Project Runway's Jack Mackenroth's Outgames Diary

This summer Jack Mackenroth traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, to participate in the 2009 Outgames. The designer proved he is as comfortable in the water as he is in the sewing room and returned to the U.S. with eight medals triumphantly tucked into his carry on luggage. He won two gold medals (one in the 50-meter freestyle with close to a personal best time of 26.63, and the second in a 4 x 50 freestyle relay), four silvers (one in the 50-meter breaststroke, the 100-meter freestyle, and the 4 x 50 and 4 x 100 medley relays), and two bronze medals in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter individual medley.

Jack was kind enough to send us his Outgames travel diary, parts of which we briefly excerpted below, as well as a few pics of his incredible body (gulp!) barely covered by his Baskit swimsuit. For the full diary and more info on Jack, head to his personal website.

Day 1:

As I pack for the Outgames in Copenhagen, Denmark I’m getting very excited about all the possibilities. I have never been to the city but I have heard that it is like a quaint version of Amsterdam. Less pot and more blondes. Questions whirl in my head. Will my host (who I don’t know) be a freak who tries to get in bed with me? Will he live on a dairy farm and cows will wake me up every morning at dawn? Will I remember to pack all my swimming gear? Will I win any medals? Will I remember to pack enough of all my HIV meds? Will my flight through Stockholm be filled with crying babies and swine flu?

Atlantic City -- The Perfect Weekend Getaway

This coming weekend is the first ever OUT in Atlantic City weekend sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment. Visitors to the famed East Coast gambling mecca will be able to rub shoulders with celebs like Lance Bass, Amanda Lepore, Cazwell, and the cast of the L Word while taking advantage of all Atlantic City has to offer and indulging in special gay-themed parties, brunches, and outings.

We chatted with Jennifer Weissman, Regional Vice President of Marketing for Harrah's Atlantic City Operations to find out why Harrah's -- which is the first and only gaming entertainment company to achieve a perfect score (two times in fact) on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index -- and Atlantic City are the perfect combo for a weekend away.

Out: From your perfect score on the HRC's Corporate Equality Index to being the only gaming entertainment company to endorse the Employment Non-Discrimination Act on a federal level, Harrah’s seems to really value its relationship with the gay community.
Jennifer Weissman: Our corporate culture is one that is very impressive when it comes to being inclusive. We truly believe that our business is better when we have a diverse group of people working towards common goals. We believe in order to do that, we have to be inclusive of all communities. And similar to the entertainment we provide, we strive to provide a diverse employee workforce.

SYTYCD: Gays Get in on the Competition

This week, on top of Ellen DeGeneres taking up a gavel on American Idol and George Takei prepping to play The Newlywed Game, gay producer-director-choreographer Adam Shankman (left) was appointed to judge the new season of So You Think You Can Dance. Shankman, who is behind such tours de force as Prop 8: The Musical and Hairspray (the movie) joins curmudgeonly Nigel Lythgoe and the always fever-pitched Mary Murphy on the panel when the Top 20 performances premiere next month.

The show famously got the full GLADD shakedown last spring after Lythgoe dissed " 'Brokeback' ballroom" when same-sex samba partners auditioned for the show. But on Wednesday night he apparently changed his mind: dancers Jason and Willem De Vries gave an emotional audition that caused Lythgoe to quip "Thank you for showing me that same-sex ballroom dancing can be very strong and very good," and send them on to the next round.

It's gearing up to be a very gay season indeed!

Previously > The Newlywed Game Goes Gay

Photo: Getty Images

Weekend OUT in Atlantic City

Weekend getaways can be tricky affairs. You want to get far enough away that you can adequately forget your day to day troubles (your cranky boss, your perpetually tipsy tap dancing upstairs neighbor, etc.) but not so far that you're going to spend most of your time getting to and back from your destination. Then there's the whole other issue of trying to find a place that will have some gay culture for you to partake in (or at least you won't be greeted by townsfolk brandishing pitchforks and torches) but not the same old ho hum gay culture you subject yourself to every other weekend of the year.

Luckily, Harrah's Entertainment has created the first ever weekend long LGBT celebration in Atlantic City set to take place September 25 - 27. Beyond the city's traditional offerings -- gambling, great shows, fine dining, walks along the boardwalk, all the salt water taffy your stomach can handle -- there'll be celebrity guests (Lance Bass! Amanda Lepore! Cazwell! The cast of the L Word!), exclusive parties like the Catwalk Party (thrown by Amanda and Caz) on Friday night, the Cabana Party at The Pool on Saturday, and The Sunday Rehab Brunch and Gay Bingo hosted by Jai Rodriguez of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy and benefiting the South Jersey AIDS alliance, and great deals.

Harrah's is offering several passes to the weekend: The "HEpass" which includes entry to The Catwalk Party, The Cabana Party, and The Rehab Brunch for $80 dollars; a "SHEpass" which offers entry to a different array of events; and the "All Access Weekend OUT Pass" that gets you into all the events for $160.

You can also get yourself a great deal on accomdations for the weekend ranging from the "Total Decadence at Caesars" package that includes two nights of luxury accomodations at Caesars Atlantic City, a $200 credit fo Qua Baths and Spa, a "HEpass," and VIP Admission to Dusk on Friday night for $678 to the "Going ALL OUT in AC" package which features two nights in a luxury room at Harrah's Resort and an All Access Weekend OUT pass beginning at $400.

There's lots more info on all the events, passes, and packages available here, as well as details on taking the ACES train to Atlantic City with special guest Amanda Lepore.

So get your friends together, book a room, and get ready for a buckwild weekend living it up on the boardwalk.

Previously > Our Year With Lady Gaga

Montreal Prepares to Offer Double The Pride This Summer

Last month I found myself wandering the land of secret bank accounts, gourmet chocolate bars, and fine time pieces for a long weekend when EuroPride 2009 pulled into Zurich, Switzerland. Now I'm trying to finagle my way over the border into our fair northern neighbor, Canada, for one of the two upcoming Gay Pride celebrations taking place in the charming city of Montreal.

The first is the Divers/Cite festival which takes place July 26 to August 2. Divers/Cite used to be Montreal's Gay Pride celebration, but now it serves as a separate LGBT culture festival. Some of the events featured at this year's Divers/Cite include:

• July 26: A "trash and smash" show by Mado Au Casino, at 8 pm at Le Cabaret du Casino de Montreal.

• July 27: A screening of the film Les Chansons d'amour as part of the popular Cinema Dans Le Parc held in Parc LaFontaine.

• July 28: Cabaret de Minuit with Joey Arias

• July 31: A Friends For Life Bike Rally as well as the New Society trance concertwith DJ Insomnia, DJ Wizz, and Infected Mushroom.

• August 1: La Nuit Des Drag; the Sunset Party in Emelie-Gamelin; the Divers/Cite after-hours party featuring DJs David Morales and Peter Rauhofer.
  

Zurich hosts EuroPride

I'm back from my Swiss adventuring armed with photos from the EuroPride festivities that took place over the weekend in Zurich.

A few things about the Swiss

Day two in Zurich and in a few hours I meet the rest of the gang on my press trip. They've been gallivanting around the Swiss countryside (the press trip is actually eight or nine days long -- I'm just here for the three gayest days at EuroPride in Zurich) so last night I had a nap and then took in a show by the great Ennio.

Ennio is a 40-something man who performs in costumes and masks made out of paper. He's basically like a drag queen Transformer. One minute he's belting out "I Will Always Love You" dressed as Whitney Houston, and suddenly with the tug of a paper strap and the flip of his paper wig, he's Dolly Parton riding a donkey. He must have done at least 50 costume changes and impersonated everyone from Kylie Minogue to King Kong to Madonna (who continued to strip down from her famous cone bra to next to nothing to nothing until she was just a pile of intestines and a heart thumping out of her chest).

After that I had a few beers in "The Locker Room," a huge inflatable building that looks like a square igloo where many of the EuroPride events are held.

As I was falling to sleep last night I ran through a list of things in my head that I've noticed since landing in Switzerland yesterday:

The day before EuroPride 2009

Photo (from EuroPride 2007): Getty Images

After my flight to Geneva last night/this morning (which was uneventful except that for the first time in 20 years I actually ate the airplane food even though it consisted of tiny hearing aid–shaped pieces of chicken and a curious pile of limp, orangy onions -- a strange side dish, no?) I took a three hour train ride to Zurich, the home of EuroPride 2009.

Originally I was annoyed by the idea of a train trip after a long plane ride, but the train looked like something out of Star Trek -- a near total absence of right angles and doors that slid open on their own if you even looked like you might be considering wanting to pass through them. Since Zachary Quinto never came gliding into my train car, I busied myself taking in the beyond picturesque Swiss countryside: cows milling in the mountains, the landscape dotted by charming not-so-little chateaus, and everything radiating 16 shades of green. I was also lucky enough to be sitting next to the most dramatic British woman in mainland Europe. She spent most of the ride entertaining/annoying me by talking to her sister on her cell phone about how they needed to bust their mother out of the nursing home their other sister had just put her in. This involved calling the phone company and obtaining secret records and lots of talk about an upcoming "tribunal" and discussing how the evil sister, Susan, was like the Nazis because she hated everyone and people who hate everyone are the kind of people that put other people in ovens. Or nursing homes, I guess?