Last month, New York City kicked off a big global advertising campaign to attract more tourists to the Big Apple. The ads appear in a number of venues, and the Post notes that media space has been bought in Out magazine and on the LOGO network, as well as LGBT websites. A Bloomberg administration official explains that gay and lesbians have more disposable income, as they are usually dual-income without kids, "What we're saying......

The 25-year-old man shot and killed by police Friday evening had a troubled history with the law and an official review of the shooting by the NYPD concluded that its officers acted properly. Plainclothes police approached Ronald Battle Friday night around 11 p.m., while responding to a complaint that two armed men were outside the Rangel Houses development on Harlem River Drive. Battle ran when he saw the police and attempted to enter one of......

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke today, giving a speech and sort of answers some of questions posed by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger and School of International and Public Affairs Dean John Coatsworth. We're sure video and transcripts will come shortly, but in the meant time, The Bwog, New York, and City Room have been liveblogging the speech. Here's a sample of questions posed, via the City Room:In response to a question about the treatment......

Mayor Bloomberg headed to jury duty this morning, with a smile, a number of bodyguards and press aide Stu Loeser. When he showed up to the waiting room for prospective jurors, apparently a woman called a friend and said he was there for the "same foolishness" as everyone else. Outside the courthouse, the Mayor mused, "It's always more interesting to be on a jury than to just sit there. You wish that we didn't......

Yesterday was the 38th Annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March, and thousands of people participated - from shimmying and showing off their outrageous costumes to waving gay pride flags and hollering their support. The grand marshals of the parade were religious leaders Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and Reverend Dr. Troy Perry; Kleinbaum said, "We stand for a progressive religious voice. Those who use religion to advocate an anti-gay agenda I believe are blaspheming......

Back in 1990 the Rock The Vote campaign was founded and aimed towards getting the MTV generation into the polling place. Now the politicians are joining MySpace in an effort to reach the younger generation. MySpace Impact is where you can access each Presidential candidates profile. Some candidates have their profiles set to private, perhaps in an effort to get more "friends" (since you have to add them before viewing it). So far, Obama (who's......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay......

A Manhattan jury found four women guilty of gang assault for attacking a man outside the IFC Center last summer. The man, Dwayne Buckle of Queens, said that the group of lesbians attacked him because he was straight, while the women contended Buckle had used slurs and threw a cigarette at them - and that another man stabbed him. Patreese Johnson, who claimed Buckle said, "I'll f--- you straight" to her, was found not......

BusinessWeek assistant managing editor and blogger Bruce Nussbaum may have been one of the 40 most powerful people in design (back in 2005), but he was no match for State Supreme Court Justice Edward J. McLaughlin. In coverage of a group of lesbians on trial for allegedly beating up a straight man outside the IFC Center (best trial ever?), the Post mentioned that Nussbaum was removed from the jury. Apparently Nussbaum upset Justice McLaughlin for......

David Byrne's foldable Montague mountain bike has been stolen. The avid city biker rode in the 5 Boro Bike Tour last year, commenting: "The organizers close the FDR drive, the BQE, the Belt Parkway and the Verrazano-Narrows bridge on one side — so we get the thrill of riding in the middle of the street, not having to stop at red lights and no worries of the ubiquitous jaywalking peds on suicide missions." This past......

Not that street violence is a laughing matter––we wholeheartedly condemn it, of course––but the New York Times' account of a trial of a group of lesbians accused of beating and stabbing a sidewalk catcaller is filled with so much polite tip-toeing and euphemism, that we'll admit to cracking a smile once or twice while reading it. By victim Dwayne Buckle's account, he was on a sidewalk in the West Village last summer when a group......

Surveillance video and witness testimony marked day of testimony in the trial of four lesbians who beat up a man in Greenwich Village last summer. The victim, Dwayne Buckle, claims he was assaulted because he was straight (he did try to pick up one of the girls). The women claim self-defense, alleging that Buckle called them names and made rude remarks ("I'll f--- you straight, sweetheart"), spat on them, and threw a cigarette at them......

Remember when a filmmaker claimed that a group of lesbians attacked him outside the IFC Center last summer? And it was revealed that the women felt they were defending themselves, with one woman saying, "I admit I did cut him one time for my own safety"? Well, the case has made it to court. Manhattan prosecutors say that Dwayne Buckle was viciously attacked - he was stabbed, punched, and kicked - by Patreese Johnson, Venice......

Millions of people marched in and watched the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on Fifth Avenue yesterday. Another part of the St. Patrick's Day tradition is to protest. Whether it's gays or lesbians who are upset they aren't allowed to march or firefighters who are angry they are pushed to the middle of the pack, there's always a little unrest. Our videographer Kelly Loudenberg checked out a very different set of protesters - the......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: pedestrian struck by vehicle on 34th Street and 11th Ave, a school hazmat condition at 103rd and CPW, and an all hands fire in Soho on Thompson Street. Soho residents and shoppers want to trade parking spaces for wider sidewalks. If you've ever been on Prince Street on a Saturday, you know why. Chase Bank has agreed to turn off those annoying sidewalk projection ads-- about two dozen branches......

On Wednesday, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standard, which guides the Conservative Judaism movement, voted to allow gay rabbis and gay unions. While the move was hailed by some and denounced by others, the other mechanics of how this ruling will work. From the NY Times: But in a reflection of the divisions in the movement, the 25 rabbis on the law committee passed three conflicting legal opinions — one in favor of gay......

Reader Jim sent us this sign he saw at one of the 14th Street L stations that was "taped to a column in the same haphazard fashion as legitimate MTA service change notices." But it turned out not to be an MTA service notice but a warning from the Lesbian Avengers! Now, just so we're clear, I have one simple rule: I never sit on the train when there is a woman standing. Ever.......

Somehow, the world of -ists managed to make it through the week despite news that Jen & Vince broke up. - Chicagoist had fall on their mind as they made squash and fudge, read "House of Leaves" and tried to figure out what's next for the Cubs. Not fall related, but still of utmost concern, the whole skinny black pants thing. -Torontoist fought off an evil scourge of raccoons and went to go see......

Back in August, there was a really bizarre incident where a man's come on to a 19 year old lesbian escalated into her and her friends beating and stabbing him in the stomach outside the IFC Center in the Village. Now, the seven NJ women have been charged with first degree assault and first degree gang assault in the attack of 28 year old Queens resident Dwayne Buckle. Buckle allegedly said "Let me get......

- Here's one for charter schools: Their students do better on state reading tests than other students in regular public shcools - Lynne Stewart apologizes to the judge who is sentecing her for carrying Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman's messages to his followers, but blames it on being a lawyer - Testimony begins in Nicole duFresne's murder trial; her fiance, Jeffrey Sparks, said, "She was looking up. Her eyes were wide open. I knelt down......

Andrew Friedman is co-director of Make the Road by Walking, a Brooklyn-based community-based organization founded in 1997 on the belief that the center of leadership must be within the community. Since then, the organization has grown dramatically and now includes over 600 members, a member-elected board composed of low-income community residents, and a staff of twelve. Over the past 5 years, MRBW has achieved many improvements to the lives of Bushwick residents. They pushed New......

This is why it isn't a good idea to hit on strangers on the street. Early Friday morning 28-year-old Queens native Wayne Buckle hit on a 19-year-old lesbian from Newark named Patreese Johnson in front of the old Waverly theater on Sixth Avenue. After she turned him down he allegedly spat on her which incited Johnson and a gaggle of her Jersey friends to surround, beat and stab him. Cops quickly arrested Johnson and......

Supporters of gay marriage walked across the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday, in order to show opposition to President Bush's proposed Constitutional amendment that would define marriage. Only a few hundred people joined the march due to the bad weather, but that didn't stop a very sweet presentation. Newsday reports that Gus Archilla, 90, and Elmer Lokkins, 86, who have been together for 61 years received a check from jewelry company Love and Pride. Archilla and Lokkins......

Police are still investigating the murder of 61 year old William Oliver, whose stabbed body was found in Prospect Park on Saturday. Oliver was found near the Vale of Cashmere, a secluded area near Grand Army Plaza (here's a map of Prospect Park). He was described as an "avid walker" by his siblings; Oliver usually shuttled between his brother's and sister's homes by walking in the park. The Vale has been a gay cruising spot......

Finally-- a post that should offend just about everyone! This week's cover story in New York Magazine tackles one of the most pressing questions of our day: are Jews smarter than everyone else, and if so, by how much?. The original title of the article was "One more reason to hate the Jews", but apparently the far blander "Are Jews Smarter?" won out. The article goes on to make a fairly dispassionate argument-- presenting and......

Manhattan Borough President hopeful Brian Ellner broke an ad (see it here at his campaign website) last week that both attacked President Bush and introduced Ellner's partner. And if Ellner wanted to rock the boat with the ad, he's done it a million times over as Channel 5, the NYC Fox affiliate, has rejected it from running on its airwaves. Channel 5 apparently told Ellner's campaign they wouldn't run it because the ad was in......

Patrick Borelli, comedian...

Possibly sounding even more of a death knell in Brooklyn than the invasion of hipsters or an Ikea, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has invited Cracker Barrel representatives to look at the biggest borough as a possible venue for a new restaurant. Of course, the Southern chain's history of discriminating against, oh, blacks, women, gays and lesbians, has some city politicians up in arms: City Councilman Charles Barron tells the Daily News (who points out......

Gothamist knew there was a reason why we loved Brian Williams so much. Besides being hilarious and loving pizza, the NBC Nightly News anchor apparently loves sexy TV, too. Rush and Molloy report that when stars of The L Word (think Sex and the City without the men and the New York, but with more ladies) were at Michael's, Williams said, "On Sundays in my house, it's all about the lesbians of 'The L Word.'"......

The suits at NBC are realizing that when they deal with The Donald, they are dealing with this all-consuming organism (not unlike Kang, just with a combover): The Donald is looking at a scripted series set at Trump Tower. We can hear the pitch now: "It'll be like Melrose Place, but just in a shiny apartment building in midtown Manhattan. Think Peyton Place meets The Apprentice, just with actors acting crazy." Anyway, this is a......