Towleroad Talking Points: A Westboro Baptist Goes Down

BY SAM GREISMAN

A look back at today's big stories

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Over the weekend we launched Towleroad in mobile-optimized versions for the iPad, iPhone, and Kindle. Also available is Android access via Google Currents.

Some of you have emailed us to express a general unease with transitioning to a mobile format. We have listened, and on iPad there is now a prominent button for those of you who prefer reading the site in a traditional fashion. On the iPhone you can access it via a pull-down menu in the upper right.

We hope to continue making improvements to these sites and thank you for your input!

ELECTION 2012

The second Presidential Debate is tomorrow and as we move toward some three weeks to go until election day, New York Times election forecaster Nate Silver is "a little terrified" by the current state of the polling data. One of Romney's aides appeared on Fox News yesterday and may have been surprised when Chris Wallace challenged him on Romney's illogical tax math!

Also, things that are narrated by Morgan Freeman are usually awesome. Good news for the Obama campaign because he is doing the voiceover for a recent ad. And if you can't wait until tomorrow to see some more debate action, check out round two of Mitt Romney debating himself .

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WINGNUTTERY

A Westboro Baptist Church member was doing his incredibly classy thing and protesting the funeral of a gay service member when he was tackled to the ground. Check out the video here!

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GAY NEWS

Insanity Fitness Trainer (and former Mariah Carey back-up dancer) Shaun T came out over the weekend AND got married to his boyfriend! Also check out this adorable I Have Two Fathers video. What a cute family!

Good news on the marriage equality front in Washington State where a whole bunch of corporations have signed on to a new ad support Referendum 74 in the Seattle Times. 

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ENTERTAINMENT

An openly gay contestant on the UK's X-Factor is eliciting both love and hate after this very flamboyant performance on the show. I like his gold dress. Also does anyone else find Brad Pitt's new Chanel commercial kinda cringeworthy?

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VIDEO OF THE DAY

So daredevil Felix Baumgartner did an incredibly insane and possibly stupid thing and dove to the earth from space this weekend. He lived (somehow!) and the video from his helmet is totally nuts! It might also make you pretty dizzy. P.S. - There's already a Lego version.

 

Evan Low, Gay Mayor of Campbell, California, Verbally Assaulted

Evan Low, who became the country's youngest openly gay mayor in 2009 when he was elected in Campbell, California, outside of San Jose, was verbally assaulted by a woman on his way to a community festival over the weekend, NBC Bay Area reports:

"She pointed her finger at me in the shape of a gun and said, "Bang (expletive), die. Go back to China, you will die," Low said. The expletive was a derogatory word for a gay man.

Low said the loud hatred lasted five minutes.

"I thought it was a joke because it was so random that this woman was screaming at the top of her lungs," Low said in a phone interview. "It was so strange and out of the blue, but after a while I came to find out it was not a joke."

A suspect has been identifed but not arrested. The woman's actions would be classified as a misdemeanor.

Low said that several people who did not know he was mayor came to his defense. One spit on the woman's car.

Inside James Bond and Skyfall's Gay Subtext

Apparently Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem (who plays the current Bond villain Silva) have an "erotically charged scene" in Skyfall (above) in which Silva strokes Bond's chest.

Bond reportedly asks the villain: "What makes you think this is my first time?"

Movieline's Frank Diagiacomo asked Craig about it at the press junket:

"What are you going to do?"  Craig replied breezily, getting a nice laugh from the crowd, but then he added: "I don't see the world in sexual divisions."  He then  changed the subject from Bond to to Bardem's wonderfully flamboyant character, Silva. "Someone suggested that Silva may be gay," Craig said with a big smile. "And I'm like, I think he'll f**k anything."

Producers suggest it's all a power struggle. As for Bardem:

Asked how Silva's "sexuality informed [Bardem's] interpretation of the character, the actor responded; "It  was part of the game, but it’s not entirely the game."  Bardem explained that his "main goal" as Silva was creating "uncomfortable situations" for anyone who crossed his path. "Within that, you can read anything that you want or wish," Bardem said. "But  it was more about putting the other person in a very uncomfortable situation where even James Bond doesn't know how to get out of it."

More at Movieline.

It's worth noting that back in 2006 Craig reportedly suggested to producers that they give Bond a gay scene.

Vikings Punter Chris Kluwe Speaks Out Against Minnesota's Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment in New Ad: VIDEO

Vikings punter Chris Kluwe urges Minnesotans to vote down the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage appearing on the ballot there in November, telling voters, "that's not what America stands for."

Says Kluwe: "If you’re telling someone how to live their life, you wouldn’t want someone telling you how to live your life."

Watch his message, AFTER THE JUMP...

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1230

DEDICATION: Zack Swanson of Follow Productions Limited produced this video against Minnesota's anti-gay amendment.

SHARON NEEDLES: For PETA.

BOOM BARRIER'S REVENGE: And one day the machines fought back.

HILLCREST ACE: San Diego hardware store named 'coolest on the planet'!

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

News: Mary Bono Mack, The Nones, Kirsten Gillibrand, Skyfall

The Joy of Disco!

Bond flirts with Javier Bardem's openly gay villain in Skyfall.

Out footballer Anton Hysen is working on something.

Jude Law's cremini mushroom gives good face.

Candy Crowley's role as moderator comes under scrutiny ahead of presidential town hall: "In a rare example of political unity, both the Romney and Obama campaigns have expressed concern to the Commission on Presidential Debates about how the moderator of this Tuesday’s town hall has publicly described her role."

Would Tom Cruise choose Katie Holmes over David Miscavige?

Ken Mehlman writes op-ed in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on the conservative case for same-sex marriage: "As Republicans, we respect the individual and work to empower people to live as they see fit, with as little intrusion by the government as practical. This idea is grounded in an important Judeo-Christian value that we should all treat others as we would like to be treated. Put yourself in your neighbor's shoes. How would you feel if, even though you paid the same taxes, potentially served in the same military and followed the same rules as your neighbor, your government denied you the freedom to marry the person you loved in ceremony?"

Barbara Walters to interview Lindsay Lohan. "Lindsay will portray Elizabeth Taylor in a made-for-TV biopic movie titled Liz & Dick that will air on Lifetime TV next month. In order to promote the film’s release, Lindsay has agreed to sit down and chat with Barbara."

Scarlett Johansson goes all Cruella Deville.

Michelle Obama voted early, by mail.

East Hampton teen's suicide tied to alleged bullying over the perception he was gay.

The measurement that would reveal the universe to be a computer simulation.

Shambala Times celebrates same-sex marriage.

Kirsten Gillibrand enters shortlist for presidential contenders in 2016: "She set tongues wagging about her future at last month’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., with an address to delegates from Iowa, an early proving ground in every presidential race."

Michelangelo Signorile on the rise of the "nones" and its relation to anti-gay churches. "According to the Pew study, one in five Americans now identify as having no religious affiliation, even as many of them state they believe in God or describe themselves as spiritual. The various denominations of Protestants together accounted for two out of three Americans in the 1960s, but now only total 48 percent. And the only reason Catholics, which account for 22 percent of Americans today, haven't diminished further, is because the wave of new immigrants to the country has replaced the many Catholics who've left the church in the past five years."

VIDEO: Barbra Streisand and gay son Jason Gould sing together for first time.

Male model fix: Kyle Wicks.

Mary Bono Mack debate turns into personal slugfest: "Both candidates artfully dodged questions. Asked for the second campaign debate in a row whether she supports same-sex marriage, Bono Mack stressed that she has a strong relationship with transgendered stepson Chaz Bono, 'doesn’t have a bigoted bone in her body' and twice voted against proposed constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage — but she did not answer the question directly, saying the issue should be left up to the courts."

Paul Ryan told 24 lies in 40 minutes of speaking at the debate, which seems like a lowball number.

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary senior leaves ordination process and United Methodist Church after being told to go back in the closet: In order for me to be ordained in the UMC, I would quintessentially have to go into a professional, vocational closet. In meetings and on paper, I would be “single,” making no reference to my sexual identity or my relationship status. I would have to leave a part of me outside of the ordination process. I’d known others going through the same thing who seemed to be okay with it all, who seemed sane and mentally/emotionally healthy, and so I pressed forward. I continued in my seminary education, served another church in the city for my second-year internship, and proceeded to have my local church declare me as a candidate for ordination.