Four of the Queer Eye Fab Five partied into the wee hours yesterday at Avalon, where the big buzz was that "culture vulture" Jai Rodriguez may be straight. The horror!

"I can assure you, he is a certified pickle smoker,"' Jai's comrade, fashionista Carson Kressley, told the Track. "And if you stick around, he can prove it to you!"

Despite Carson's impassioned propaganda, Jai was forced to defend his homosexual honor all night, beginning earlier in the evening at Club Cafe where Jai, Carson, Kyan Douglas and Thom Filicia headlined a benefit for Boston Pride and the Harbor to the Bay AIDS Ride.

"We joked that we were `inning' him," said Boston stand-up gal Stephanie Peters, who made the Club Cafe scene. "Everyone was talking about it."

Apparently, the rumor stems from a report in a Big Apple newspaper that Jai made quite a splash at a recent NYC party by hooking up with - a girl! "She was tall and blond and really pretty," a spywitness told the New York Daily News. "There was a photo booth at the party and he was photographed kissing her boob with her shirt pulled down."

Well! Does Mike Timlin know about this????

Anyway, Jai did nothing to help his Queer cause by gushing about Johnny Damon's well-endowed bride, Michelle. "She's really sweet," Rodriguez told the Track. "They kind of look alike, you know that? It's kinda weird but really, they were so sweet!"

Meanwhile, Carson had no gender confusion whatsoever. He confessed his not-exactly-secret crush on Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli to anyone and everyone at Avalon. "Dougie's the one. Ooooooh!" cooed Kressley. "He is fantastic. So amazing. Just fabulous. Such a hunk."

As everyone knows, the Queer Eye season premiere airs tonight with the Fab Five's Red Sox makeovers.

File under: Homo No Mo'?