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On Tuesday morning (May 12), Donald Trump, president of the Miss USA Pageant, decided that the controversial Carrie Prejean, Miss California, can keep her crown. "We've really studied these photos," he said, according to E! Online. "We've made a determination that everything we've seen to date that she's done—some were very beautiful, some were risqué—the pictures taken were acceptable, were fine, and in some cases were lovely pictures. ... We are in the 21st century." Fine. But after the events of recent weeks, the "crown" is perhaps a small detail in this ever-growing saga.

First it was the photos, then the breast implant detail, and neither of those two controversies seemed to legally seal Miss California winner Carrie Prejean's fate. As a gay woman, I'm certainly disgusted by her anti-same sex marriage stance, but as an American, I believe in free speech, and am more disturbed by the concept that that sort of litmus test could be used to determine the winner of a national pageant. As much as it irks me to say so, I don't think Perez Hilton's question about same-sex marriage was fair. Did we really expect Miss California to come up with the articulate and diplomatic answer of "Well, Perez, I really believe that the question of marriage should be left up to the states not the federal government?" I don't think so. She spoke her opinion, and while I don't agree with or applaud that opinion, I applaud her for expressing it. Sadly, so did the audience.

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Katy Perry, Estelle, Robyn, Tokio Hotel and N.E.R.D. have joined forces with H&M for the clothing store's Fashion Against AIDS annual charity clothing line. Each musician has collaborated with the brand and designed a piece of clothing with a personal safe-sex slogan printed on it.

Katy's message reads, "It's what's on the outside that counts," while Estelle's says, "Life is too short — have sex be safe." In addition to music newbies, such legends as Cyndi Lauper and Yoko Ono designed clothing with slogans like, "Girls just wanna have safe sex" and "Imagine peace."

(Check out Tokio Hotel and Dita Von Teese's shirts, after the jump!)
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Throughout the campaign and his months in the oval office, President Barack Obama has made service a top priority. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg followed Obama's lead today with his NYC Service event, and I was honored to be asked to serve as his co-host.

Mayor Bloomberg wants New York to be the nation's capital for service. His plan includes appointing a chief service officer, recruiting new volunteers and requiring schools to promote volunteering. There were quite a few notable attendees, including Caroline Kennedy, former New York first lady Silda Wall Spitzer and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, who shook my hand and thanked me for coming out.

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By Pete Griffin

As we speak, thousands of young Americans are rallying outside the Capitol or in meetings with their congressmen and -women, demanding action on issues of renewable energy, green jobs and putting a stop to coal-burning power plants. More than 12,000 young people from across the country invaded Washington, D.C., over the past four days to protest current U.S. policies on energy and climate change.

This revolution was organized around Power Shift, a conference that brought together college students and others from all 50 states.

In addition to the rally on Capital Hill, hundreds of these Power Shift demonstrators organized a nonviolent protest by surrounding the Capital Power Plant. Activists surrounded the entrances of the coal plant in an effort to shut it down and not let people in and out of the facility. At press time, it was unclear if anyone has been arrested at this event.

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