Elton John and David Furnish Unvail First Pics of Baby Zachary

Sir Elton John and his civil partner, or domestic partner, or something close to, but not quite the same as a husband, David Furnish unveil the first pics of new son Zachary in a photo spread in Britain's OK! Magazine this week.

Personally, I'm not big on baby pics. All babies look the same and those of us who do not have or want kids get sick to death of friends, family, neighbors and coworkers shoving their latest baby pics in our faces every few days. You're not the first person in history to have a kid and he's not that cute anyway, so get over yourself!

Sorry. We now return to our scheduled programming, which is already in progress.

Baby Zach was born on a Christmas day, when the New York Times said God is dead... and the war's begun... (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

The lad was, in fact born on December 25, to a surrogate in Los Angeles. In an exclusive interview with the UK tabloid, John swears that despite having more money than God, he will not spoil the child with anything but love. The couple have said they do not plan to reveal publicly which of them is the child's bio dad.

John and Furnish were denied the right to adopt an HIV positive Ukrainian orphan in 2009 because John was deemed too old and the Ukraine does not recognize their civil union as a marriage. The couple has not given up on trying to help the child and his brother.

From OK!:

The 63-year-old music legend and his partner, film director and producer, David explain their joy following the Christmas Day birth and the heartbreak after trying to adopt two Ukranian orphans.

Speaking about holding Zachary for the first time, Elton says: "I've never felt anything like it in my life. You're so awestruck, I will never forget that feeling ever."

Elton and David also explain their parenting philosophy. Elton says: "I'm ready to have a child and lavish my love on our son and not spoil him materially."

The road to fatherhood has not been easy and the pair were heartbroken in 2009 after trying to adopt a 14-month Ukrainian orphan named Lev and his three-year-old HIV positive brother, Artyom.

Despite failing to adopt the two children the couple want to do everything they can to find them a home.

Elton says: "We're still consulting about finding the best possible home for them."

David adds: "We feel awful. We keep hitting red tape. But we're not giving up until they're out and in a safe, supported home."

The full world exclusive interview and pictures can be found in this week's OK! magazine and proceeds from the article are going to Elton and David's chosen charities.

Related articles

• Elton John Baby Picture - First Look Elton John Son Zachary OK! Magazine Cover (popcrunch.com)
• "Sir Elton John and David Furnish's baby "shot out like a rocket" on the day he was born." and related posts (celebritymound.com)
• Elton John and David Furnish discuss son's birth (independent.co.uk)
• Elton John and David Furnish are Parents! (lezgetreal.com)

T.R. Knight Says Leaving Grey’s Was ‘the Best Decision’

(From People Magazine)

"Former Grey’s Anatomy star T.R. Knight is opening up about his departure from ABC’s hit medical drama, telling Entertainment Weekly he saw no future for Dr. George O’Malley, the lovable resident he played for five seasons.

Knight says his screen time dropped so much by season 5 that he chose to leave the show rather than seek an answer — something he says was hard to come by.

'My five-year experience proved to me that I could not trust any answer that was given [about George],' he tells the magazine. 'There just comes a time when it’s so clear that moving on is the best decision.'

Costar Katherine Heigl initially disagreed with her friend.

'I didn’t think it was the right decision,' she says. 'I felt like some of the problems could be worked through. But by the time it came to fruition, I was [glad] for him because he was ready to go.'

In CNN Interview, Elton John Compares Unsafe Sex Practices to Addiction

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta sat down with AIDS activist/singer/song writer Elton John Tuesday for an interview that aired this morning. The music legend gave a speech at the Bio International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia where he talked abut the current rise in HIV infection in the US. John explained his frustration:

"I find this disease very cyclical. Every 10 years or so, after we spend a lot of money trying to educate people -- a new generation of people -- and we tell them to have safe sex and to abstain sometimes but have safe sex, wear condoms, we find that after 10 years another whole group of people come along. And we have to start all over again, which is really, really frustrating because it takes money for education. And we find that if we could get into the schools at a grass-roots levels, which we do in places like Africa where we get to kids at a young age and we tell them about preventive measures for not getting HIV, we find the success rate is tremendous."

Dr. Gupta asked the singer to comment on the relationship between new HIV medications and the rise in risky behavior:

Gupta: "Sometimes in medicine, you can actually be a victim of your own success. When the medications are pretty good, you see a resurgence of high-risk behavior. How do you affect that?"

John: "I'm a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. I know that when I used to use and drink, that my mind situation was altered completely. Your caution goes out the window and you think, "Oh, well, we'll gamble, we'll have..." and luckily, I was so lucky enough to not be HIV infected.

Once you have that drink and that drug, your mind-set goes out the window and a lot of people think, "Oh yeah, because there's medicine available now," as you say, "We're going to be OK, and we have to take now one pill a day maybe," which is incredible, because initially people had to take God knows how many pills a day, various cocktails to get them through this disease.

Now, people are going back into the work force, they're becoming alive again, they live for a much longer time, which is great. But, this is incredibly toxic medicine you're taking, and it doesn't work for everybody, and you're really playing... Russian roulette with your life. And it's sad -- you think that after all this time, and all of this education that has gone down, and with all the statistics and deaths that people have seen, and the Ryan White situation going down, that people would be a little bit more careful. But we're finding they're not."

The Elton John Aids Foundation has raised over $150 million for HIV/AIDS prevention, education, research and patient care.

Visit the Elton John Aids Foundation website for more information about the work being done to address the pandemic.

Actress Cynthia Nixon Announces Engagement at New York Marriage Rally

(From 365 Gay) Film, TV, and theater star Cynthia Nixon announced to the crowd of thousands gathered at Broadway Impact’s Equality rally in New York City on Sunday, May 17, that she is engaged to be married to her partner since 2003, Christine Marinoni.

“I have a secret to tell you,” she told the cheering crowd. “Last month, my girlfriend Christine and I got engaged. And I have a beautiful ring to prove it.”

Nixon went on to call for the right for same-sex couples to get married in New York State, and talked about how Christine is a stay-at-home mom to their children, but has no legal right to them if Nixon dies (the children’s father and Nixon’s former husband, Danny Mozes, is also very involved in parenting them).

"MASH" actor David Ogden Stiers on why he chose to come out now:

"I could claim noble reasons as coming out in order to move gay rights forward, but I must admit it is for far more selfish reasons.

Now is the time I wish to find someone and I do not desire to force any potential partner to live a life of extreme discretion for me."