Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (January 4, 2008)

SLEEPOVERS WITH GIRLS: NOT JUST FOR LESBIANS ANYMORE
Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana, has hit the big time. How do we know? No, not by her record sales or the fact that they've made a doll in her likeness. We know because she's the target of lesbian rumors!

Photos of the teen Disney star (and daughter of mullet enthusiast/country singer Billy Ray Cyrus) sharing a bite of candy with a friend at a sleepover were recently leaked onto the internet, and speculation about the potential swapping of additional spit with the friend immediately ensued.

Naturally, Cyrus denied any lesbian undertone in the photos, saying: "They're nothing bad! It's not something I'm going to let slide. I'm really upset about it, 'cause it was, like, not even a big deal ... That's one of my best friends. I have all these girls who I hang out with all the time. It's two girls at a sleepover, and if all of a sudden that's bad, then what is the world coming to?"

My opinion? Hey, we might be starved for lesbian visibility, but we're not so desperate that we have to start turning everyday teen slumber parties into lesbian orgies.

IS KATIE TAKING THIS WHOLE "SILENCE" THEME A LITTLE TOO FAR?
Just over a year ago, Sarah wrote about the rumor that British singer Katie Melua may be in a relationship with a lesbian photographer Lara Bloom. It was part of a longer piece about the moral quandary of outing celebrities, and Sarah spoke for many of us when she wrote, "I want more high-profile women to come out as much as the next lesbian does, but it seems like something they should want to do, not something they're forced into."

Apparently Melua still doesn't "want" to come out as gay or bisexual any more now than she did in 2006. She recently did an interview with the British publication The Daily Mail for an article entitled, "Katie Melua: I'm just an ordinary girl, but don't ask about my sexuality," in which she talks about her CD Pictures and her artistic integrity, but not her, well, sexuality.

In the interview, the reporter asks Melua point blank, "Are you gay?" to which she replies, "People can think whatever they like ... I like to keep some mystique around my public image. In a sense, the less you give the better."

In keeping with the less is more approach, Melua answers a question about her "friendship" with Bloom by saying: "I really try not to talk about my friends ... They are all special, they are all stars in their own right and I love them specifically because they don't want to be famous by association with me." Which is the same criteria I have for selecting my friends too!

Below is the video for Katie's second single from Pictures, "Mary Pickford."

And for the cover of the CD, Melua takes a turn as silent movie star Pickford's friend Charlie Chaplin.

I think this photo of her in male drag should put those lesbian/bi rumors to rest once and for all!