Today, Wednesday April 16th, for the first time ever, Gilt Groupe, an invitation-only "sample sale" Web site which has been phenomenally successful offering women's fashion and luxury lifestyle brands at up to 70% off, will launch a store for men! The first men's sale will be merchandise by designer John Varvatos, followed by Hickey on Friday, April 18, Dolce & Gabanna on Tuesday, April 22, and Lambertson True on Thursday, April 24.

We wanted to send you off into your weekend with a heart-tugging note we received from one of our members...in the U.K.! Now, because we're New Yorkers we're usually not prone to being mushy...but even the toughest nails around here melted like butter on pancackes after they read this note from Sophie:

Dear Glee team,

My name is Sophie and i have been a member of Glee for about 8 months now. When i joined, i had just come out of a relationship with a girl which had been turbulent and abusive, so i guess you could say i was hoping to meet someone via the internet as it seemed a safer route i.e. no arguments, no violence etc. On June 14th i received a message from an american girl called Erica Ferguson, which said 'hey, how are things going in the uk?'....and from there on, i havent looked back. I remember thinking how out of my league she looked, but i was slowly getting hooked. The way we talked, the stuff we talked about...there just seemed to be an instant connection between us. After a month or so, we began to talk via msn and aim and the more we talked, the more i began to realise that this was something different...she was something different. On July 14th, i asked her out and she said yes. We continued to talk endlessly, pretty much everyday...i would be desperate to get onto the computer just to see how she was and how her day had been. In october i went off to university, but we continued to talk and to cut a very long story short...she came over to the uk for the first time in february. I was literally blown away by her...online she was great....in real life she was amazing! We instantly clicked and everything we had felt for one another now seemed even more beautiful and intense. I took a huge leap of faith and asked her to marry me. She said yes! Right now i am staying with her and her family in the usa and i'm having the time of my life. I honestly could'nt be happier. So Glee team, i wana thank you. I am so grateful that just by chance she saw my profile and we started talking, because since then we've given each other so much strength, so much happiness, so much life. Erica is my best friend, my fiance and my soul mate. She means the world to me and i love her with all my heart...so once again, thankyou so much. You helped me find the girl, the one and only, who could and has saved my life. I hope that maybe you can spread our story and give hope to people on you're website who are looking for someone special.

Once again, thank you Glee!

Sophie

Well, we followed up with Sophie (and Erica), asking them if we could share the note above, and here is Sophie's reply:

Hey again,

I'd be more than happy for you to do that, as would Erica :) At this moment in time, its really tough for both of us, as I leave the US tomorrow to go back to University in the UK. Sadly, she can't come and I know theres going to be plenty of tears...but I have faith and I thank God each day that all those months ago we came across each other on Glee! I really can't thank you enough.

We would both be priviledged to know that other people, world wide, learn about our story via you're website.

Thanks again,

Sophie and Erica

Yeah, and even better, they are a totally adorable couple. Check out their picture (and click on it to peek at Sohpie's GLEE profile)...

Last week, Dailymotion.com (which claims the "world's largest independent video sharing site" title...not that they are, you know, size queens) announced it had added its Gay & Lesbian Channel to the 17 other channels it already has on the site. Oh, and it isn't just for the Gs and Ls...all other people in the queer alphabet soup are invited to upload their videos as well.

Programming will include selections from Strand Releasing, Universal Music and MTV Networks' Logo properties.

Says Joy Marcus, DM's U.S. GM, "We believe that bringing the highest quality programming to our audience includes creating channels that match their interests. Dailymotion's launch of our Gay & Lesbian channel makes us one of the first online video destinations to respond to the huge demand for quality online video entertainment by this audience."

Whether it will all be quality entertainment...that depends on your defintion of "quality." However, we expect at least a few chuckles and gasps along the way...

Click on the Image below to check out the Dailymotion.com G&L Channel:

Oh, and whatever nuggets of inspirationyou find or upload on Dailymotion, be sure to share it with all the GLEE members as well at the GLEE Videos Channel:

Here's a cool request we got from a GLEE member down in Virginia who is working on finishing her dissertation for her Ph.D. In her words, she is, "interested in learning more about the LGB experience at work (hardly any academic stuff is done in this area), and in particular I'm interested in trying to understand how our identities at work and the processes we use to manage them affect us as employees."

Sounds like a noble effort to us...and we all know the world needs more studies on what makes us homos tick, right?

So if you have 10-15 minutes to help the cause, are 18 or over, are currently employed at least part-time, and do not work for yourself, or an LGB support or service organization, please click HERE or on the image below to fill out the survey.

Oh, and let your friends on GLEE know about this survey as well. The more responses we get, the better. (Also, and the last question in the survey...make sure you mark "GLEE.com" so they know you found out about it here.)

If you want to get in touch with the person conducting this survey, you can contact her through GLEE.