Jay-Z Orders Rihanna: 'Go To Rehab Or You Are Dropped From The Label'

EntertainmentWise – Tue, Jun 12, 2012 16:23 BST

Those close to Rihanna have been worrying about the star’s out of control partying for months but it seems the ‘We Found Love’ star missing a flight back to the US after a night out in London was the final straw for mentor Jay-Z who has ordered the singer to get to rehab.

The 24 year-old hardly seems to miss a night out and has been frequently seen partying around the globe, visiting strip clubs and even hospitalised for exhaustion as well as her intense workload. But now Jay-Z has warned the ‘Rude Boy’ star that he will drop her if she doesn’t get help.
"Rihanna has been out of control for months. She was supposed to catch a flight back to the UK last week, but she ended up missing it, which was the final straw for management,” a source told Closer Magazine.
“Jay-Z hit the roof when he found out, and told Rihanna, 'Go to rehab now or I'll drop you from the label.' She's not happy, but she now feels she has no choice.”
At the time the star tweeted that Jay-Z had given her the day off to recover, but sources reveal she needs much more than just a day to get back on her feet.
"She's reached breaking point. Ri says she's physically and mentally exhausted and feeling lost. I think she desperately needs help and some time off - not just from work but from all the other stresses in her life too," the source added.
The stress and upset over her Grandmother’s cancer battle is also said to be putting a strain on the young singer.
She recently flew to New York just to spend a few hours with her beloved relative.

todays men

I do love these headphones. i wounder if i the model comes with them then I'm SOLD!

 my carnival party night outfit minus the abs ... lol

 if it had this tree growing in my back yard i wounder if i would find him under it.

i have an obsession wiht cars and bikes now you can see why.

Hot Gay Dads

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka
In June, Oprah Winfrey televised a visit to the home of Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka where she met Harper and Gideon, their twins.

 

Vern Yip and partner Craig Koch
Interior designer Vern Yip, seen on many TV shows, and his partner Craig Koch have two children. Gavin Joshua Mannox was born in 2010 and Vera Lillian Beatrix was born in 2011.

 


Bill Horn and Scout Masterson
Bill Horn and Scout Masterson, Tori Spelling’s friends ("Guncles") and regulars on her reality show Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, welcomed daughter Simone Lynn Masterson-Horn in 2010

Hot Gay Dads

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Ricky Martin
His twin sons, Matteo and Valentino, were born in 2008. In April, partner Carlos joined Ricky and the twins for their first official photo shoot for Vanity Fair.

 
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Lee Daniels
Precious director Lee Daniels has had his twins since they were three-days-old. Clara and Liam were born to his brother and his girlfriend and adopted by Daniels and his then partner, casting director Billy Hopkins. See a great picture from their W photo shoot here.


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Dan Bucatinsky and Don Roos
He lives with his husband, screenwriter Don Roos, and they have two children, Eliza and Jonah. Bucatinsky drew on his experiences to pen in his new book, Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight?

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Sam Harris and Danny Jacobsen
Singer Sam Harris and Danny Jacobsen, who is a director and presentation coach for numerous Blue Chip companies and also film producer, have been together since 1994. They adopted a son, Cooper Atticus Harris-Jacobsen, in April 2008 and the couple married on November 1, 2008.

THE G-SOUND: “Rice & Beans” by Cazwell [VIDEO]

Check out the latest video by popular hip-pop artist Cazwell.  Always knowing how to capture one’s attention with music videos of hot sexy, half-nude male models, Cazwell brings the same fanfare to his music video “Rice & Beans.”  The title from his forthcoming album “Hard To Be Fresh” made us think “WTF,” but the catchy hook and instrumentation made us shimmy in our seats…so much so that we played the video twice.
Check out the hotness cooked up in “Rice & Beans” by pressing play below.

 

Miami Sizzle CEO Responds To Desperate Shade From DC Promoters (Really???)

Competition is the ugliest word in the LGBT community, especially among the people of color.  We will say that until we turn blue in the face.  It is the very unnecessary action that furthers divides our people in a time when we need to stand united wile facing opposition from the outsiders.
Competition in the LGBT community emphasizes the insecurities of particular notables within the community that commence to shade or wage war against their more competent contemporaries.  The tactics of the insecure involve mostly badmouthing because their actions or successes are proven fruitless and are exposed as finding relevance or desperation for popularity.  Within the LGBT people of color demographic, that resonates widely among the party promoters, Black pride organizers and people whose popularity are based solely on their looks and promiscuity rather than talents, personality or skills.
In any particular city, residents having more than one option to find a place to socialize with friends, dance and meet new people is a plus for them as they feel the quality of a good social life appears to be diverse.  However, in cities such as Atlanta, New York, Washington DC, Chicago, and several other populous towns, partygoers are innocently tangled up in various wars among party promoters and club owners who wish to monopolize on their city’s LGBT people of color rather than sharing the wealth and promoting unity in the spirit of community.  The promoters size each other up as competition and are willing to go at great lengths, mostly verbal attacks and underhanded actions using the legal system, for selfish gain while the community faces the casualties of their favorite spots, party nights or alternatives to the existing party that may not suit their tastes.
On one hand, being the most successful event promoter seems rewarding as long as one knows that their gig is not the only option for the community to follow.  One understands that house party is an option.  A movie theatre is an option.  A restaurant is an option.  Nowhere is also an option.  People, regardless of gender and sexually, are entitled to choose where they will be entertained and where they will socialize.  Thus, the successful promoter executes to the best of his/her ability to please the demographic the party or event serves.
Recently, people of the LGBT community of color may have seen promoter wars reach to an extensive, yet alarming, level.  A week after the Memorial weekend festivities, we, at The G-List, have heard great reports coming from the weekend’s most popular destinations – (Sizzle) Miami, Washington DC (Black Pride) and (Inferno) Puerto Rico.  Thousands of a gays and lesbians of color flock to these destinations to kick off their summer in full party and reunion mode. Wasn’t it great that we, as people of color, had events catered specifically for us at multiple destinations to choose from during that holiday weekend?  According to particular party promoters, they rather suggest that every gay man of color come to their city because that is where real men go.  In an exchange of subtle shade in marketing among party promoters in DC and Miami, the war climaxed to a press release war between Sizzle Miami’s CEO Dwight Powell and the men of Omega Entertainment.
Our two very reliable sources confirmed separately that the war began when Omega Entertainment urged their potential party attendees that their parties, and being in DC overall is the place to be while diminishing other groups as men who are not of good quality, in particular Sizzle Miami.
Apparently, the insults and subtle marketing verbal jabs continued until Dwight Powell, Sizzle Miami’s CEO, addressed the ruthless tactics head on with the following press release:

WE ARE ALL GOD’S CHILDREN!
For the 11th year in a row, Miami was again the place to be and be seen this past Memorial Day Weekend. But you already knew that. A local promoter in DC just posted their numbers and incorrectly stated that DC was the event of choice this year. This is actually the first time every replying to such emails, and because I don’t want anyone to be misled, I have decided to take these allegations and statements head on.
The 3 promoters in DC (McGregory from Omega Ent., Darly Wilson, and Mario Harris from Wassup N Atl) unfortunately also suggested and stated all year long, that DC will have the “real” men and that Sizzle will have the “ladies”. This statement in itself is extremely offensive and one that we would never make here in Miami. We host all men and women of the gay and lesbian community. All colors, sexual orientations, gender…. Simply everyone. One of the things that has made Sizzle Miami great over the years is the fact that we provide an atmosphere where all men and women are comfortable and relaxed without having to be ashamed of what or who they are. THAT IS WHAT SIZZLE MIAMI IS, WHAT WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT, AND WHAT WE WILL CONTINUE TO BE – WE ARE HERE FOR EVERYONE! So the next time you hear a promoter say they have the “real” men or “real” women, please do stop them in their track and remind them that they are speaking about you, your friends, your brothers and sisters, uncles or aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews. Please do not allow this crap to continue. Be proud of who you are, and as ask that promoter do the same.
Here are our numbers compared to the numbers claimed by a promoter in DC and afterwards you do the math. You will agree that Sizzle Miami was again the #1 Choice this past Memorial Day Weekend.
Thursday: Off The Hookah 1,850 (DC Promote – 0)
Friday: Mekka Miami – 6210   (DC Promoter 2700)
Saturday Pool Party – 1750 (DC Promoter 725 on Sunday)
Saturday: SoHo Studios – 5700 (DC Promoter 950 – Not sure where the other 1750 from the night before went)
Sunday: Club Space – 6775 (Between 10pm-10am)   (DC Promoter 2400)
Monday: Bongos – 1550  (DC Promoter – 0)
Sizzle Miami is #1 again for a reason – We welcome and accept everyone as they are. In Miami we want all of you to be yourself. Don’t be misled by such horrific language and self-hatred as to what’s “real” or not. As the owner of Clik Magazine from way back in since 1998, I have seen us progress and come way to far only to return to the shadows and be ashamed of who and what we are. As I write this tears of passion drops down my cheek as I imaged and hear such ugliness from these types of promoters. ALL I CAN SAY IS BE YOU!

Bam!  There you have it.
Here was the press release by Omega Entertainment that has sparked the DC Black Pride weekend vs. Sizzle Miami war.  (Note: We did the best we could to clean up the sentence structure of this “press release” in order make it easier to read.)

DC RULED MEMORIAL WEEKEND…
The numbers are in and it is official, DC was the destination of choice for the fellas from all around the world this Memorial weekend, and naturally Omega Entertainment led the way. Check out what we’ve accomplished this historic weekend.
On Friday night at our main event, 2700 of you turned out to enjoy a 13 song performance by the princess of R & B Ashanti.
On Saturday afternoon we hosted 950 of you on the majestic rooftop of the Ibiza, and the emails are still coming fast and furious expressing how much you all loved this event.
Saturday night, 883 of you turned out at the Layla lounge for a truly grown, sexy and sophisticated event.
Our pool party Sunday afternoon, although we’ve changed the venue at the last minute, was packed to capacity with 725 in attendance.
At our Klimax party Sunday night, thousands and thousands of you turned out but because of the rigid and thorough and slow nature of security at Love Nightclub, we were only able to get roughly 2400 of you in the building. We’re sorry that some of you did not make it; hence the reason why we stress purchasing our pass which guarantees you admission to all of our events with a much shorter or no line, or to get to the venues super early. Great parties will have lines. It is that simple…
We also had record turnout at our other 5 events throughout the weekend. And one thing we’ve also done differently this year, is partnering with reputable local organizations like Us Helping Us and the Carl Vogel Center for disease prevention to provide you free and rapid on site HIV testing through our “Know your status and party for free” initiative. You might have remembered seeing the van parked outside of all of our venues. More than 60 of you got tested and got to party for free at one event or the other. Next year, we will aim to at least double that number and we’re looking for ways to provide on-site workshops at our hotel covering subjects meaningful to the improvement of our lives.
Amazingly, all major promoters in the city posted record numbers this year for Pride. Overall it’s been a wonderful and eventful weekend and DC was definitely the place to be.
Many of you have emailed us and requested that we do this more than just once a year. We’ve been studying the possibilities and we’re very close to adding at least one more weekend to the annual calendar.
If you are, or represent a business, a corporation or a merchant and would like your product or services exposed to the ever growing sea of fellas with tremendous buying power, who come to DC for this event every year, we’d like to talk to you. You have a unique opportunity to be a part of a growing movement here in the nation’s capital. Your sponsorship will help us keep cost and admission to our events low, thereby attracting an even larger pool of folks for your commerce. Your support will also help us continue great social outreach initiatives like better living workshops, disease prevention counseling and testing etc…

Really?  Have we as a community become desperate that we have to post attendance numbers, actual or embellished, to prove that one group or destination is better than the other?  Then, when one calls self “the destination to be,” do they feel chagrined when numbers from another destination stack against theirs to make them look like the stereotypical gay man who exaggerates their prosperity to impress others? At the same time, while one is boasting to be better than others, do they think they will attract corporate sponsors with poorly written, yet boastful, press releases that numerates their attendances rather than their contributions and needs?  Though the community suffers from grandstanding truths and bashing others for personal gains, the promoters eventually become losers when they protray themselves publicly as menacing, insecure, selfish, incompetent people who result to messy tactics to be #1 or the monopoly.
Most importantly, as a community, we must stop this false sense of grandeur when it comes to the atmosphere of these party and events.  While guys labeled as “queens” and “sissies” are meant to demean them as less quality or civilized people, they are the pillars of the LGBT nightlife, especially for men of color.  Whether they party in effiminate clothing or performing Beyonce’s choreography on the dancefloor, many of them are the reasons why we still have parties and venues to go party because they are proud to be in a safe environment and celebrate themselves and each other as freely as possible.  ”Sissies” and “queens” travel to different pride destinations, party at LGBT circuit events or stay in their hometowns like the “real men” of the LGBT community.  It is even laughable these days on how the people we may define as “real men” are defined as “queens” by others.
All destinations for the LGBT people of color have their “qualities” that we whisper among ourselves.  Sizzle Miami has been gossiped as the place where you are most likely under the age of 25 and having beach bodies for the gods.  Inferno Dominican Republic attendees are often assumed as people with lots of disposable income because they can afford to leave the United States.  People who go to DC Black Pride are often considered too old  or cheap to enjoy Sizzle Miami and are mostly visitors from New York, Philadelphia and Maryland.  Atlanta Black Pride attendees are considered people who come to party and engage in the wild sex orgies for an entire weekend.  For better or worse, every destination for the LGBT people of color has their “reputations” that we whisper among ourselves;  yet, most of those characteristics are merely perceptions rather than truths.  Let us not make these negative stereotypes clamorous at an organizer level using mass mail announcements where a group of people are made to feel less than because they exercised their choice to party elsewhere.
We have got to do better.

African HIV activists want a new model for prevention

Nairobi, Kenya

For years, the world's largest donors for AIDS research and treatment have funded a simple message for how to prevent the spread of the HIV, the virus that causes AIDS: Abstinence, Be faithful, and Condomize, also known as ABC.

It's a message that has helped reduce the number of people engaging in unsafe sex all over the world, and according to AIDS activists, has saved lives. But in some parts of Africa, this message has been very difficult to sell, and local activists say it should be reviewed or scrapped.
For some governments, faith groups, non-governmental organizations, and individuals in Africa, ABC is simply not effective. It fails to curb the stigma still associated with AIDS, it pushes the epidemic underground, and it ends up hindering universal access to HIV diagnosis and treatment, they say.
The ABC message, hatched in the Bush era, would have been up for redesign anyway because of major strides made in scientific understanding of the HIV virus, as well as cultural differences in the way that couples interact in the 54 countries on the African continent, AIDS activists say.

RELATED: World AIDS Day 2010: Top signs of progress

But it is the persistence of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, as well as increasing levels of infection among people in relationships, that a new public message on HIV needs to take into account.
Some faith leaders here have designed a new strategy, called SAVE (Safer practices, Access to treatment, Voluntary counselling and testing, and Empowerment) to replace ABC. With a 2011 UNAIDS report that found that HIV infection rates continued to drop, but that the highest rates remain here in sub-Saharan Africa, secular civil society groups and government leaders are rallying behind the SAVE cause.
Fifteen African countries, including Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, have adopted SAVE, and Malawi is expected to adopt it soon.
It is this lack of progress in Africa, highlighted in that UNAIDS report, that has become the rallying point against ABC.
“Of-course they (UN) wanted to make us 'happy,'" says Canon Gideon Byamugisha, a Ugandan Anglican cleric who is a supporter of SAVE and in 1996 became the first African faith leader to announce his HIV-positive status.
Referring to the UNAIDS 2011 report, which found that HIV infections had dropped by 20 percent, Mr. Byamugisha replies, "What the reports did not acknowledge is that 80 percent is still at-large.”
“Now if we continue the same way, the same messages, same methodologies, and same budgets and for the next 30 years we get another 20 percent, how much is that? A 40 percent reduction. There will still be 60 percent," he says. "Can you imagine that in 2042 you will be here discussing AIDS? That is not tolerable.”

'I want to marry my gay partner'

'I want to marry my gay partner' - St James-based lesbian says marrying her lover would be a dream come true

Published: Sunday | June 10, 2012 26 Comments

This July 2010 photo shows lesbian partners Catherine Crisp (left) and Keye McKinzie, the latter a former career army officer who is ecstatic at the repeal of the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. - AP

Adrian Frater, News Editor
Western Bureau:

Buoyed by the recent lesbian nuptial re-enactment in Silver Sands, Trelawny, one member of a local same-sex couple has declared that she wants to get married in Jamaica.

Montego Bay-based lesbian model Adrienne Simpsontold The Sunday Gleaner she would love to have even a token marriage to her partner.
Simpson, whose modelling career has taken her into countries that embrace same-sex unions, says she is eyeing this token marriage and will not allow the Jamaican law to be a "shackle" to her plans.
"I am in a relationship with someone who is giving me love, kindness and all the support I need," said Simpson.
"I have been with men and none of them has shown me the love and respect I am now getting," added Simpson.
Despite her pronouncement, Simpson admits that sometimes her conscience bothers her.
"I know it is not accepted in Jamaica but this is someone I want to spend the rest of my life with," said Simpson.
"Sometimes my Christian upbringing chips in and my thoughts waver, but deep down this is the life I want."

'Token weddings' common

According to Simpson, same-sex 'token weddings' are becoming quite common in Jamaica without attracting much fanfare and publicity.
"This is something that is happening regularly in Jamaica these days. I know several persons who have done it and are living happily. In many instances, these lovers operate similarly to the traditional husband and wife … one goes out to work and the other stays home and does domestic duties," added Simpson.
In the case of the Silver Sands mock nuptials, the 'bride' and 'bride', Jamaica-born Nicole Dennis-Benn and her American partner Dr Emma Benn, reportedly got married in New York, where such unions are legal, and merely came to Jamaica, where there is general intolerance to gays, to re-enact what had taken place overseas.
But many persons, including prominent church leaders, have condemned the recent mock nuptials at Silver Sands as an assault on the Christian way of life and saying they are not prepared to allow gay marriages locally.
"This is something that is not pleasing to the Church as it goes against our teaching, which sees marriage as a union between a man and a woman," said Canon Justin Nembhard, the head of the St James Parish Church in Montego Bay.
"It is illegal … in Jamaica. Marriage is not a union between any two people; it must be between a man and a woman," said Nembhard. "This kind of thing is not the norm and is not something you would expect to see in a Christian country."

Not allowed in Jamaica

Like Nembhard, prominent Montego Bay-based lawyer Nathan Robb has noted that regardless of how close the event at Silver Sands mirrors real nuptials, based on the Jamaican law, no marriage officer could legally perform such a wedding.
Robb also dismissed the notion that a marriage officer from a jurisdiction where same-sex marriage is allowed could come to Jamaica and perform such a ceremony legally.
"That individual (overseas marriage officer) would have to obey the Jamaican law once he comes into our jurisdiction," said Robb. "Once it is taking place in Jamaica, the Jamaican law must be observed and the Jamaican law is clear on marriage … there is no ambiguity."
Legal minds have also noted that Simpson and her partner could never get legally married in Jamaica as Section 18(2) of the new Charter of Rights of the Jamaican Constitution defines marriage as a "union of one man and one woman".
Name changed on request

Flaming Souls: Homosexuality, Homophobia, and Social Change in Barbados

While there has been increased attention to issues of sexuality in the Caribbean over the past decade, there continue to be very few in-depth ethnographic studies of sexual minorities in this region. A timely addition to the literature, Flaming Souls explores public discourses focusing on homosexuality and the everyday lives of gay men and ‘queens’in contemporary Barbados.
David A.B. Murray's dynamic study features interviews with government and health agency officials, HIV/AIDS activists, and residents of the country's capital, Bridgetown. Using these and records from local libraries and archives, Murray unravels the complex historical, social, political, and economic forces through which same-sex desire, identity, and prejudice are produced and valued in this Caribbean nation-state. Illustrating the influence of both Euro-American and regional gender and sexual politics on sexual diversity in Barbados, Flaming Souls makes an important contribution to queer studies and the anthropology of sexualities.

http://www.amazon.com/Flaming-Souls-Homosexuality-Homophobia-Barbados/dp/1442613009

Trinidad & Tobago

Trinidad & Tobago: Anglican Bishop Claude Berkley has said he is in support of Lawyers for Justice and RC Archbishop Joseph Harris, who are against same-sex marriages. Berkley said for sometime the issue has been tabled for discussion within the church but has caused a schism in some parts of it. The Anglican Church’s position against same-sex unions stems from the 1998 Lambeth Conference, which ruled that the church could not sanction marriage for members of the same sex. But Colin Robinson, executive director of the Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO), said the group was not advocating same-sex marriage.

He believes groups who are raising the issue are doing so as a “polarising tactic.” Robinson urged the Government to not be distracted and get on with the issue of nation-building instead. Jason Jones, who founded the group, I Am One, is lobbying for removal of all legislation that criminalises the LGBT community; removal of the immigration law which prevents free travel of members of the LGBT community; marriage equality under the law; full inclusion of the LGBT community in the Equal Opportunity Act; anti-hate legislation; and the inclusion of LGBT matters in the portfolio of the Ministry of Youth and Gender Affairs. He said: “The archbishop and other religious leaders need clarity on this issue, as they erroneously assume gay marriage somehow attacks their beliefs and principles. “Allowing the inclusion of gay and lesbian people to the institution of marriage does not take away the important religious freedoms that we rightly cherished in this country. “Religious groups will retain the right to make their own decisions, consistent with the principles of their faith, about whom they will and won’t marry.”

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2012-06-11/anglicans-also-against-same-sex-marriages

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