Can "Details" Manage a Gay Two-Fer ... Without Embarassing Themselves?

Well turn me upside down and paint me blue.

Details is allegedly a fashion/lifestyle magazine (I'll have to take their word for it), but on the rare occasions when we cover it, it's because they've managed to mortify us with their bungled attempts at gay insight or humor.

So when we learned that the latest issue would have not one, but two articles of gay interest, we were prepared for the strain our hackles would experience.

Incredibly, our hackles remain unraised.

The first article, Deliverance: The True Story of a Gay Exorcism is sad, infuriating, and finally just depressing. How is it that in 2010 there are still otherwise reasonably intelligent people who not only believe that the "sin of homosexuality" can be driven out, but that it manifests itself as a "demon?"

It's impossible to know how many young gay people have undergone exorcism in the thousands of Pentecostal and Evangelical churches across the country—not all of which, to be sure, condone the practice. However, youth workers say they regularly deal with the aftermath of these rituals. And not just in the parts of the country where Evangelical Christianity is traditionally strong.

What's truly disgusting is that these people warp minds and cause permanent emotional damage, and it's allowed in the name of "religion." And sometimes it goes beyond the psychological into actual sexual assault.

Peterson Toscano, a gay Christian activist, underwent three exorcisms before coming to terms with his sexuality. One took place in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, another in an apartment on the West Side of Manhattan owned by Joanne Highley, who runs L.I.F.E. Ministry. During the latter exorcism, Highley had him lie down on her bed, then she sat beside him and began to press on his body, commanding the demons to exit through his mouth and rectum. Before the rite was complete, Toscano, who says he felt increasingly violated by Highley's actions, stopped the ritual and left her apartment. Highley did not respond to requests to be interviewed, but she has previously stated that her process is to "cleanse and bind demonic powers ...out of genitals, of course out of anal canals, out of intestines, out of throats and mouths if there's been ungodly deposit of semen in those areas—we cleanse with the blood of Jesus, and we cast out the demonic powers."

The article makes it clear how dangerous these "exorcisms" are, and how sad and desperate the victims are who are being treated this way.

On a ... lighter note, the second article had us grinning from ear to ear. Details gave Glee cutie Jonathan Groff a digital camera and had him snap pics of his co-stars.

Okay, there's really no way that Details could have messed this up (we think), so kudos to them for giving us two reasons not to mock them mercilessly.

And kudos to Jonathan for being a natural with a camera!

With Matthew Morrison

With Jane Lynch

The sweet smell of success