DEATH TO SMOOTCHY: Newsday and other media outlets reported on the split of kiss-happy couple Liza Minnelli and David Gest. ‘They are separated,’ Minnelli’s spokesman said July 25. Perhaps Minnelli has been doing her part all these years allowing gay people to get legally married (but just gay men, and just to her). Now that Canada has opened the same-sex marriage floodgates, maybe now Liza doesn’t feel the need to assist in this area any more. Let’s all now leave Liza alone so she can find the right woman. Finally, maybe now we can see why it’s simply a mistake to allow opposite-gender couples to enter into such vows. — Tracy Baim
AMAZON POWER: Amazon Country on Philadelphia’s WXPN, which claims to be the longest-running lesbian-focused music program in the country, was canceled recently until a groundswell of support came from fans—many of whom gathered virtually through the Web site outvoice.net. The 29-year-old Amazon Country was set for slaughter by the public radio affiliate until a last-minute agreement was made to reintroduce the program in a bi-weekly rotation with Queer Waves, another gay program the station airs.
IDAHO POTATO HEADS: For those of us without cable television, NBC aired Queer Eye for the Straight Guy last week. Viewers were treated to the makeover of a mountain man by five gay men with varying talents. But if you were truly a mountain man from Idaho, you would not have seen the tips from the ‘Fab 5’ because the Boise, Idaho NBC affiliate, KTVB, decided not to air the program. KTVB station manager Doug Armstrong told the Idaho Statesman that the decision to pull Queer Eye was based on the fact that the NBC station in Pocatello, Idaho, was going to air the program. KTVB aired an encore presentation of Donny Osmond hosting the game show, Pyramid. At least two other NBC affiliates nixed the airing as well. — Faren D’Abell