Dreamgirls' Deena Jones as a Broadway Bear

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.

• I'm just gonna go ahead and place my bet that the complete collection of Broadway Bears for this year's Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS auction is the best thing I'll see all day.

• Don't forget we're liveblogging the premiere of Big Brother 9. Why? Because it includes a gay and bisexual housemate chosen because they seem compatible. Ooohhhh...

• Hey, single NYC guys and fellas whose boyfriends don't mind your ogling Broadway's humpiest triple-threat on Valentine's Day: Cheyenne Jackson and the Xanadu kids will be performing live this Thursday at Macy's, and signing bare chests autographs after.

• GLAAD got the New York Daily News to change an insensitive and defamatory headline about a transgender murder victim. Yes, I'm talking about THAT New York Daily News. No, this isn't Opposite Day.

• A gripping photo of two Hungarian gay men waiting for medical help following anti-gay violence took second place in the 51st Annual World Press Photo contest's "Contemporary Issues" category.

• BFFs Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight were snapped smoking cigarettes behind a truck on a beautiful winter day. Loving the shoes and the arms. The cancer ... not so much.

• Out.com interviewed actor/director Bob Balaban, who directed the HBO movie Bernard and Doris. (Be sure to check out our interview with star Susan Sarandon and review of the film.) Anyone remember one of Balaban's feature directorial debut, the wonderfully creepy Parents?

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

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for a Cheyenne Jackson picture, but a picture of Cheyenne surrounded by hot shirtless guys raising money for a great cause? How can I not post that?! The 21st Annual Easter Bonnet competition was held on Monday and Tuesday and raised a fantastic $3.3 million dollars for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. These folks do amazing work year in and year out and put on a great show while doing it via a whole bevy of events. Here are some pics by Michael Portantiere/TheaterMania.com from this year's event.

Perfect picture, but why is Cheyenne wearing his shirt?

These fellows are from Journey's End, a play that I clearly must review myself.

To see more pics and learn more about a great event go here!

GLAAD is very, very annoyed with Thomas Dekker's agent and have told her she's a bad, bad girl who won't ever get a treat from GLAAD. As Greg Hernandez points out, when Jonathan LaPaglia got nervous about doing gay love scenes on Brothers & Sisters as Kevin Walker, the network said "Thanks, but no thanks." NBC, on the other hand, de-gayed the character of Zach on Heroes when Dekker's agent balked. I bet NBC won't make that mistake again!

Zach Braff appeared on Jay Leno and got asked about the straight boy who wrote the love ode "I Love Zach Braff (but in a non-gay way)". I appreciate the way Braff takes the whole topic and especially like when he comments that he "...loves himself in a gay way." Don't we all, Zach. Don't we all.

Even though guys in high school think he's gay, Sanjaya Malakar is straight. Why did they think he was gay? Because he understands women. Smart boy!

An AfterElton reader sent us this video that popped up over on Queersighted. It's an amusing riff on the whole ex-gay movement.