A Gay

The three part series, airing at 8:00pm each night, begins with O'Keefe's own disclosure about being a gay man, who is considering fatherhood, "I figured it's a series on gay parents, and it's for National Coming Out Day. I can't pretend I don't have a vested interest in this topic, so I felt I had to say 'I am gay'."

In episode one, "Adoption", we meet Mario and Stephen Howard a married couple who adopted a little girl. However, their new family has not come without a cost. The Howards say that they have lost about 90 percent of their gay friends, who are unsupportive of their decision to be parents.

In episode two, "Surrogacy", we're introduced to a family that took two women and two men to create. Drew Gyorke and Sam Wong fertilized eggs donated by one of the women; then, the eggs were implanted into a surrogate. Eight months later, she gave birth to twin girls. The cost of the surrogate / donor recruitment processes, medical procedures, and legal services is generally between fifty and one hundred thousand dollars, and according to one reproductive lawyer, surrogacy is a "legal minefield".

The final installment is called "Co-Parenting", and it looks at lesbians and gay men who have children together, although they are not married or romantically involved. The program features Heather Carlson, Mike Hall and their three-year-old son Shaw, whose lifestyle is similar to any other traditional nuclear family unit, except Heather has a girlfriend and Mike is a gay man.

The three-part "Gay-by Boom" series is one of ichannel's new fall @issue shows; @issue airs weeknights at 8 and 11 Eastern and Pacific times. ichannel is available by subscription from cable and satellite providers across Canada; for more information on ichannel programming, visit www.ichannel.ca.

Contacts:
ichannel
Rosemary Fusca
Head of Programming
(416) 756-5523
Email: rfusca@stornoway.com

ichannel
Kevin O'Keefe
Show Producer and Host
(416) 756-5505
Email: kokeefe@ichannel.ca
Website: www.ichannel.ca

SOURCE: ichannel

mailto:rfusca@stornoway.com
mailto:kokeefe@ichannel.ca
http://www.ichannel.ca

"We felt that parents' rights, parents' family values as well as their cultural values, the way it's approached, almost seems as if those are undermined, if not ignored," Schafer said Monday. "We should actually be concerned about everyone's rights. And I'm not sure that identifying one group over another is the right way to approach it."

The course was added as an elective to the high school curriculum as part of a settlement between the provincial government and a gay couple who won a human rights complaint.

British Columbia Education Minister Shirley Bond said the course is optional, and it's up to school boards to decide whether to offer it.

www.upi.com

The previous SAG-AMPTP contract expired July 1.

"The producers remain committed to making a deal with SAG as soon as possible, which is why the AMPTP's final offer would make the wage and salary increases retroactive to July 1, 2008, if the agreement is ratified by SAG's membership no later than Aug. 15, 2008," the AMPTP said in a statement Wednesday. "Under the final offer, if the new agreement is not ratified by Aug. 15, 2008, all changes in terms and conditions would become effective in the first payroll period after ratification. The producers have included this traditional incentive in the final offer in order to get everyone back to work and end the de facto strike."

The AMPTP said its final offer includes more than $250 million in additional compensation over the course of the three-year contract, as well as "groundbreaking new media terms."

NEW YORK, July 10 (UPI) -- U.S. model Christie Brinkley reportedly has reached a divorce settlement with her architect husband Peter Cook.

The New York Daily News said Thursday that Cook will walk away with $2.1 million, while Brinkley was given custody of their two children and will keep all the real estate they shared during their 12-year marriage.

The settlement was the result of both parties working through Wednesday night to hammer out a deal, following eight days of testimony that featured accounts of Cook's affair with a teenager and his expensive Internet pornography habit, the newspaper said.

"I've got everything I've been asking for for two years," Cook said outside the courtroom.

Brinkley called the settlement a "very bittersweet moment."

"It really is the death of a marriage but it's also, I think, a new start for all of us and I'm very pleased with the result today," the Daily News quoted her as saying. "I was here fighting for custody. I think a mother's greatest fear is somebody trying to take their children ... That is what I was up against. I have won custody and decision-making and that's all I ever wanted."

The divorce is to be finalized Sept. 12.

FORT SMITH, Ark., July 10 (UPI) -- Thousands of spectators who turned out for "Blue Collar Brawlin'" in Arkansas became unwitting extras for Sacha Baron Cohen's new film.

The Smoking Gun said Cohen set up two nights of cage matches in the towns of Texarkana and Fort Smith last month and attracted spectators by promising them cheap beer, "hot chicks" and "hardcore fights."

Attendees had to be at least 21 and were informed that the matches were being filmed.

Both programs ended with two male fighters ripping each other's clothes off and kissing their opponent's chest while wearing only underwear, the news Web site reported.

Fort Smith fans responded to the move by throwing chairs and beer at the ring, a police officer at the event reported.

Cohen is filming his new big-screen comedy, which is reportedly called "Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt."

In the movie, Cohen plays a gay Austrian journalist who talks to people about fashion and entertainment.

Cohen used similar techniques to ambush unsuspecting people into appearing in his 2006 film "Borat," which was part comedy, part social experiment.

LONDON, July 10 (UPI) -- British-born Australian singer Olivia Newton-John reportedly has married entrepreneur John Easterling in a surprise wedding at their home in California.

The couple has been together for more than a year.

Newton-John, who starred in the movie musicals "Grease" and "Xanadu," was previously married to Matt Lattanzi, whom she divorced in 1995.

Patrick McDermott, her boyfriend of nine years, disappeared June 30, 2005, during a fishing trip off of Los Angeles.

"Olivia cried for almost two years," a source told The Daily Mail. "And then she started seeing John last year. He put the smile back on her face."

The newspaper said Newton-John, 59, and Easterling, 49, invited friends and family to a July Fourth barbecue at their home, then had a wedding instead after their guests arrived.

The singer didn't let a nearby brush fire force her to cancel the event.

"John said they could wait a few days or change the venue but Olivia was determined that nothing was going to interfere with her special day," the source told The Daily Mail.

www.upi.com

Highly-recommended to open-minded readers and sympathizers, Balance: The Life of a Gay Gymnast can be ordered at your local bookstore or through Xlibris toll free number 1-888-795-4274 today.

About the Author

Brandon Triche has been featured in Jocks 2 by Dan Woog, The Advocate Magazine, Outsports.com by Jim Buzinski, In Newsweekly, Gay.Com, This Week In Texas, and Red Magazine.

         Balance: The Life of a Gay Gymnast * by Brandon Triche
                   Publication Date: June 17, 2008
         Trade Paperback; $19.99; 131 pages; 978-1-4363-2381-9
         Cloth Hardback; $29.99; 131 pages; 978-1-4363-2382-6

To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7479. Tear sheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Marketing Services. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x.7876.

Xlibris books can be purchased at Xlibris bookstore. For more information, contact Xlibris at (888) 795-4274 or on the web at www.Xlibris.com.

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: Xlibris

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