Luke MacFarlane, Balthazar Getty, and Dave Annable (Photo: Getty)

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Members of the Brothers & Sisters cast traveled to Rome for a publicity appearance, and newly-out actor Luke MacFarlane (Scotty) was among them. Now he's a member of the regular cast, and it's great to see that he's being treated as such.

• A while back we posted about a BBC documentary that John Barrowman was reportedly filming, and the net has put out an official press release: In John Barrowman, The Making of Me, the out actor "embarks on a journey of self-discovery to find out the truth about his sexuality." I'm gonna go ahead and guess that there won't be any daleks in this one.

• What's the only thing gayer than Xanadu on Broadway? A Xanadu Sing-A-Long! Seriously.

• Here's an early review of the upcoming Britcom No Heroics, which features gay superhero Timebomb amongst its cast of downtrodden heroes. Actor James Lance plays the "gay, Spanish, alcoholic, knife wielding ex-heroin addict and the most charming of the bunch." (t/y Ben Weldon for the tip!)

• Bad Ronald? The AFA has officially called a boycott of McDonald's for "refusing to remain neutral in the culture wars" and "promoting the homosexual agenda," which makes zero sense to me as I don't know a single gay person who eats the stuff. Wait, is this about the Hamburglar? He was drunk, we were in college ... it meant nothing, I swear!

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

Oh, Mama! Dominic Cooper (Photo: Getty)

If it has seemed that this summer is a bit dry when it comes to gay or gay-friendly films, things are about to get very hot, very wet, and very loud...

Yes, the film adaptation of Mamma Mia! (itself a stage adaptation of about 20 years of pop songs by the Swedish supergroup ABBA) arrives in theaters next Friday, and it brings with it plenty of chilled cocktails, bronzed skin, and sand and the faint scent of Bain de Soleil.

The flick, which of course boasts stars Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried and History Boys vet Dominic Cooper in its central cast, is all about sun, fun, and romance, and the pics from the various premieres that it has been enjoying around the globe show that the cast looks to be having as much fun promoting the movie as they had making it:

Firth, Streep, and Cooper have a laugh in Australia

I saw the movie last week and liked it ... but for the full review, you'll have to check back next week. We'll also be discussing exactly why it is that the film is so very gay ... and no, it's not just because it's chock-a-block with ABBA songs and has a lesbian director, Phyllida Lloyd.

For now, enjoy!

Brosnan looking dapper in London

Lots more after the jump!

This morning CBS announced the cast of housemates for its 10th season of reality staple Big Brother, and as has been the case in most recent seasons, there is a gay man among the cast of million-dollar hopefuls.

This time around it's Steven Daigle, a 35-year-old "geographic consultant and rodeo rider" from Dallas:

This year the game promises to be going "back to its roots", meaning that there are no staged pair-ups, tricks, or secret couples or friends amongst the competitors. We'll see how Steven fares in this open field, but if this quote is any indication of his relative stability, there may be hope:

"If you make a mistake and say the wrong things, you may offend people and be known for that forever," said Steven Daigle, a 35-year-old geographic consultant and gay rodeo competitor from Dallas. "People make mistakes. If I do make a mistake, I hope I can learn from it and know that was some part of my life that I was ignorant or uneducated about."

Check out the intro video and full list of contenders after the jump!

Sean Hayes (Photo: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times)

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Anyone else curious what this in-development television project that Sean Hayes is cooking up might be all about? This New York Times interview will only say that it's called Bi-Coastal and that it involves "a guy with a wife and kids in California and a boyfriend in New York."

• The home of gay Boyzoner Stephen Gately was burgled, and some expensive jewelry with sentimental attachments stolen.

• Good news: In Hogan reality spinoff Brooke Knows Best, Hulk's daughter has a gay roommate and the Hulk's totally cool with that. Bad news: the implication that Brooke knows anything, let alone "Best".

• We can believe it's Boy Butter: Last Monday, Bravo aired what is being called the first ever national television commercial for an anal lubricant, and I missed it. Damn you, TiVO! (Technically, Boy Butter has advertised on television before ... and to equally creepy results, but only in local markets.)

• The trailer for the sure-to-be-controversial documentary Religulous (in which Bill Maher travels the world trying to get to the bottom of religious absurdities) is up, and in it Maher talks to a couple of gay Muslims. This is gonna get interesting.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

That's right, folks: After last week's rainbow-swathed journey into Oakdale's alternative gay dimension, we're back to business-as-usual as Luke is yet again called in to save his adorable-yet-rather-dim boyfriend Noah's ass.

This time it's something that we can all likely relate to: Like many gay youths, Noah has decided to escape the hardships of growing up gay by joining the circus. What, no? Sorry, I thought that was what gay kids did ... how about Cirque du Soleil? No? The touring cast of Rent? Still no. Hold on, let me check my notes again...

Beard girlfriend ... sham wife ... homophobic father ... where is it ... ah!

Yes, here it is: Noah has decided to escape the hardships of growing up gay by joining the Army. Which makes perfect sense. Because if you think about it, Noah has established himself by this point as a glutton for punishment (not to mention caffeine), so what would be more attractive to him than the chance to go all Private Pyle in boot camp?

Of course, Luke isn't going to let his boyfriend go without a hissyfit fight. How will it go down? Click on through and refresh often to find out, as it happens!

You may have heard over the weekend that another one of the most vocal (some may even say "rabid") opponents of gay rights, gay visibility, and gay people in general has passed away: former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms.

I, for one, was not aware that Mr. Helms was still alive, but there you go. (He was 86 years old and died of natural causes). For those not familiar with Helms and his tactics, the staunch conservative used anti-gay rhetoric as the foundation of several of his campaigns for office, and was noted for using the AIDS crisis to demonize gays. When then-President Bill Clinton moved to have a lesbian assistant secretary placed into HUD, Helms refused to confirm the nomination, saying, "I'm not going to put a lesbian in a position like that ... If you want to call me a bigot, fine."

And indeed the world did, with Helms frequently being called out in the press for being racist and anti-gay. Helms quickly earned the nickname "Senator No" for his strategy of voting against nearly any nomination or legislation (seemingly for the sheer pleasure of blocking progress). Helms did eventually change his tune to some extent regarding AIDS funding (although he maintained that it would be better to fund relief in Africa than to help those suffering Stateside), and admitted in his memoirs that he was wrong to consider AIDS an issue confined to gay populations.

In 1998 a gay filmmaker named Tim Kirkman released a documentary about Helms called Dear Jesse, in which he tried to reconcile his own North Carolinian heritage with that of a man who seemed to oppose everything that he believed in. The film noted that the two apparently shared one key trait: an obsession with gay men.

It would be nice to be able to say that the passing of Helms (along with Jerry Falwell last year) meant that the "old guard" of gay-demonizing conservative public figures was passing. But just as of this weekend conservative political strategist Fred Barnes was advising John MacCain to come out swinging against gay rights as a way to win the election. Will some things never change?

As expected, Pam Spaulding has an excellent roundup on the former Senator and some keen observations about his passing. 

YOUR CAPTION HERE

As we go into the weekend, here's a handy shortlist of the biggest stories of the week on AfterElton.com. And to get you into a playful mood, each Friday's final post will feature a pic up top that desperately needs captioning. Each week we'll pick our fave suggestion from the comments and run it in the following week's post. Have fun!

• The New York Pride March was huge and the governor showed. Totes awesome.
• We interviewed the first ever out gay contestant to appear on American Gladiators ...
• ... and then recapped his less-than-impressive performance.
  
• Two gay superheroes are in trouble in Ultimate X-Men. Should we be worried?
• Gay soaps! Over on Forbidden Love Christian's beard continued to grow, but Crazy Axel might be shaving it off. We celebrated the first Gay Pride in the history of daytime television on As the World Turns. And over on Hollyoaks, Kieran and John Paul dealt with the fallout of their being outed ... oh, and that pesky wedding death. But sadly, James Sutton won't be around to enjoy Father Hot much longer.
• Bravo snipped a kiss from Brokeback Mountain, people got heated, and the network responded.
• We interviewed "New Chris" from Flipping Out.
• We recapped the fourth ep of Design Star, where Team Gay lost a member. Whoops!
• Over on The Gay Geek, Lyle dished on some gay Metal Gear Solid characters and City of Heroes Pride.

Cyndi brings True Colors (and Pride) to As the World Turns

• Hancock has a squirm-inducing gay joke. Oh, and also, it sucks.
• We took a look at the killer cast of the upcoming Sordid Lives series.
• Shear Genius episode 2 welcomed back a fan fave and endeared us to one of the gays.
• We ran interviews with Cyndi Lauper, Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann from our set visit to As the World Turns' first Gay Pride party.
• We found a naughty deleted scene from Torchwood.
• The Flying Monkey was back to answer reader questions.
• Vlogs!: The Gay Wheels Reviews guys drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee and found a hot guy and a puppy. Daniel tackled Gay Pride parades in Mores for Gays , The Gay Agenda addressed Obama's campaign financing announcement, and the Angry Puppy fellas got all Whedonesque in their discussion of Joss's upcoming projects.
• And thanks to contributor Steven Frank, we had the Best.Gay.Week.Ever.

Drop your caption ideas in the comments, and check out last week's winner after the jump! Please note, Friday July 4th is a holiday in the U.S. so we won't be posting again until Monday July 7th!

After months of anticipation, today's the day that we will see Oakdale get its Pride on when Yo's is converted to a gay bar and pop legend and gay rights activist Cyndi Lauper drops by to play a benefit for Oakdale U's LGBT club. Of course, while she's there she crosses paths with on-the-outs Luke and Noah and uses some of her fairy dust to help the couple find their way back together.

Having been on set for the filming (oh, did I already mention that? Silly me!), I'm curious to see what the Dive Bar: Extra Gay Edition set looks like filled with rainbow flags and gay extras (gay-players?) and find out exactly how things fall into place. Will Cyndi help the lads see one another's "True Colors"? Will the cumulative gayness of the whole event spontaneously summon the ghost of Uncle Albert to join in on tambourine? And perhaps most importantly ... will Noah have a chance to cop a feel on Tony before he sees the error of his ways?

Grab your pride flags, click on through the jump, and refresh often to find out ... as it happens!

Today's Forbidden Love clip pushes the Judith-as-beard story hopefully that much closer to its resolution when blithely sociopathic boxer Axel jumps head-first into Christian's private life. Seriously, what is it with these boxing types being such busybodies? Why are all these macho men so overwhelmed by an all-encompassing need to know where Christian is sowing his oats? It's like Querelle with boxing gloves.

Anyway, Axel goes totally off the rails in this one, which is actually pretty fun. And after the speculation in the comments that Axel might be after more than just sparring practice with Christian, I'll admit that I initially took this line to mean something else entirely:

Is that what the kids are calling it now? After all, "rosebud" is just soooo Citizen Kane...

You can see today's clip after the break, and as always, thanks to Nanna and The Gays of Daytime for the translations.

Mitch Hewer as Maxxie on Skins

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Fans of randy British teen dramas rejoice! Skins, a beloved (and racy!) nighttime soap featuring Mitch Hewer as gay teen Maxxie, will premiere on BBC America in August.

• John Barrowman took second place as Britain's cheesiest celebrity, barely nosing out Graham Norton but losing to former EastEnders star Shane Richie. The contest was run by a cheese company who should probably put themselves on the list next year for devising such a pungent promotion.

• And speaking of Barrowman, could he be on the list of Doctor Who companions who might be killed off (if you listen to rumors) in this weekend's big finale?

• Good news: Both Neil Patrick Harris and T.R. Knight have made the Emmy nomination "short lists". No, I'm not making fun of their stature.

• Gay video retailer (and porn distributor) TLA is coming under fire for making Heath Ledger's full-frontal in I'm Not There the selling point for the DVD in their catalog. On the one hand, the pickle-shot in question is certainly news to me. On the other, a dead guy's junk is a pretty trashy way to sell a DVD.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...