Gossip queen Beth Ditto opens up to The Advocate as she promotes her revealing memoir, Coal to Diamonds, saying that she has suffered from sarcoidosis, the deadly disease that killed Bernie Mac:

"I'm so lucky that my disease was so fucking weird and with a really strange version of it because the doctors were superinterested. They would comp things, they would give me a discounted rate because it was so weird that they were intrigued—and thank God for that. I know that sounds totally weird. It was surreal."

Ditto also writes about being molested by an uncle, battling depression and embracing her sexuality and her body size in what sounds like the queer read of the year.

For your holiday wish list?

Chely Wright: Wish Me Away, the documentary about the country star, comes out on DVD.

Soledad O'Brien reminds Rudy Giuliani of her job description.

Bloomberg for marriage, against "socialism."

Unsavory rumors swirl around The Advocate.

Cavalrymen for Romney. Obama is losing the aughties vote.

Justin Timberlake sang to his bride. Uh, he better have!

Florida firm connected to voter fraud on Republican payroll.

C'mon, vote! Let your body move to the Madonna music.

Did she just do a party line with that guy?

Drawing attention to Thom-Thom's club

Thom Evans spreads the love.

Terrorist attack on NYC's Federal Reserve thwarted by FBI.

What's so great about reproduction?

Sip some of his tea.

Mika co-wrote five songs in an afternoon, including Madonna's "Gang Bang".

Beyoncé to tear up the Super Bowl.

Towel boy.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy shirtless and wet.

Same-sex nuptials don't sit well with black frat traditionalists.

Lance Armstrong unceremoniously dumped.

Flip-flopping flim-flammer Linda McMahon dreams up "emergency rape."

Did these three have "Sex on the Beach"?

Associate Provost of Diversity and Inclusion at Gallaudet is a poster-girl for discrimination.

Debate questioner Katherine Fenton is still undecided, has been smeared by the right as a "feminazi."

Mitt Romney's "binders" lie didn't work out too well for him:

Shaun T's Instagram wedding photo

Insanity work-out god Shaun T comes out in the wake of his wedding.

Mitt Romney's father's longtime aide calls Mitt "erratic," says he fails to live up to his dad.

Barbra Streisand's "stage persona and her look were shaped by gay men."

The Walking Dead's vivacious ratings: 10.9 viewers tune in for season opener.

Candy Crowley vows not to be a "fly on the wall" at tonight's prez debate.

American Family Association still supports bullying.

Madonna launches yet another fragrance: Naked.

Florida centenarian uses Vote Now to vote now for Barack Obama.

Teabagger fantasizes that President Obama and Rev. Wright ('memba him?) are gay lovers.

Latter-day Staci Keanan Selena Leffew has two fathers:

Pink talks to The Advocate about her gay fans/friends:

"They’ve been the most loyal part of what I do. They’ve been my most loyal friends, to be honest. I’ve had a lot of my gay boys around, but my gay girls are my rootstalk. They’re my honesty in an ocean of bullshit. I should be gay by the way that I look and the way that I am. I just happen to not be. But it just makes perfect and complete sense."

The (formerly) working-class girl from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, goes on to discuss the state of the economy in this turbulent election year:

"I just know that half of my family is pissed off, and we’re all working-class people. My mom is a nurse, and my dad was an insurance salesman, and my brother works for pennies for the military, and some of my family is unemployed. People are like, ‘You live in a fucking bubble, you live in Hollywood.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got money now.'"

I still remember when, back in my teen-mag days, Pink first arrived on the scene. Her record label scolded us: "You're not embracing Pink." So we tried harder, but she was never a hot teen star, she was just a hot star-star, a radio favorite, an artist. All better things to be. Never dreamed a girl whose entire gimmick seemed to be pink hair would last so long and have so much in her.

Read more here.

Zac Efron has given an interview to The Advocate, his first interview to the gay press, in which he discusses those gay rumors that follow him as persistently as starfuckers:

"I don’t like to live in fear about things like rumors and backlash to begin with — that’s the way I was raised — but I just can’t see what’s so wrong about being gay."

Of his gay following, Zac—whom I can tell you has always been gay-friendly (see one of our photos together back when High School Musical was hitting)—Zac says:

"It's very flattering. After High School Musical and Hairspray, I’ve always felt embraced by the gay community, and I feel incredibly grateful and honored. This is actually a very special interview for me. I’m extremely aware of the support I’ve gotten from you guys over the years, and it’s amazing that it’s taken this long to sit down and actually discuss it, but please know that it hasn’t gone unappreciated. I’m so excited to be talking to you."

Zac remains one of my all-time favorite performers I worked with when I edited a teen magazine. He started out as a "mascot" for us—someone I put in way, way early just because we all thought he was adorable and had star quality. Who knew? We did! But still, we were pleasantly surprised when he blew up. Just wrote a long piece about him in my autobiographical book of short stories. (Does that sound more palatable than memoir?)

Marc Christian MacGinnis (who died in 2009) made history when he won millions suing the estate of Rock Hudson after the actor allegedly purposefully exposed him to HIV during their relationship in the '80s, setting a precedent for cases involving gay partners and also intentional HIV exposure. (Some have since claimed, notably in a book available here, that Christian was never at risk.)

3 Girls 3: Rock, Marc & Michael

Now, it's Christian's own estate is setting another precedent—the California Supreme Court recently ruled that a case brought by Christian's surviving partner against his sister (and heir) can go forward.

More on this interesting case here.

Andrew Rannells talks to The Advocate about coming out and about playing gay. Of the latter, he says:

"I feel like there's a responsibility with any character you're playing to flesh them out and make them as realistic as possible. As a gay man I put responsibility on myself to make sure the characters read as real people."

I've seen his upcoming TV series The New Normal, and I'm dying to find out how people receive his performance and character. I found the character really grating and shallow with no heart, but it was just the pilot that I saw so perhaps he'll warm up. Rannells is cute and talented, so I'll take a wait-and-see. None needed for his on-screen partner, Justin Bartha, who is one hubba-hubba hubby.

Big congrats to huge talent John Carroll on making The Advocate's "40 Under 40" list. (I once made their "30 Under 30" back in the day, and that was the moment my vile boss at the time decided he hated me.) John's currently in L.A. with Follies, but I'll always have his Jersey Shore send-up in my heart as the best thing he's ever done.

Above and below: Newsies star Jeremy Jordan as captured in Out (May 2012).

Lance Bass and his boyfriend apparently want the world to eat their hearts out, as seen in Life & Style (May 21, 2012):

More after the jump...