Via a tipster: Inside Oprah's last hurrah. Madonna's supposed to be there, as well as Beyoncé, the Smiths (Will and Jada, not the Morrisey ones!)...

When I met Lisa Ling regarding her Our America series, I was uncomfortable with the bits I saw of her "Pray Away the Gay?" segment, which I felt might legitimize Exodus International and ex-gay ministries. I asked her a direct question about that very topic. Her answer is here.

Via Joe.My.God.: On last night's call-in after Lisa Ling's "Pray the Gay Away?" episode of Our America, one Exodus International zombie stated he's decided to be celibate forever rather than giving in to his homosexuality. Tragic to be so at war with one's self.

Video after the jump...

I was invited to a bloggers' luncheon yesterday to spotlight the new OWN project Our America with Lisa Ling, a series of one-hour specials devoted to unusual (or perhaps not-so-unusual) Americans. Ling, a veteran of The View who's been reporting since covering the Afghan War (not the current one!) as a 21-year-old, launches her Oprah Winfrey-sanctioned endeavor tonight at 10PM ET/PT with an installment on faith healers, and through the end of March will cover some extremely diverse people: the lives of five transgendered people, a group of sex offenders, ex-gay Christians vs. proudly gay Christian teens, a heroin-addicted Ohio town and a man who travels to Colombia on a "marriage tour."

The marrying man—a guy who goes to Colombia in search of a bride

I sort of thought of it as Real People for real smart people.

Ling sells the series as a labor of love that should stand in stark contrast with LCD TV, noting:

"As you all know, it's increasingly more challenging to tell provocative stories on TV if you don't have six-pack abs and aren't, like, going into bars getting into fights—it's harder to sell your shows...don't get me started!"

Gotta have faith?

She says she felt like she was in "a foreign country" when filming her specials and admits to having strong preconceptions about each topic. For her faith-healing experience, she went in skeptical:

"Nothing angers me more than when people are manipulated by the Church or by people who profess faith."

Religion informs several of the specials. I was able to see a short snippet from the March 8 episode, entitled "Pray the Gay Away?"—she made sure to stress the question mark—in which Ling attends a meeting of ex-gay org Exodus International and speaks at length with founder Alan Chambers.

It took Ling three attempts to gain access to the Exodus International Freedom Conference, but once she attended, she seemed to assert that Exodus is not about coercion or "praying the gay away."

"I didn't say homosexuality was wrong—God did."

In the piece, Chambers is treated fairly, but comes off, to me, as a wild-eyed self-deluder who refers to his current heterosexuality as "a work in progress." But Ling's voice-over is sympathetic, even if she questions Chambers by noting that some people think he's living a lie. He replies:

Click the image above...

GLAAD has announced its nominees for the 22nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Full list here.

Some of the most noteworthy nominees are The Kids Are All Right, I Love You Phillip Morris, Howl, Easy A, Glee, Modern Family and True Blood.

The "Outstanding Blog" nominees were of special interest to me:

The Bilerico Project, Blabbeando, Joe.My.God., Pam's House Blend and Rod 2.0

Congrats to the nominees! I'm not sure how they managed to avoid Towleroad or Good As You, but all are worthy contenders.

The awards ceremonies will be held March 19 at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, in Los Angeles on April 16 at the Westin Bonaventure and in San Francisco on May 14 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

As of midnight tonight, it will be exactly five years since my first post. It's hard to imagine it's been that long, and a lot's changed—the tone and subject matter are different, how often I post, my limits (no nudity in a couple of years due to ad constraints). I've devoted a crazy amount of time and money and energy to this blog for a very small financial return (you couldn't guess low enough), but it's always rewarding to have this forum with which to express myself, keep my writing ability fluid, perhaps influence a couple of people here and there, share obsessions with strangers (in both senses of the word) and learn new things.

Take That's Howard...can you believe this happened onstage at a pop concert?

Here are some of the posts that were most important to Boy Culture's history. For the uninitiated, some of the oldest ones refer to Boy Culture, the movie made of my novel; I started the blog at the time Boy Culture was being filmed as a way to keep people informed of the progress...and it all snowballed from there.

Subtle

Some of these posts are milestones when it comes to the hits they provided but most are filled with original writing and/or photography and video and are just the posts of which I'm proudest. I hope you'll take some time to click on them and send their links around to others—and some time is what you'll need...

MY ART

Boy-crazy

FROM BOY TO MAN: BC B.C. (2007): The entire history of my novella, novel and movie Boy Culture; might be my ultimate post.

From '07, one of my faves. Old iPhones were better because they were worse.

"Your pictures suck" (2008): An art critic attacks me, but not without sustaining some hits in return.

GUYDAR (since at least January 17, 2008) & ENDS OF THE WORLD (since at least January 13, 2008): Attractive men of the world—I got your backs. Your fronts, too.

i-i-i (phone)

TriBeCa is for Boy lovers...

BOY ON FILM (2006): An account of the NYC launch party for Boy Culture as it played the TriBeCa Film Fest.

I was left "Reeling" by the experience

FRIENDS AND "FAMILY" (2006): The movie version of Boy Culture hits Chicago.

RAPT PUPIL (2006): The final night of Outfest with Boy Culture; I was fat but on the other hand got to meet Bryan Singer.

Let's call it a draw

DRAWN TOGETHER (2008): How my desire to draw related to my secret desire. One of my absolute favorite posts.

ME

Death of the party—Jeff in high school, already halfway through his life

BURNING MAN (2007): Tribute to my late high school friend and first romance.

I had the Fever for Jon-Erik Hexum

AN OBSESSION IS BORN (2009): One of my best posts about my obsession with...obsession.

Death becomes here

ILLINOIS DEATH TRIP (2007): Ruminations on death while revisiting a past home, and the past.

Life is short and meaningful

PASSING BY (2008): Mourning the loss of a person I only met once.

I was given the red-carpet treatment

HAVEN'T WE MET? (2010): Celebrating my time with someone I've only met once—Madonna.

While I think it's peachy-keen that Teri Hatcher is crusading against plastic surgery (or at least against the perception that she's had it)—I wouldn't be one of the people trashing Madonna for looking old if she'd never had surgery—I really don't think I can buy her claim to have had Botox once in 1997 and never again. And nothing else. Nothing else??? (And I'm sure she doesn't count a nosejob from way back since it's not anti-aging?)

Us (August 23, 2010) would seem to be dousing Rosie O'Donnell's proposed new show for Oprah Winfrey's network with cold water—their poll says 83% of readers won't watch. (Not surprising considering how lefty she is and since 68% of the country is blatantly bigoted.) Bu then again, if 17% of America watches, she'll be the biggest thing since Ed Sullivan!

Most of the quotes are attributed to an unnamed friend, but still—what's the point of Joan Rivers trashing Oprah Winfrey for being phoney and uncaring? "Oprah's just very cold. Oprah—if she don't need you, she don't know you!" says Rivers, not exactly known for being warm herself, in National Enquirer (June 21, 2010). 

The good news is that Oprah Winfrey can finally find out the identity of her real father without speaking to Kitty Kelley or relying on her malicious "Aunt" Katharine. The bad news is that she'll have to read National Enquirer (April 26, 2010) in order to learn his name is Noah Robinson Sr.