When not pirouetting a fine line between loving and hating Rosie O'Donnell, Elisabeth Hasselbeck is harboring actual thoughts-slash-feelings about such hot button issues as gay rights. Queerty alerts us to Elisabeth's sit down with Will Wikle – star of Big Brother 5 and some Logo programming you're unaware of – where she artfully dodges yes-or-no questions.

Whenever we get the chance to roll in the hay with our gay cuz Queerty, we take it. And thanks to the misfortunes of PlanetOut Inc. – owner of Gay.com, Out, The Advocate, and RSVP Vacations – we're getting laaaaaaid! As Queerty was among the first to report, PlanetOut's outlook hasn't been so rosy. Sinking share price. Execs selling off stock. Cash strapped operations.

Now Queerty brings word that the situation is even more dire. Reports in the SF Gate claim that without a cash infusion, PlanetOut will run out of dolla dolla bills by the end of the year. It's not just hard out there for a pimp; it's hard out there for a gay media conglomerate who thought its well-lubed infrastructure would help cut costs and boost profit.

Meanwhile, during a recent interview with Out editor-in-chief Aaron Hicklin, we were assured that the future of his magazine was safe. He wouldn't comment on the LGBT ticker symbol's troubles, but his glossy rag is, supposedly, treading water just fine.

You know, the glossy rag that's loaded with ads for its parent company's RSVP Vacations — the same RSVP Vacations that's being blamed for much of PlanetOut's woes. Not that all the guys who used to cruise Gay.com are now on MySpace, Facebook, and Dlist or anything.

In today's New York Blade (the gay weekly made of newsprint, not glossy paper with escort ads), porn impresario Michael Lucas takes on Queerty, Jossip's blog for homos, bis, and chicks with dicks. Queerty, you see, has written much about Michael, from his gay sexcapades to his thoughts on politics. They even asked readers to vote on which new publicist-approved photo the site should start using. That made Michael mad, so he tore into Queerty with a rant that, as far as we can tell, criticizes the site for claiming an award that was, in fact, bestowed up them. But we're not one for semantics.

We are, however, one for retorts. So read Queerty's.

Did you know CNN has an openly gay anchor? No, not Cooper, silly, but Thomas Roberts. Well, he was CNN's openly gay anchor (CNN Headline News, at least), until he came out (at least in his most public iteration), and then lost his show in September. He's since stayed on at the network, probably letting his contract run out as he toils behind the scenes. But as of Friday, he ended his 5-year tenure.

And as sad as we are to see him go – frustrated that we have to watch Fox News for our Shep Smith and Bill Hemmer dosage – it's even more upsetting to recount these comments he gave in an interview about coming out:

"I had some concerns, but not enough to stop me from doing it,” Roberts said. “There was some trepidation… about making yourself vulnerable to a group of journalists with questions, to experience being on the other side, being in the hot seat, to come up with thoughtful, truthful answers in the way that I wanted…. It's the largest step I've taken to be more active in the organization, and to interact with other gay journalists….

“No one advised me against doing it. I have no regrets, but I have some concerns about some of the reporting, certain correlations that are being drawn.”

Those "correlations," of course, being that his coming out on a national stage led to his firing. Which is entirely outrageous. At the hands of CNN prez Jon Klein, Roberts' firing had more to do with his not being a hot, young woman.

Ben Campbell from Merchantville, New Jersey, wrote into Details this month.

"Gay Or Details?" With its fashion, pop culture, sophisication and pretty-boy models, Details has always been friendly to gay men, but every issue lately seems to get even gayer, what with all the articles on gay culture and the recurring "Gay Or" feature. Hey, I have no problem with gay people. I just want to know – as a straight man – is Details still for me too?

We'll forget, for a moment, that Ben thinks it's possible to be too straight for Details. (Technically, it is, but only if you read Field & Stream.) Or that, despite his assurances, in all likelihood he's a raging homophobe.

But let's rewind one hot second: Last month's issue, we pointed out, was perhaps the first issue under Dan Peres that didn't carry a single gay cover line and only hinted at the possibility there might be some homo hula between covers.

And then, remarkably, there was the May issue.

CONTINUED »

Dina McGreevey, the beard to ex-governor and Gay American Jim McGreevey, was in on the whole "don't let anyone find out he likes teabagging" sham for much longer than the feuding couple fessed up to. Whether you believe Dina suspected-slash-knew before they were married in 2000, or, as McGreevey claims in his book, in 2002 when she caught him on the phone with Golan Cipal, one thing's for sure: the Post has the exclusive and the Daily News doesn't. Nah-nah nah nah-nah.

Instead, the News only got its hands on passages from Dina's Silent Partner, where she claims Jim ordered her to smile for the cameras during his coming out speech in '04.

The exciting conclusion – with enough material for both papers to share – is still to come. In divorce court. Where the evidence is getting us hot and bothered.

That "complexity of the laws governing corporate benefits and the difficulty of complying with changing domestic partnership regulations" must've finally been resolved, because New York magazine is now offering its fagala employees health benefits for their partners. And they didn't even have to run off to New Jersey for a walk down the aisle, can you believe? The new rules take effect May 1, which seems a long time coming given that EIC Adam Moss is, well, of the light loafers variety. It'll also be welcome news for online editor Jesse Oxfeld, whose lobbying for health insurance at Gawker Media arrived just before he was shown the door.

Gay porn star-slash-mogul Michael Lucas might be about to enter a court room, and it isn't a set that'll features Wilson Vasquez, Jack Bond, and Kevin Cage in a three-way in the judge's chambers. As queer cousin Queerty reports, Lucas Entertainment has been formally served with trademark infringement papers in a lawsuit filed by International Media Films Inc., which owns Federico Fellini's classic La Dolce Vita. Lucas, of course, released a much different version of La Dolce Vita last year.

Couple all that with rumors we've heard about a new New York gay porn biz coming to town – to directly compete with Lucas Films – and you're looking at a rough 12 months for the 10-incher. (Or whatever he's claiming to be this week.)

In the biggest staff shakeup since Aaron Hicklin took over Out – the gay magazine with straight people on the cover – exclusive word arrives from fagala cousin Queerty that publisher Joe Landry is out the door. And he's headed for BlackBook. You know, the magazine where Hicklin was just editor.

But from what we understand, his exit was a long time coming.

CONTINUED »

Steven Goldstein and Daniel Gross were among the first gay couples in New Jersey to be joined together in a civil union as a state law granting marriage rights to same-sex partners took effect at midnight local time.

"It's exciting to know that in the coming days and weeks so many couples in New Jersey will get additional rights and protection that they couldn't have had 15 minutes ago," Gross said. "It's not enough but it's a step in the right direction."

Yep, just after 12am this morning*, New Jersey gays got their first taste of shared health benefits, hospital visitation rights, and testimony immunity. It'll be mere days before any of them get their first taste of divorce.

* Technically, only gay couples who registered their civil union elsewhere could get married today, given that NJ requires a three-day waiting period after applying.

(Left: John Amaechi; Right: Screenshot of a clip from Meech.org. Draw your own conclusions.)

As Queerty relays, all the gossipmongering about which NBA star would be coming out of the closet can cease, because we have our answer: it's John Amaechi, former Utah Jazz jersey wearer, European bball pro, and webmaster of Meech.org. Avoid the irony that hetero-stage ESPN is publishing the book to get to the real shock value — the book will be titled Man In The Middle.

A coming out book. Called Man In The Middle.

Man.

In the middle.

A book. About gay stuff. Man In The Middle.

If there's a gay blog we're reading, it's Queerty. Namely because we make money with each visit. But sometimes another fagala notices something first-hand, and we'd be remiss if we didn't relay it. Especially when it has to do with gays and media. So here's Fagats, at the Buckler fashion show:

We were seated in the front row, directly across from Aaron Hicklin, the new editor of Out Magazine. At the end of the show, when all the models walked out together, we watched him closely. As each man walked by, instead of looking at the clothes, Aaron's eyes skipped directly from face to package. As the parade of hotties went by, it continued. Face-package. Face-package. Face-package.

Otherwise known as just another day at the office.

What to do when one fag rag suddenly disappears? Pick up another! Just like Chelsea queens, they're all interchangeable. Unless, of course, you turn only to Attitude to get your monthly dose of male flesh instead of, say, DNA. Or Out. Or, for that matter, HX's classifieds.

Readers of the UK-based Attitude are reporting the monthly mag has disappeared from their mailboxes, relays Queerty. Meanwhile, the mag's printer says it hasn't yet received an order for the January issue. Phone calls to Attitude's offices, and owner Remnant Media, go unanswered, and the website is offline.

Which begs the question: Did Attitude finally succumb to a meth overdose, succeed in bug chasing, or lose track of time while watching La Dolce Vita on repeat?

Update: An insider writes in to tell us that Attitude EIC Adam Mattera's email auto-response, as of this morning, was "we'll be out of the office til the 8th."

Exclusive

What's a little gay porn among friends? Jann Wenner apparently doesn't have a problem with it, though, truth be told, we're not sure whether we'd expect him to have a huge fucking problem with it or encourage all staffers to have a little homo smut on their resume. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Word arrived at Jossip HQ that frequent Jossip HQ punching bag (Us Weekly) could give Jossip HQ watercooler chatters more to talk about than Kitson lawsuits and publicist intimidation. Turns out, Us' newest high profile hire – Martha Flores, West Coast news director, working under West Coast exec editor Ken Baker – has a history in the fudge packing biz.

From what we understand, while Martha was still at the Los Angeles Times she put some money into Male Box DVD (NSFW), to help launch the Netflix-esque DVD delivery service that lets homos have their raunch flicks mailed to them in indiscriminate envelopes. After she left the LAT, she worked full-time at Male Box, which produces high-brow titles like Nacho Vidal In Face Fuckers, Black Hunks With White Punks, and Have Some Cannelloni, Tony. Then in the spring, Martha left the company (for reasons unknown), relaxed over the summer, then took up the job hunt in the fall — before finally landing, ahem, under Baker.

So are we about to start a major scan-dal? Unfortunately not. We hear Us Weekly was well aware of Martha's past. She even put her DVD days on her resume, and all parties involved had quite a nice chat about her background in making sure all of West Hollywood was stocked with their fetish films.

So no, no manpussy out of the bag — just an opportunity to prove we're mature by not putting "gay porn peddler" in the headline. Let's just chalk this one up to Wenner Media encouraging a, uh, a diverse workplace.

We promise that if you'll let us make a quick joke about George Clooney's rumored homosexuality and this headline attaching his name to "Dorothy," we'll do our best to make sure nobody else repeats said joke.

Thanks.

Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake may have the hottest viral video of the week, but "Dick In A Box" as a Christmas gift has nothing on this homoerotic send up to, uh, we're not really sure what. But this video probably belongs on Queerty much more than it does here, but Thursdays are the new Fridays, and we'll post the conversation between your multiple personalities at this point.

Rarely will we let our ego suffer enough to let gay gadly Queerty break media news ahead of us — but this time, the news is really, really gay, and if we got any closer we'd walk away with all of Chelsea's STD roster. The story goes a little something like this: Go-go-boy agrees to appear in ad for Splash Bar. Said ad lists go-go-boy as a porn star. Ad appears in HX and Next magazines. Go-go-boy sues everyone involved. Or, this time with more details:

It seems a former go-go boy is suing HX Magazine, Next Magazine and Splash Bar (aka Hell on Earth) for an ad that calls him a porn star. Manuel Alex Saez danced for Splash and agreed to appear in an ad. Little did he know that the ad, promoting one the decidely seedy bar's many themed nights, would label him "Big City Video star porn star Alex." Saez's lawyer clarifies, "In fact, he is merely a dancer and entertainer."

The same way that Marc Jacob's ex-boyfriend Jason Preston is a former butler and house husband, yes?

That whole "being gay" thing is about to get a whole lot huger. Yesterday, New Jersey's state legislature voted to allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions — but, of course, found that using the word "marriage" would piss off too many potential swing votes. Gov. Jon Corzine says he'll sign the bill in to law, which will take effect 60 days after his signature meets the paperwork as gay couples rush to become New Jersey's first legally married homos. Taking place 61 days after his signature meets the paperwork: New Jersey's first gay divorce.