Free Republic

Boy George's US solo summer tour is in doubt after authorities refused to issue him with a visa, citing looming overseas legal issues. A statement from the singer and DJ's management said it was in relation to a forthcoming London trial on false imprisonment charges. The 47-year-old denied the allegations in 2007 and was released on bail. The former Culture Club frontman's 24-date tour is scheduled to begin on 11 July in Las Vegas. "At the moment, Boy George cannot come to the United States of America because he has been refused permission to enter by the USA Administration," the...

BOSTON - The governor's office has instructed hospitals to cross out the word "father" on birth certificates for children of same-sex parents and substitute "second parent," angering municipal clerks. Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Gov. Mitt Romney, said Thursday that the certificates are perfectly legal. But municipal clerks, who register and store birth records, say the cross-outs could leave the documents open to challenges by passport agents, foreign governments and other officials. "They should not have a birth certificate that has crosses on it," said Barnstable Town Clerk Linda E. Hutchenrider, a past president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association....

A rare sexually transmitted disease never before confirmed in laboratory tests in New York City has been diagnosed in two men, leading health officials to remind the public about practicing safe sex and to encourage doctors to be on the lookout for signs of the disease. The cases are among the first reported in the United States and match a strain of the disease that only began to surface in Europe in recent years. The disease, lymphogranuloma venereum, known as LGV, is a rare form of chlamydia that can cause acute illness, lifelong disability and disfigurement as well as fuel...

KASSEL - Prosecutors Thursday said they have filed a murder indictment against one of two gay men who met in an Internet chat room, where it allegedly was agreed that one of them would kill and devour the other. And in a stunning new development, prosecutors in Kassel said they are broadening the investigation to include some 430 other persons believed to have been involved in the Internet gay cannibalism chat room that led to the death of a 42-year-old man in March 2001. Prosecutors are convinced that the victim, a computer analyst from Berlin, agreed to be killed and...

<p>A West Virginia man was nabbed for allegedly having sex with a sheep - that was part of a live nativity scene.</p> <p>Joey Armstrong, 29, broke into a shed that housed animals used in the holiday scene at the Bartlett-Burdette-Cox Funeral Home in Charleston at about 5:50 a.m. Saturday, police Sgt. Brent Webster said.</p>

A man has confessed to murdering and eating another man who allegedly volunteered to be killed, in a case that has shocked Germany. The 41-year-old - who was remanded in custody on Wednesday - videotaped the murder, prosecutors said. The victim, also in his 40s, was chopped into pieces at the killer's home in the central German town of Rotenburg, near Kassel. Prosecutors in Kassel said the accused and the victim were apparently homosexuals who shared cannibalistic tendencies. The German daily Bild reports that the victim, from Berlin, had seen an advertisement on the internet which said: "Seeking young, well-built...

A man has confessed to murdering and eating a fellow homosexual who volunteered to be killed in one of the strangest murders in Germany in recent years. Prosecutors say the 41-year-old accused recorded the crime on a video camera after finding the apparently willing victim through an advertisement posted on the internet. The state prosecutor's office in the central German city of Kassel says in a statement the accused supposedly first cut off the victim's penis by mutual agreement because they wanted to eat it together. The statement says the accused then killed the 37-year-old male victim with deep cuts...