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I’ve met Michael Stipe twice. Once in 1987, backstage at an R.E.M. show at Texas A&M when Stipe asked to take my picture.

Then I met him again in 2004, during an interview for the movie “Saved!” which he produced.

This was after he finally admitted he was “queer” and liked dudes. And three years after I interviewed his old boyfriend, Douglas A. Martin, who wrote a fictionalized account of their relationship.

Now that Stipe finally admits he’s gay in the new issue of SPIN, he’s making fun of the resurgence of hubbub.

This YouTube video, above, just surfaced. What do you think of it?

When R.E.M. didn’t totally suck — in the 1980s — legion of R.E.M.ers rewinded songs over and over to decipher his mumbly (but totally brilliant) lyrics. But he was always clear as a bell when it came to green causes and stumping for politicians.

Why is he so awkward when it comes to his sexual identity?

— Daniel A. Kusner

In the name of the daddy, and the boy, and the “holy crap — are those real!” Amen.

OK, so you won’t find that prayer from even the most reform branches of scriptural translators. But that doesn’t stop some men from finding religion of a different kind at the gym.

So when one clever reader voting for “best place of worship” cast his bread upon the waters of Gold’s Gym (under the concept of “muscle worship”), we had to take time out to give him props, if only in the blog.

He has a point: there are plenty in the gay community who put more faith in their workout routines than in an almighty, and probably just as many who give thanks every day to the ones who do. There’s a reason men exploding through their tanktops and Spandex are called “gods.”

Gold’s Gym is certainly known for its history of being able to turn a 98-lb. weakling into an Atlas (maybe even with the first name “Zeb”). Whether you’re one of a pantheon or merely an acolyte moved by those who are, we totally get muscle worship. And you don’t even have to wait until Sunday to enjoy it.

Advocates for gay youth are trying to keep 15-year-old Lawrence King’s memory alive.

On Monday, March 24, Youth First Texas will host a town hall meeting in response to King’s death to talk about what can be done to prevent this type of thing from happening in the future.

There are two reasons why I’m personally asking each and every one of you to attend this event.

First, I believe this is the single most important gay-rights issue out there. Forget about marriage equality, forget about getting openly gay officials elected, forget about all that stuff. If kids can’t go to school without worrying about whether they’re going to get beaten up or killed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, none of that other stuff matters.

The second reason is that earlier this week I promised Bob Miskinis, director of programs at Youth First Texas, that I would try to get an item about this event in today’s print edition, but then it completely slipped my mind. Miskinis also asked me to be one of the panelists at the town hall, and I agreed.

A good turnout on Monday night will not only demonstrate once again that Dallas’ gay community is concerned about this critical issue, it will also help me smooth things over with Miskinis. As you can see from the above photo, he is not the type of person to be messed with!

The town hall begins at 7 p.m. at Youth First, which is at 5415 Maple Ave. Suite 225.

It takes a lot of work in a short period of time to put out the Dallas Voice’s annual Readers Voice Awards issue, and most of the responsibility for it falls on this man. After nearly a week of long hours and sleep-deprived nights, this is what an editor looks like. (He didn’t even want me to take the picture, but his resistance was weakened.) Please keep in mind when you pick up tomorrow’s issue that somebody looked like this — all for your reading pleasure.

I don’t know what to say about this, but the Web site is here. Insert your joke in the comments.

NASCAR has to be the straightest of sports (sports? they drive in a circle for three hours, for Crissakes!). You wonder why it takes so long for basketball an football players to come out? When’s the last time you saw Boy Butter as a sponsor in the Indy 500?

Which is why we got a laugh out of this product tie-in, courtesy of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., one of the princes of NASCAR. Yeah, we realize he means “mo” as in “momentum.” Still, you wonder whether having a gay guy on his pit crew might have given him second thoughts about putting his face next to a long, hard, cream-filled item like this. You go, girl!

More than a year and a half ago, gay comic actor and professional pixie Leslie Jordan was squealing to the Dallas Voice about his exciting new HBO series with Lily Tomlin. Called “12 Miles of Bad Road” and set in Preston Hollow, it would follow an outrageous Dallas clan. It had pedigree: In addition to Jordan, Tomlin and Mary Kay Place, it was created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the brains behind “Designing Women.” At the time, Jordan thought the show would air in 2007.

But it didn’t.

Then HBO started teasing the series, with trailers like this. Looked promising. We were excited. Still, we never saw a firm premiere date on HBO’s schedule.

Now comes word we never will. The six filmed episodes will not air on HBO in 2008 — or ever — according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Still, it’s not curtains yet for the show. Word is that the producers are shopping it around other cable networks, including Lifetime. We don’t care where it airs, we just want to see it.

I get lots of press releases from lots of P.R. pros — some with specific gay content, some of gay-interest, some that don’t speak to our readers at all. But today’s press release about a personal appearance by Bill O’Reilly — the abrasive host of the hate-fest known as “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News — has to take the cake this week as “most inappropriate e-mail blast.” I won’t bother mentioning where or when he’s lurkin…. er, “speaking” in the Metroplex; if you need to know, I think his Web site is something like SatansBitch.com.

— Arnold Wayne Jones 

We’ve been talking about tensions among local gay Democrats over the Clinton/Obama race. But what about tensions between members of the LGBT community and the Democratic Party itself? And no, we’re not talking about the Log Cabin Republicans, so there’s no need to fire off another letter to the editor.

Maybe I should be careful what I say here, though. Otherwise, someone from the Democratic National Committee might send some lawyers over to berate me. Chris Crain provides some analysis of the latest turn in this underreported story.

— John Wright

In today’s print edition we reported that the the son of Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern may be gay. And based on this story from The Tulsa World’s Web site, I stand by our report.

Jesse Kern told the newspaper that he chooses to be celibate, but that he’s straight. He also says he’s now affiliated with the Des Moines School of Metaphysics.

It’s interesting that the reporter from The Tulsa World never broaches the subject of Kern’s alleged toilet-cruising while a student at Oklahoma Baptist University, or his being charged with attempted oral sodomy and trying to obtain money by false pretenses.

— John Wright