LGBT

Elizabeth Taylor is causing strife in the gay world 3 years after her death ... a portrait of the late icon is allegedly being held HOSTAGE by a famous gay club, and a lawsuit is brewing.

Jesse Davis -- who worked as a VIP manager for The Abbey in West Hollywood for years -- tells TMZ, ET personally gifted the painting to him in 2009 ... and he thought The Abbey would be the perfect place to display it.

Jesse says the painting quickly became a fixture in the club -- with tourists flocking there for a glimpse -- but when he left in 2011 ... the club would not release the portrait.

The painting hangs on The Abbey's wall to this day, and Jesse's patience has worn out ... either the Abbey returns it or it will be on the receiving end of a lawsuit.

50 Cent may have been hoping to start a blood feud when he publicly insinuated Rick Ross and Diddy were gay lovers ... but sources close to Ross tell us there will be NO reprisals.

Sources tell us Ross won't retaliate for one simple reason -- he doesn't give a crap about 50 Cent or anything he says -- he thinks 50 is IRRELEVANT.

50 briefly posted a pic on Instagram Sunday showing Ross leaning in close to Diddy as if they're about to kiss ... with a caption that said, 'something ain't right' -- with the clear implication the rappers are gay.

Sorry ladies ... and gents ... the rumored Michael Sam naked selfie just ain't him ... so says Michael's agent.

The photo has been exploding online -- with multiple websites saying the shot of a naked buff dude (which reportedly surfaced on the Grindr app) with his face covered by an iPad is the NFL draft prospect.

But Sam's agent Cameron Weiss tells TMZ Sports simply ... "The picture is not Mike."

Weiss adds, "It could be anyone. There's no face."

Cameron says the REAL Michael Sam is focused on the NFL Draft -- saying, "Michael has a few weeks to fine tune some things before his Pro Day. He'll be ready."

50 Cent raised the stakes in his beef with 3 rap heavyweights -- publicly insinuating Diddy, Rick Ross and former record exec Steve Stoute are gay together ... but he backed down minutes later.

The shots were fired Sunday -- Fiddy posted the 2 pics on Instagram, one showing a pink-shirted Stoute embracing a pink-shirted Diddy. The other shows Diddy and Rick Ross from an angle that makes it look like they're kissing.

Underneath, 50 wrote the caption, "I ain't saying nothing, but something ain't right. Lmao." He yanked the pics down a short time later.

The photos were the latest in 50's ongoing feuds with the rap titans -- Stoute recently appeared in a VH1 documentary about hip hop, in which he called 50 a has-been. 50's been feuding with Rick Ross and Diddy for years.

Paula Deen has an odd way of proving she's not a racist -- she just dropped a metaphor ... comparing her n-word scandal to "that black football player who recently came out" ... aka NFL prospect Michael Sam.

Deen says she and Sam are in a similar struggle for acceptance ... because she feels like "embattled" or "disgraced" will always follow her name.

She told People magazine ... Sam wants to be known as a football player, not a gay football player -- and to drive home her point, she added, "I know exactly what he's saying."

Critics have been ripping Paula with comments like, "Maybe Michael Sam could compare himself to "that white, fat, redneck TV chef who used the n-word."

There was AT LEAST one gay player on every single NFL team Deion Sanders played on during his career ... so says Prime Time himself.

Deion was on the "Arsenio Hall" show last night when the topic turned to Michael Sam -- the first openly gay NFL prospect.

"He's not the first gay guy in the NFL," Sanders said ... "He's the first one to come out."

"Every team I played on ... I think I played on 5 different teams ... there was someone gay in the locker room."

Deion says he and his teammates always knew who the gay players were and only judged that person based on football ability.

A "CSI" honcho who's being sued for alleged outrageous homophobic antics -- including drawing penises on the workstation of a man he thought was gay -- now says it's BS, because some of his best friends are homosexuals.

A set painter -- who says he's straight -- claims his supervisor, Jeremiah Redclay, went on a 5-year campaign of terror, calling him a f***** and other choice words, and plastering his workstation with crude drawings of gay sex.

Now Redclay's lawyer tells TMZ ... "CSI" execs FIRED Redclay over the allegations, but Redclay denies he did anything homophobic.

The lawyer says Redclay is totally down with gays ... he even has a close family member who's a member of the tribe, adding his client believes sexual orientation is simply irrelevant.

The lawyer believes the set painter got laid off and created a bunch of phony allegations so he could get his job back. Fact is ... "CSI" hired the set painter back after the allegations surfaced.

PGA golfer Steve Elkington is getting hammered on Twitter right now ... after making a joke about Michael Sam throwing a purse at the NFL combine.

The 51-year-old Australian -- who won the PGA championship in '95 -- wrote, "ESPN reporting Michael Sam is leading the handbag throw at NFL combine ... No one else expected to throw today."

Moments after the tweet, the backlash began ... with Steve's followers going off on the golfer. Here's a sample:

-- "You are TRYING TO MAKE SURE YOUR PUBLICIST keeps his job aren't you?? Good luck motherf*ker. See your apology at 11 on ESPN."

-- "BREAKING: Irrelevant golfer makes awful joke"

-- "Homophobia is hilarious (to a sh*tty old white dude)."

-- "let me get this straight - a golfer is making jokes about a football player's manliness?"

There's more ... but you get the point.

A gay-bashing supervisor at "CSI" tormented a crew member with homophobic slurs and crude drawings of penises ... because he THOUGHT the worker was a homosexual ... according to a new lawsuit.

Donald Perdue -- a set painter on the show -- claims his supervisor, Jeremiah Redclay, engaged in a 5-year campaign of brutal harassment ... calling him "fa***t" and "c***sucker" and hanging "sexually disgusting" drawings of gay sex at Perdue's workstation.

In his lawsuit, Perdue -- who claims he's straight -- says the harassment started when he heard Redclay refer to certain actors on the show as "d***suckers" ... and he asked Redclay to stop.

And this is weird ... Perdue claims Redclay lunged toward his genitals on one occasion and when Perdue pushed him away he claims Redclay responded, "Come on Mucho, you know you want it."

Perdue claims Redclay retaliated by making him a laughingstock at work ... which he endured for 5 years before leaving the show on a medical leave.

Perdue says he's the victim of discrimination ... simply because his boss THOUGHT he was gay.

Here's Michael Sam at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis today ... clearly excited at his prospects of playing professional football.

Go get 'em, Mike.

Katherine Heigl's hit hard times ... telling us she needs to hang onto every penny and is in NO position to donate cash to finish her new movie.

Here's the thing ... Hollywood hasn't exactly been beating down Katherine's door since she foolishly left "Grey's Anatomy" and trash talked Judd Apatow's movie -- she even admits it in this clip.

So now she's counting on a crowd funding campaign to raise $150,000 to complete her indie film "Jenny's Wedding" -- and makes it clear she won't be pitching in because she just ain't got it like that anymore.

Major flip-flopping after a gay fan publicly accused Rihanna of saying he was going to hell for his homosexuality -- he has now changed his story ... insisting he was LYING the whole time ... and actually Photoshopped the Instagram image going around the Internet.

Benvoy Seals posted the above image on Instagram last night -- showing a back and forth between him and Rihanna on her comments section.

Benvoy writes, "Rihanna u going to hell girl" -- and, in the image, Rihanna responds, "Arnt you gay? ... Nuff said blah!"

The exchange was shocking, especially because Rihanna voiced her support for gay rights in Russia less than a week ago -- posting a photo of herself wearing a hat embroidered with "P6," which stands for Principle 6 ... a campaign against Russia's anti-gay propaganda law.

But now, Benvoy tells TMZ, he Photoshopped the picture for no reason ... "I lied. I don't know why. I just did." He also said he received thousands of death threats and hate messages.

Benvoy has since deleted the original Instagram image and posted a retraction in its place, claiming, "Rihanna would never say something like that."

Chris Brown is being sued by the guy who claims the rapper berated him with the words, "I ain't down with that gay s***" and then beat him and broke his nose.

Parker Adams claims in his new, $3 million lawsuit .... he was outside the W Hotel in D.C. last October when Brown went nuts on him. This is the same incident for which Brown is currently being prosecuted for misdemeanor assault.

Brown has denied any misdeeds and we're told he claims Adams was the aggressor, trying to strongarm his way on his tour bus.

Adams is suing both Brown and Christopher Hollosy -- Brown's bodyguard. Adams wants $1 million from each of them for his injuries, and another $500K from each for punitive damages, to teach them a lesson.

Model Cara Delevingne was the big winner ... when Michelle Rodriguez emerged nearly naked from their limo in London. Well, honestly -- we're ALL winners on this one.

Just ask M-Rod and CD's limo driver.

No one had a better ride than Michelle Rodriguez last night -- just ask her pants ... which disappeared off her body while she was in the backseat of a limo with her new GF Cara Delevingne!

Here's what we know.

Fact: Michelle was wearing white pants when she and Cara hopped a ride back to their London hotel.

Fact: Michelle stepped out of the car cloaked in her bodyguard's jacket ... WITHOUT pants.

FUN FACT: CD stepped out of the car right after Michelle ... holding white pants.

Fact: These pictures tell an AWESOME story, and this is our new favorite celeb couple.

The makeup and masking tape were in full effect for the "RuPaul's Drag Race" season six premiere earlier this week ... but only one of these gorgeous gurls was born that way.

Can you guess which of these nine queens has always been a full-fledged female?!