After yesterday's blog post and op-ed on sexual health, I thought it might be a good time to include a few stories about sexual health.

- The Chronicle Herald talks about oral sex.

- Capital Health, HRM's health provider, also posted an interesting piece, titled "Helluva Lot of Unsafe Sex in Halifax," discussing how public health is looking at the situation.

- And The Atlantic looks at the recent talk around HIV "cures" and what "functionally cured" means in today's medical world.

I love the idea of crowd funding.

Websites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter are great ways for people to get much-needed funds for their projects from untraditional sources or even directly from fans of their previous work. 

Case in point: Veronica Mars, the cancelled TV series about its eponymous character, is looking to be made into a movie, so its producers went to Kickstarter. Well, it is now the fastest campaign to reach the $1 million mark, and then the $2 million mark. Even The Atlantic got in on the story, but in their case, praising the show for its depiction of the life of a rape survivor. 

Former Kickstarter user Malcolm Ingram is now finally screening his film Continental, about the impact that New York's Continental Baths had on gay life during the 1970s on everything from sex to drugs to music and more. Check out his interview on Queerty.

As for a contemporary campaign, Alfredo's Fire is looking to tell the story of an Italian writer who kills himself by self-immolation. His reason: to protest the Vatican's views on homosexuality.

This edition of The Reading List goes up to New Brunswick, delves into MMA and goes highbrow pop with Owen Pallett.

- CBC Saint John interviews Jenny Gillingham and Troy Morehouse, the owners of Pump, Saint John's only gay club. The club is closing its doors at the end of the month. Listen to it here. 

- Still in New Brunswick, an online survey is looking to find out more about the sexual health of youth. The CBC talks to the organizers of the survey.

- Fallon Fox, an MMA fighter, comes out as being trans. Outsports has the story. 

- And Owen Pallett, formerly known as Final Fantasy, is taking his latest creation, a violin concerto, to the stage of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

The best way to start the week is to know what's going on. So here are a few stories about what's been happening today.

- Anonymous has decided that the Canadian government is worth its attention. Interesting. Weren't they just attacking the Westboro Baptist Church? Nice to see the Harper government is in good company.

-  It's no secret that I love Azealia Banks. But she got in a bit of hot water this weekend via Twitter. Seems like she called Perez Hilton a "faggot." He's a lot of things. And there a lot of names he could be called. But Banks ended up pissing off a lot of people, and she may have lost her record contract. Here's a recap, via Queerty.

- Liberace was one of the gayest men to exist. So how come a bunch of studio heads thought that a movie about him would be "too gay"? (Via Gay Star News)

And finally, a new video by Ab Soto. Mildly NSFW, but entertaining nonetheless.

Once again, proof that we live in a completely post-modern society comes to us through its most perfect of mediums, reality television.

It's been announced that RuPaul would like to work with Alana Thompson, aka Honey Boo Boo, on a duet. Xtra's own Jeremy Feist puts his two cents in as well.

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Speaking of music, the record industry is trying out all kinds of new business models in the era of the MP3. To see how quickly and effectively music is traded and treated online, The XX released their latest album as a stream. They released the website's addy to one individual, and then followed it through links, tweets, etc, to see how and where it would travel. This is how much is shared today.

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Pussy Riot is still in the news. 

According to pitchfork.com, there are plans in the works for the creation of an eBook entitled "Pussy Riot! A Punk Prayer for Freedom," with contributions by such artists as Yoko Ono, JD Samson from Le Tigre, Justin Vivian Bond and more. Members of the band/collective also recently put out a thank-you video for all the support they have received. 

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It's been amazing to see all the support that Pussy Riot has garnered since their arrest.

Canadian electro-punker Peaches got more than 400 people together to protest the group's trial, citing that she wanted PR to know that people support them. Madonna had the words "Pussy Riot" written on her back while in St Petersburg, saying, "I think that these three girls — Masha, Katya, Nadya — I think that they have done something courageous. I know that everyone in this auditorium, if you are here as my fan, feels they have the right to be free." An artist in Russia has sewn his mouth closed as a response to what he feels is the censorship of fellow artists.

- Meanwhile, over in the UK, a former aide to the mayor of London is found not guilty for owning what was originally deemed "extreme pornography." The videos featured images of fisting and sounding, acts that are legal in the UK, but their depiction, apparently, is not. The weirdest part of this case is how the testimony was tweeted by one of the lawyers. 

- The editors of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, a manual used in psychology and psychiatry, have decided to remove the term "gender identity disorder" from the book. Transgender activists state, "The label of mental defectiveness really places a burden on trans people to continually prove our competence in our affirmed roles.” 

- And, if you're looking for something a bit uplifting after all that, check out this video of Antony Hegarty performing "Blind" with Hercules & Love Affair, live, for the first time ever.

Here's some of the most interesting news and culture tidbits that have popped up recently.

- Last week, musician/singer/songwriter Frank Ocean came out on his Tumblr feed. He recently performed live on television for the first time, on Jimmy Fallon, alongside The Roots and a string section. Gawker put it up this morning.

- Also at Gawker, a blog post about the recent fan pages in support of Luka Magnotta. Ew. 

- Can't get enough Glee? Read a comic. Archie meets Glee. (Via CBC)

-Carleton University keeps its ban on blood collection in student-run spaces. Why? Because of Canadian Blood Services' stance on blood donations by men who have sex with men. (Via CBC)

- The Aikiu, a Paris band, plays with gay porn in their latest video. Vaguely SFW. (It also reminds me of the cult of Japanese "stylish gay wrestling.")

- And finally, if you haven't seen this recent viral vid, you should. Imagine Superheroes as The Golden Girls. My fave is Slutty Superman.

On Monday, July 2, a glass closet was quietly shattered.

Yesterday, Andrew Sullivan published a letter he received from Anderson Cooper, in which he writes, "The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud."

In the hours that have since passed, Cooper's discussion of his private life has become newsworthy. Here are some of the more interesting takes on the matter.

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Over at Gawker, a timeline of Cooper's "open secret." The guys at Gawker are kind of obsessed with Cooper. Their former writer Brian Moylan touches on the subject. 

Michael Musto chimes in, considering he had somewhat "outed" Cooper a few years ago.

The HuffPo has an interesting op-ed on why Cooper's coming out is a big deal, while the National Post says, "Nah."

Oh, and a conservative writer decided to make an interesting joke of the whole thing.

Speaking of jokes, those crazy kids at Next Media Animation even took it on.

And perhaps most interesting of all, Kathy Griffin speaks up about why she never outed her New Year's Eve co-host.

- It's Pride season across much of North America. To celebrate New York's pivotal place in the story of Pride (ie, Stonewall), the New York Daily News has a slideshow detailing some of the history that has happened in the Big Apple.

- Having recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, Oreo decided to send out a little message to its queer fans. Well, some people didn't like that at all. The Huffington Post looks into it.

- Yesterday, I posted about Dan Savage's comments on the subject of GOProud's endorsement of Mitt Romney. Gay news-blog Towleroad looks into his most recent comments, as well as Micheal Musto's.

- The CBC looks into a recent report published by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, stating that the war on drugs has made the HIV epidemic worse and that drug users are forced to go further underground, away from education sources, harm-reduction outfits and clean needles.

- Diamond Rings has a new video out today. The artist appears in a Klaus Nomi-inspired outfit, while his dancers look like the love child of Tina Turner in Thunderdome meets the downtown New York ball circuit. In other words, awesome.

There have been a few updates on the Raymond Taavel story, both promising and unnerving.

First the bad news. The Chronicle Herald reports that Andre Denny, the accused in Taavel's murder, has had the time allotted for his psychiatric evaluation extended. Denny was sent to Ontario for his evaluation, since it was deemed that having it done in Nova Scotia could constitute a conflict of interest for the health authority that gave him a day pass. The psychiatrist to whom Denny was assigned has asked for more time before he makes his final assessment.

On to the good news.

Halifax Pride will be honouring Taavel, as well as Halifax's early pioneers and marchers, during this year's festivities. Pride's chairperson, Krista Snow, told The Chronicle Herald that “We’re hoping to do [something fitting] to honour that group from the first march. The people who protested got us, I guess, to where we are today."

Speaking of pride, Halifax Pride recently launched its new logo for this year's event.

And in what is probably one of the weirdest things I've read today, a piece in The Advocate offers advice on figuring out if your boyfriend is a psychopath. Gah.