In the "where are they now" category comes this update about Joshuah Welch from the last season of Big Brother.

You may remember (or may not) that Joshuah caused much excitement because he was supposed to be part of the show's first gay couple. Unfortunately, his partner had to drop out, and he had to go solo on the show, and became known for making idiotic and appalling statements.

When he was voted off the show, we were sure that would be the last we'd hear of him, but he's back in the news (slightly) as part of a story about the dubious hiring practices at Abercrombie & Fitch.

It's a rather serious story from the Dallas Morning News about the clothing store's shallow insistence on only hiring "certain" people, and projecting a Stepford-like image.

Unfortunately, Joshuah couldn't take it anymore, and decided to quit in protest ... over his hair.

He just quit his managerial training program at the NorthPark store after his bosses told him he would have to leave if he didn't get rid of his new blond highlights.

"I need a job where I am appreciated for the work I do, not because I fit into their mold," said Mr. Welch, who previously worked for Abercrombie in Austin before appearing on a season of the CBS reality show Big Brother.

"I thought they had evolved, but they haven't," he said.

Move over, Norma Rae! But I wonder who else would hire someone who fights the system this way?

Do you think The Hills is hiring?

Two unidentified men kiss onstage during Girl Talk's set at the weekend's All Points West Festival

(Image: 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 speed with which recent ads perceived by many to be anti-gay were pulled from the air has the industry wondering if the tide has shifted regarding homophobia in advertising, with one exec noting that he has at least seen "baby steps" in the right direction. (The steps were of course sponsored by Payless Kids.)

• Gentlemen and gentlemen, meet your new Hercules. Yes, really.

• Big Brother update: Houseguest Ollie, a preacher's son, prides himself on not cursing or drinking, But calling his fellow players "faggot" and having sex on-camera with April? Now that he's totally into.

• Remember that one time we wrote about UK television presenter Steve Jones and how comfortable he is with gay themes and kisses and stuff? Above, check out a clip of when he kissed Scissor Scissors frontman Jake Shears during an interview, for no apparent reason. At least he puts his mouth where his money is.

• Sir Ian McKellen and Simon Callow have spoken out publicly against an anti-gay Catholic bishop. (For what it's worth, Charles Dickens and Gandalf could kick this guy's miter any day.)

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

The eviction ceremony on CBS's Big Brother 10 was aired last night, and on the chopping block were gay rodeo champ Steven and Catholic school teacher Dan.

Excuse me ... just finishing up my slashfic.

I still can't figure out Steven. On the one hand, he made those inexcusable racial and religious remarks, and he lamented the fact that he's only read one book in his life (I guess the twist ending of Green Eggs and Ham traumatized him into illiteracy).

On the other hand, after watching the After Dark show, and some of the live feeds over the last week, there's another side to him. He can come across as warm, funny, and compassionate, and he did have some very meaningful conversations with Dan.

In fact, Dan said that he came into the house with judgmental attitudes about gays, and getting to know Steven has changed him. If that's true, then maybe something good has come out of this season.

The only other housemate of note is resident lunk-a-hunk Jessie, who won the "Head of Household" and was responsible for nominating both Steven and Dan. He's also hilariously self-absorbed, and it wouldn't surprise me if he suddenly started speaking about himself in the third person. And like many a Big Brother housemate before him, it didn't take long for NSFW PICS of him to come out.

See who went home after the break.

I honestly don't know what to make of this guy anymore. Steven, the out rodeo rider, has made this season of Big Brother fascinating to watch so far

But I'm torn as to whether I want him to stay on the show, or become a bad memory. On the one hand, if he were to eventually be voted off, I can stop watching these obnoxious people, and it will mean he won't be able to embarrass himself any further.

On the other hand, he's not dull. He is continually entertaining, and becoming increasingly — albeit horrifyingly — watchable. You already know about his comments regarding housemate Libra, but he also wondered that if Jews control Hollywood, does that mean they control Big Brother, and if the housemates say anything anti-Semitic, will they suddenly disappear from the house? (Unfortunately, this clip has been taken down, and I can't find it anywhere.)

He and fellow housemate Dan began a Bible-study group (to the confusion and amusement of the other housemates), and Steven told the story of an unfortunate accident while bull riding (involving a bull's hoof and that most tender part of a man's anatomy)

He also had a long heart to heart with Dan about not remembering much about his childhood, and the fact that he's never read a book in his life (well, one, about a fellow rodeo rider). You can see that clip after the break, and find out "SPOILERS" about about the upcoming broadcast.

And I had such high hopes for this season of Big Brother. Obviously, I'm a fool.

After last season, and the debacle that was Joshuah, this season started out promisingly with the inclusion of gay cowboy Steven. He seemed intelligent, sensitive, and well spoken, and I was looking forward to getting to know him better (and I had decided to overlook the fact that he chews tobacco and dresses like Larry the Cable Guy).

On the first Big Brother After Dark show (which I usually just skim through looking for pickle), I actually stopped and watched it every time he came onscreen, and I really became enamored of his sense of humour and the fact that he seemed genuinely likeable (and the fact that he kept promising to eventually get naked for the cameras didn't hurt).

Unfortunately, it's taken less than a week for him to embarrass himself. In a discussion about housemate Libra, Steven uttered this cringe-worthy, regrettable complaint:

"That colored girl ain't controlling nothing."

Oh dear.

Hearing him say that makes this pre-season statement from him seem like a self-fullfilling prophecy:

"If you make a mistake and say the wrong things, you may offend people and be known for that forever," "People make mistakes. If I do make a mistake, I hope I can learn from it and know that was some part of my life that I was ignorant or uneducated about."

Well, Steven, here's your chance. Hopefully, you can learn from it.

I've been on message boards where people are trying to excuse it by saying "Well, he's from the South, and people still talk like that." Sorry, that doesn't wash. This is 2008, and no reasonably intelligent person could possibly believe that using the word "colored" is acceptable. Libra made her own faux pas, though, by saying this about Steven's over-sensitivity: "I don't think he's a man, I think he's a female".

This could be a very long season.

You can see the clip of Steven after the break, and when there's more news about this season's gay housemate, we'll keep you updated.

This morning CBS announced the cast of housemates for its 10th season of reality staple Big Brother, and as has been the case in most recent seasons, there is a gay man among the cast of million-dollar hopefuls.

This time around it's Steven Daigle, a 35-year-old "geographic consultant and rodeo rider" from Dallas:

This year the game promises to be going "back to its roots", meaning that there are no staged pair-ups, tricks, or secret couples or friends amongst the competitors. We'll see how Steven fares in this open field, but if this quote is any indication of his relative stability, there may be hope:

"If you make a mistake and say the wrong things, you may offend people and be known for that forever," said Steven Daigle, a 35-year-old geographic consultant and gay rodeo competitor from Dallas. "People make mistakes. If I do make a mistake, I hope I can learn from it and know that was some part of my life that I was ignorant or uneducated about."

Check out the intro video and full list of contenders after the jump!

John Barrowman shows his Toronto Pride

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.

• Here are some snaps of John Barrowman and some guys in Von Trapp drag at yesterday's Toronto Pride parade.

• Dennis, a gay dancer on the current season of Big Brother in the UK, was ejected from the house for spitting on a housemate during an argument. Nice to see that we Yanks haven't cornered the market on despicable BB behavior. (Oh, and Extras creator Ricky Gervais is quite displeased with the spitting, thank you very much.)

• Meanwhile, our Friendly Idols to the North had a bump in gay visibility when Canadian Idol contestant Theo came out following his performance (which the judges roundly praised). Subtle, but his mention of a bad breakup with a guy is something you're not likely to see on American Idol. (His performance is around 4:45 minutes and his interview follows.)

• Despite having nearly vanished last season, Gay Oscar is one of the leads in NBC's summer The Office webisode series.

• Out actor Nathan Lane will lend his considerable vocal talents to the upcoming big-screen Astro Boy movie. Mighty Atom meets Butley? Awesome.

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

So, this past Big Brother season started with a little bit of promise, and quickly lost my interest, as the show frequently does. The Big Brother casting directors found people cretinous enough to make me long for the likes of Jase, Scott and, yes, Ivette. I might have been interested in the potential showmance between Neil and Joshuah but after Neil suddenly left the house, the obnoxiousness of this season became too much for me to bear.

However, Joshuah and Neil weren't the only houseguests on this Big Brother season who got noticed by gay viewers. It quickly turned out that James had appeared on a gay porn website, something that started debates on discussion boards on whether or not James had defined himself as bisexual on the live feeds. Aside from that, there were also moments like the time when Joshuah talked about being a top and James told him, essentially, 'You don't know what you're missing.'.

Well, if it weren't clear then, in a post-finale interview, James identifies himself as bisexual and saying he was open about his bisexuality in the house but avoided discussing it in the house because of worries about homophobia.

The interviewer asks James why he didn't "make a play for" Joshuah, but James either dodges or misunderstands the question, explaining that he never felt Joshuah was being singled out for being gay. (I'm guessing "misunderstand" since James struck me as the someone blunt enough to say "I didn't make a play for Joshuah because I spent time with him.")

While James didn't win the season, he did win a $25,000 "favorite jury member" prize, voted on by the viewers. I have to admit I find that interesting that viewers didn't hold James' gay porn past against him and that, while the series has yet to see a queer contestant win, one did end up becoming a "fan favorite" ... even though he wasn't one identified as queer when the series began.

You can check out the whole interview here.

We haven't talked about Big Brother since Joshuah was evicted (and there wasn't much of a response then) but now that the season's over does anyone have any final thoughts? We had one gay man and two bisexual men in the house and ... well, Joe and Dustin got more buzz among gay pop culture fanatics. Is this season one of those best forgotten?