign. The 30-second spot is scheduled to make its television premiere tonight on Access Hollywood and features Robinson denouncing the use of anti-gay words and homophobic jokes, while encouraging viewers to treat others with dignity and respect. The new PSA has also been made available to all NBC-owned affiliates for broadcast.

Vist GLAAD's "Be an Ally & a Friend" channel to see more about the campaign.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: A Message From Shaun Robinson

Gay Content in Superbowl Ads?

Our friends at CommercialCloset.org have put together their picks of Superbowl ads which feature LGBT content. Or do they? Postings on YouTube show just how divided people are on Commercial Closet's choices and whether much of the content could even be considered remotely gay. In one spot, Justin Timberlake's pal, SNL's Andy Sanberg, briefly plays himself as a Justin stalker in a Britney wig. Gay? Trans? C, none of the above?

What's clear is that there isn't really a Snickers ad in the bunch. After last year's male liplock=violence theme led to the entire campaign being scrapped, advertisers seemed to step cautiously into any territory that could be considered gay, or specifically, violence against gays.

But AfterElton.com's Michael Jensen, who jokes that his hat may have been screwed on too tight during the game, interpreted gay violence in two ads: One, a Bridgestone spot where a driver seems to have his eyes set on running down Richard Simmons (who is not out and has said in the past he's not gay). The second is a Fox Prison Break promo where the scumbag character of T-Bag (a sexual predator both in and out of prison, leading Jensen to label him bisexual) is flattened by players on the Superbowl field. If Jensen was looking to engage his readers it worked; by days end many readers posted that yes, his hat probably was screwed on too tight.

But why read what the Monday Morning Quarterbacks had to say when you can watch and decide for yourself here:


Wouldn't it be nice if Orbitz just aired one of its gay-inclusive ads during the Superbowl? Now that would be progress.