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.

Thursday

As the World Turns (CBS) Check local listings
It's finally here: the much-discussed episode where Cyndi Lauper comes to Oakdale to perform at Pride and counsel Luke on getting Noah back. Of course, we'll be giving Oakdale's Pride celebration the liveblog treatment, so stop by starting at 2PM Eastern.

The Twilight Zone (Sci-Fi) 1:30 PM EDT
As usual, the Sci-Fi Channel is doing their holiday marathon of Rod Serling's classic anthology and it's always worth pointing out when classic ep "The Invaders" airs (an episode featuring gay icon Agnes Morehead in a powerful dialogue-free role).

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (Bravo) 10:00 PM EDT
Is there any way Kathy can match last week's fabulousness? Probably not, but with Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy marrying a couple and a meet-up with Tanisha and Hanna from The Bad Girls' Club, she's certainly going to try ... and if she hands Tanisha a pair of cake pans, we'll know she's aiming for inclusion on The Soup.

The Bad Girls' Club's Tanisha performs her greatest hits

Reno 911! (Comedy Central) 10:30 PM EDT
The Reno Sheriff's Department turns to an acting coach (Ryan Stiles) to help improve their performance in undercover missions.

Friday

Inside Deep Throat (Sundance) Midnight EDT
From fabulous out filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, this film takes a look at the "porno-chic" sensation and the controversy it inspired. I've had this one on my Netflix queue for ages and now I can have that Bailey/Barbato goodness delivered by my DVR.

Saturday

Real Momentum Marathon (Logo) starting at 11:30 AM EDT
Logo's airing several of its praised Real Momentum documentaries today, starting with a look at the troubles for gays Raising Teens at 11:30 AM, followed by a look at the Gay Rodeo on Gidyup! On the Rodeo Circuit at 12:30 PM. Dolly Parton's fans get the spotlight on For the Love of Dolly at 1:30 PM. Gay life in rural Mississippi is examined in Small Town Gay Bar at 3:00 PM. Gay republicans and queer hip-hop are the focus of Elephant in the Room at 5:00 PM and Pick Up the Mic at 6:00 PM. It all wraps up with a look at gay destination Fire Island at 8:00 PM's When Ocean Meets the Sky and another airing of Small Town Gay Bar.

Rep. Wexler and staff

The Hill Marathon (Sundance) starting at 4:00 PM EDT
A look at how the office of Florida congressman and "Fire-Breathing Liberal" Robert Wexler (who you've probably seen lately if you follow political shows) functioned in 2004 and a good time to see what we've learned from the last presidential year. Wexler's staff at the time included gay Chief of Staff, Eric Johnson, who has to balance the intense world of politics with his home life.

Sunday

Design Star (HGTV)
The remaining six designers are teamed up once again to redecorate celebrity suites in a Nashville resort. Previews show remaining gay designer Matt Locke facing an additional headache when his teammate Stephanie buys a sofa too big to fit through any of the doorways. (Now that brings up some hilarious-in-hindsight memories of my first Thanksgiving with my partner.)

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...

This quick (35-second) clip from Torchwood was apparently considered too "racy" to air, but if you're a fan of the show, it's a hoot. Ianto and Jack have a discussion about Rhys, and Ianto learns a valuable lesson: Never give Jack an opportunity to brag about his junk!

You can check out the clip (which comes, appropriately enough, from the episode entitled "Meat") after the break. Am I the only who's fairly certain that John Barrowman really enjoyed filming this scene? (Big t/y to Diana for the tip!)

Shear Genius (Bravo) 10:00 PM EDT
Bravo certainly loves a promotional cross-over between its reality shows and that certainly feels like the case tonight when The Real Housewives of Orange County show up as the clients for the eleven remaining designers. And if you're someone who's sampled and then avoided the Real Housewives franchise, you can instead get yourself hyped to see last season's fave Tabatha Coffey (who has her own Bravo show debuting in August) appear as a guest judge.

Lockup Holman: Locked Up Love (MSNBC) Midnight EDT
Alright, I spent years avoiding MSNBC's Lockup documentaries because they sounded sensationalistic. But lately they've become a bit of an addiction for their ability to avoid the cheap sensationalism and be rather enlightening. Tonight debuts a new Lockup that takes a look at the challenges of prison relationships (with more to follow in the coming weeks).

Hmm ... "Curiously Strong"

Today's Forbidden Love clip continues the beard story (which I hope will run its course soon), as Fabian and Judith's plans for a movie night are ruined when her services are required for another night out as Christian's "girlfriend".

"I'd better hit the ATM first. A jumbo sized tub is ten bucks."

Judith catches Fabian trying to score a movie date with another girl, and is incensed (she shouldn't worry, they were going to go see Mulholland Drive, which means their hands would be busy scratching their heads). Olli and Fabian have a really nice heart to heart about how difficult it is to have to hide your feelings for someone, and Olli (who's just as compassionate and warm hearted as Hollyoaks' resident sensitive soul Kieron), hatches a plan to help out his straight buddy.

"Um, dude ... remind me again who we are?"

While getting ready for their public appearance as "Christian and Judith", she tries to contact Fabian, but is given the brush off. Little does she know that her boyfriend is planning a tropical surprise. But will it be ruined by another intrusive appearance by the sleazy, but hot Axel?

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Insert your own caption here

You can see today's clip (which does feature some NSFW German profanity) after the break, and as always, thanks again to Nanna and The Gays of Daytime for the translations.

*Note - Title is not a euphemism.

Today's Hollyoaks clip begins with John Paul and Kieron making plans...to leave Hollyoaks! Kieron is unsure, though. He doesn't want J.P. to leave without telling his family (especially his mother) goodbye, and asks J.P. for the umpteenth time if this is really what he wants.

Kieron: I just can't get my head around you being willing to give up your family for me.

J.P.: Why? I know what you've given up for me.

Um ... yeah, one of you is giving up God, the other one ... the McQueen family. I guess that's even.

They pack their things and get all the way to the train stop, when J.P. gets a phone call informing him that his very pregnant sister Tina has "fallen" down some stairs, and has been rushed to the hospital. Their plans are therefore put on hold as J.P. leaves for the hospital, and Kieron brings their stuff back to the flat.

The reason I put "fallen" in quotes is because it was actually Niall who pushed Tina down the steps, meaning he can cross #6 off his "destroy the McQueens!" to-do list. I fully expect to see Niall having a Dynasty-esque mud fight with Kieron before this is all over ... preferably naked.

As J.P. goes to the hospital, Kieron runs into violent delinquent Ste, who is an abusive thug, but is trashy hot in a Kevin Federline sort of way (please don't tell anyone I said that). J.P. walks into the hospital and is reunited with his mother, and for the moment, they're a family again.

Actually, having the entire McQueen family in the same room illuminates how utterly perfect the casting for this show is. There wasn't a moment that I did not believe that these people weren't a real family. A horribly dysfunctional family, but when the chips are down, they come together (I can totally see them as a Ma Barker style 1930's era family).

The rest is too good to spoil, so I'll leave it to you, but it involves more evil Niall machinations, Ste stripping (while Kieron watches), and a shocking finale.

You can see the clip after the break, and be sure to come back for more Hollyoaks updates.

Last week we mentioned that the gayest not-gay network on the dial, Bravo, would be airing the network premiere of Brokeback Mountain immediately following the GLAAD Media Awards, and was advertising the combination like a sort of gay "rock block". This savvy programming and promotional one-two sounded encouraging at the time, and one imagined that if anyone were actually going to watch what is soup-to-nuts a thoroughly adult movie on basic cable, that Bravo might be as good a pick as any to do the ritualistic replacement of F-bombs and trims for time.

But things didn't go as smoothly as expected. It seems that, aside from the obvious cuts for profanity, nudity, and gratuitous use of spit-lube, the network's version of the film cut something that had no reason to be censored: namely, a tender kiss between Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal).

Fans of the film were incensed at the cut, with message boards ablaze with comments about the edit. Here are some of the more angered responses over on the IMDB boards: 

"I am absolutely disgusted!!! I'd rather they hadn't shown it at all. F*ck BRAVO! They are HYPOCRITES!"

"But this is a LOVE STORY, for chrissakes -- and yet those hamfisted meatheads hacked out the SECOND NIGHT IN THE TENT?? I suppose some moron thought they needed to "protect the children". What BULLSCHITT!!!"

"I'm sure some random 10-year old from Sandusky, Ohio would be more traumatized by watching 5 minutes of The Real Housewives of Orange County than they would by seeing the pup tent scene from BBM." 

We didn't catch the televised version ourselves but when readers tipped us off to the brouhaha, we contacted Bravo to find out what the deal was.

Here's their response: 

"This was an unfortunate mistake. While editing the film for cable broadcast, the kissing scene in question was removed. The scene will appear in all future airings of Brokeback Mountain on Bravo, as it should have been included in its cable premiere." 

We can approach this from a few different angles, but I for one am inclined to take their response at face value. Honestly, for them to deliberately remove a kiss (when others were left intact) for the purpose of undermining the gay romance of one of the most universally embraced gay-themed films in history and then to promote the network premiere in association with a gay media event would be suicide. 

We'll know for sure if the net is on the level the next time Brokeback airs. 

Criminally adorable out actor Adamo Ruggiero (Degrassi) at the 8th Annual Trevor Project Gala in NYC 

(Photo: Andrew Walker/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.

• The 8th Annual Trevor Project Gala in NYC drew celebs like Sandra Bernhard, Idina Menzel, Rosie Perez, Alan Cumming, Michael Urie, George Takei, Lisa Lampanelli, Gideon Glick, Adamo Ruggiero, and more. The organization helps gay and questioning youth who are at risk of suicide.

• Logoonline is running a feature on the 50 Best Gay Bars in America. #3 Happens to be in my neighborhood (no, I had no part in making the list!) and I couldn't agree more with the kind words about Garry, Metropolitan's chipper tapper. Congrats!

• Starting Thursday, the London Eye will be illuminated in rainbow colors to celebrate London Pride.

• Looks like I'm not the only person incensed about Madonna's $200 ticket price.

• And, of course, any John Waters interview is a good John Waters interview. Enjoy.

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