AfterElton Briefs: A Pantsless "Southland", Reichen Returns, Bryan Batt to "Betty", Following Scott Evans, and More!

Happy Birthday to out actor/writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein, who turns 54 today.

Following this assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear. Yes, we're serious.

• Great news for Bryan Batt fans! The out gay actor who played closeted gay ad man Salvatore Romano on Mad Men has booked a guest spot on Ugly Betty. He'll play a soap opera actor that Amanda tries to set up with Marc. TV Guide has the story.

• There's good news and bad news for Johnny Weir fans. He's decided to pull out of this month's World Championships, but before you start jumping to conclusions, he insists that it's just a "short break" from competition.

• In other sporting news, the Gay Games and the Out Games may merge in 2018 for one single event. I hereby dub it the Gout Games.

• Below you can see a clip from yesterday's Ellen Degeneres Show in which super-cute Ben McKenzie talks about "Operation Pantsless" on the set of Southland, which is a running joke he and co-star Michael Cudlitz shared ... until the inevitable day when it became a reality.

• Amazing Race winner and Dante's Cove fleshpot Reichen Lehmkuhl will make his Off-Broadway debut on May 5th in My Big Gay Italian Wedding.

"I am so much hotter than you"

• You've no doubt heard about the Meredith Viera gaffe on the Today show yesterday, in which she said something off-the-cuff and dumb about a hug between The Hurt Locker stars Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie. Here's a refresher:

• Well now Meredith has issued an apology to GLAAD that sounds sincere and heartfelt.

• Jason Mraz, one of our greatest and staunchest of allies, wants to team up with Sir Elton John for an Ebony & Ivory-style duet about marriage equality.

• Earlier today we mentioned the news of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli instructing colleges to rescind any gay discrimination protections. In a shocking move, Governor Bob McDonnell has now issued a statement saying "discrimination based on sexual orientation violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. constitution and directed all state agencies to adopt a standard of conduct consistent with that clause".

• Finally, if like me you're still reeling from THIS PUNCH IN THE GUT, be sure and follow Scott Evans on Twitter, as he'll no doubt be commenting on the situation soon.