AfterElton Briefs: Mormon hotties under fire, gay youths in the spotlight, and more!

Cheyenne Jackson at this weekend's Broadway Barks 10

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.

• Shocker! The Mormon Church isn't happy about the Mormons Exposed: Men on a Mission 2009 calendar. The only thing that surprises me is that it took them this long to get upset about it.

• The Washington Post ran an interesting article about how gay people are coming out earlier, focusing on a 15-year-old African-American kid in Maryland. His uncommonly mature take on the taunts he's used to suffering for being gay: "If you have a birthmark on your leg for so long, you don't even notice it."

• Even Sir Ian McKellen has been the victim of death threats because he is gay, although he says that they have dropped off considerably in recent years. Uh, duh ... who's stupid enough to mess with Gandalf?!

Robert Gant

• Two of our best and brightest out stars, Cheyenne Jackson and Robert Gant, both celebrated birthdays over the weekend. Jackson is 33, while Gant is a ripe 40.

• Five more years! Out Brothers & Sisters producer Greg Berlanti has re-signed for five more years with ABC Studios, where he'll no doubt be bringing us more of the gay.

• And in sorta-gay casting news, Val Emmich has been cast as Betty's new love interest in Ugly Betty. Why sorta-gay? The actor's straight, but most of us know him as the object of male affection in 30 Rock's "Gay for Jamie" episode. Oh, and he's adorable, which never hurts.

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

This guy!