Sean Penn and his Milk men

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.

• Above, the first official publicity still released by the studio for Gus Van Sant's Milk, with Sean Penn as the slain gay civic leader. The star power and subject are getting the pic a good deal of mainstream advance press, and it's not of the gay cowboy joke variety.

• Here's a rather funny moment from the UK Friday Night Project show in which David Tennant, after being read some Doctor Who fanfiction, asks if it might not have come from castmate John Barrowman's blog. Heh.

• If you happen to be around the house tonight, you might want to tune into SyFyPortal radio to catch AfterElton.com editor Michael Jensen and Torchwood recapper Steven Frank as they discuss Torchwood!

• Time Out New York is featuring 19 NYC men who are willing to take it all off, and letting their readers vote on which fella will strip for a future issue. Thoughts?

• The troublemaking gay penguin daddies of And Tango Makes Three are public school (and library) enemy #1 for the second year in a row. I think The Daily Show's Samantha Bee pretty much summed up the ridiculousness of the whole gay penguin controversy in the above clip.

• Apparently, gay websites linked so much to the Cayman Free Press's story about the American who was arrested for kissing another man in a Cayman club that it crashed their website. Ya mess with the bull, ya get the horns, kids.

• Martin Freeman, the "Jim" of the original The Office, wonders why more gay men in show business don't come out, noting, "there are more poofs in it than you can have hot dinners thrown at you." I guess that's ... a good thing?

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

Straight-but-not-narrow actor Damian T. Raven, star of the just-renewed DL Chronicles

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.

• T.R. Knight has pooch in his trunk! Or bark in his boot! Something!

• The here! series The DL Chronicles, which tells the stories of "downlow" men, will return for a second season. The series was recently nominated for a GLAAD media award and is one of the few projects out there actively discussing gay men of color.

• How appropriate that today's Nuke kiss on As the World Turns (the first in what, seven months?) came on the five-year anniversary of the first same-sex kiss in daytime history, between two women on All My Children. Kismet?

• Director Stephen Daldry and gay pop legend Elton John held a press conference in NY to announce the cast of their new Billy Elliot Broadway musical, based on Daldry's film.

• Madonnarama! John and Colin from NewNowNext posted a special vlog with their take on Madonna's upcoming Hard Candy album and some cute behind-the-scenes outtakes with Madge and boytoy Justin Timberlake.

• James Franco discusses his role as Sean Penn's lover in Milk, and has some very nice things to say about Penn (the best on-screen lover he's ever had), director Gus Van Sant ("soft-spoken"), and the project overall ("comfortable and easy").

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

Cheyenne Jackson (R) and designer/Ugly Betty star Kenneth Cole

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.

• In his attempts to get a crowd of extras riled up on the Milk shoot, Sean Penn referred to Sean Hannity as Rupert Murdoch's "butt boy". Er ... probably not the best choice of words, Sean.

• Broadway's Cheyenne Jackson will host the Live Out Loud Young Trailblazers Gala, a benefit for the organization, which aims to provide mentorship and support to LGBT youth. Seriously, Cheyenne, you can stop trying so hard to make me fall in love with you. It's getting a little embarrassing.

• Up north, Canadian Television (CTV) allegedly yanked an "ex-gay" ministry ad after receiving complaints that it was discriminatory. (Warning: links to a religious site, if you're not into that kind of thing.) If so, good for them.

• The BAFTA television award nominees have been announced, with three gay men (Stephen Fry, Simon Amstell, and Alan Carr) up for the Best Entertainment Performer prize. Additionally, out actor Sir Antony Sher is up for Best Actor for his role in Primo.

• Curtains, the show for which David Hyde Pierce won a Tony (and thanked his partner when receiving it), will close on June 29th after 537 total performances.

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

Sean Penn reportedly took matters into his own hands (and lips) when shooting a disco birthday party scene for Gus van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic.

Performer Mark Martinez (aka Flava), who plays disco legend Sylvester in the scene, spoke to E! about his time on the shoot, including an impromptu kiss between him and the star:

“All of a sudden, Sean’s pointing at me, and he’s talking to the assistant director,” Martinez says. “The AD comes up to me and says, ‘Just to let you know, you are now going to break up Sean and [costar] James Franco’s conversation. You’re going to grab Sean, and Sean’s going to be really excited, and he’s going to kiss you.’”

And that he did. “I’m performing, and he comes onto the dance floor,” Martinez explains. “He grabs me, and he just slaps the biggest kiss on me...It felt like the kiss was forever. I’m like, Is he going to stop? I had to close my eyes. I couldn’t believe it.”

Martinez added that he tried to convince an obviously amused van Sant to do another take, but the director said that they got the shot.

Now our real question is, will Penn be kissing his co-star in the film? Like a real couple? 

More pics have popped up on the Net of the in-progress filming of Gus van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic (gotta love crowd scenes with lots of shutterbug opps), including first pics of James Franco (who plays Scott Smith, lover to Sean Penn's Milk) and Emile Hirsch (who plays activist Cleve Jones). Lots more pics over on this flikr site, and likely oodles more to come.

Penn and Franco

Emile Hirsch 

Sean Penn as Harvey Milk