ANDREW SULLIVAN on The Vatican's New Stereotype. "What the new Pope has done is conflate a sin with an identity. He has created a class of human beings who, regardless of what they do, are too psychologically and thereby morally 'disordered' to become priests."

NO PITY FROM ME: "As if it wasn’t hard enough being a smoker - what with the yellow teeth, bad skin, decrepit lungs and prospect of an early death - it now appears that puffers’ career chances might be set to plunge, writes Héléne Mulholland. The World Health Organisation lent the anti-smoking movement added impetus this week when it became the largest international employer to ban the hiring of smokers in an effort to promote its public health campaign against tobacco use." Guardian Unlimited: News Blog

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: "This slow and stoic movie, hailed as a gay Western, feels neither gay nor especially Western: it is a study of love under siege. As Ennis says, “If you can’t fix it, Jack, you gotta stand it.”" The New Yorker

ELIZABETH VARGAS: "Lying homophobe gets ABC news anchorship" Queer Day