:: Asked by New York Times reporter Patricia Cohen if there was anything he hadn't talked about endlessly in hundreds of interviews over the years, noted artist Maurice Sendak paused for a few moments and answered, "Well, that I'm gay." He explained, "I just didn't think it was anybody's business." The 80-year-old Beyond Where the Wild Things Are author, who is recovering from triple-bypass surgery, said he was devastated by the 2007 death of Eugene Glynn, his partner for 50 years. "I wanted to take his place," he said. "His death became a demarcation." Sendak's birthday will be celebrated this week at a party featuring Meryl Streep, James Gandolfini, Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers, Catherine Keener, and playwright Tony Kushner, who calls Sendak "one of the most important, if not the most important, writers and artists ever to work in children's literature. In fact, he's a significant writer and artist in literature. Period."
:: Dina Matos, the ex-wife of former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, now says that she won't pursue a fraud claim against him. The claim contended that he deceived her when they married by not revealing he was gay. Dropping the suit mercifully brings an end to a protracted, bitter, and much publicized divorce that was finalized last month. A fraud trial would have put into public record details of their marriage which, while well-publicized already, would probably have been embarrassing to both and to their daughter.
:: DC police are looking for four suspects in a Sunday night attack in the city's Shaw neighborhood that is classified as a hate crime ''based upon the victims' actual or perceived sexual orientation.'' The two robbery victims were on their way to Be Bar, a gay club, when they were attacked by four men. One victim was still in the hospital Wednesday on life support. The other was treated for a bruised jaw and released from a local hospital.
:: A lawyer for Sen. Larry Craig (R ID) on Wednesday asked a three-judge Minnesota Court of Appeals panel to toss out the senator's disorderly conduct conviction. During oral arguments, Craig's lawyer, Billy Martin, told the judges that his client's conduct when he was arrested for solicitation during a sex sting at a Twin Cities airport men's restroom doesn't constitute criminal behavior. Martin said Craig entered a guilty plea because "he was told if you pay a fine this will go away."
:: Milk director Gus Van Sant will receive a tribute at the IFP's 18th annual Gotham Awards. "Gus is that rare director who has achieved a steady balance between his independent roots and mainstream filmmaking," said IFP's director. Van Sant's biopic of assassinated gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk opens Nov. 26. IFC will also honor Van Sant with an initiative to encourage young LGBTQ filmmakers. IFC will give video cameras, training, and mentoring to students at New York's Harvey Milk High School.