Towleroad Talking Points: Obama Bayonets Romney

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Bayonets and Horses becomes the new "binders full of women" after Obama's zinger last night. 

BY SAM GREISMAN

A look back at today's top stories

ELECTION 2012

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama met for their final debate of the election season focused, supposedly, on foreign policy. It was another strong performance for the President as the snap polls from last night indicated. How much a debate about foreign policy will affect the polls overall is yet to be seen. The race may come down to the state of Ohio, where Obama has a slim lead according to recent polling. Nate Silver of The New York Times takes a look at Romney's chances if that lead holds. 

The Log Cabin Republicans announced today that they are endorsing Romney for President and Barney Frank immediately laid into them. Speaking of people that cause blood to boil, Ann Coulter once again proved that she can offend everyone and show her own stupidity in less than 140 characters. And speaking of bullies, Vanity Fair cooks up some imaginary photos from Romney's past.

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ENTERTAINMENT

Ellen DeGeneres became just the fourth woman to receive the Mark Twain Prize for Comedy at the Kennedy Center last night. Go Ellen! Everyone's favorite primetime gay couple were together this weekend and Mitchell had a surprise for Cam. 

Also check out the first trailer for Iron Man 3 here!

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GAY RIGHTS

Two good pieces of news involving marriage equality today. In New York the state's highest court rejected a challenge from a conservative evangelical group. And in Washington State, Bill Gates has donated a whole ton of money to the proponents of the pro-marriage equality Referendum 74. 

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VIDEO OF THE DAY

If you're taking a stroll in Central Park sometime soon and you see a bush that looks like a person, don't worry it's just this dude. 

Did Romney Promise ENDA Support for Log Cabin Endorsement?

Today's endorsement of Mitt Romney by the Log Cabin Republicans included these two sentences:

If LGBT issues are a voter’s highest or only priority, then Governor Romney may not be that voter’s choice....With regard to the LGBT issue most likely to reach the president’s desk and most vital to many in our community today—workplace nondiscrimination—we are persuaded that we can work with a Romney administration to achieve a desirable outcome.

The language struck The Nation's Ben Adler as "nonsensical," he writes:

While it is legitimate for LCR to say that they care more about tax cuts than LGBT issues, how can they only acknowledge that Romney “may not” be the candidate for a voter whose only priority is gay rights? Shouldn’t that phrase be “would not”? And why is LCR persuaded they can work with Romney to pass a workplace nondiscrimination law?

Adler called LCR's R. Clarke Cooper to find out, and after some questioning about Romney's positions on anti-discrimination legislation, gets to what he theorizes hooked LCR's 'qualified' endorsement:

As I continued to press this point, Cooper blurted out, “Have you met with Romney’s domestic policy team?” And therein lies the answer to how Romney secured LCR’s endorsement. His advisers have privately assured LCR that Romney supports ENDA, even though he so fears the wrath of the religious right that he will not adopt this position in public. (Although ENDA polls very well, major social conservative groups, such as the American Family Association, continue to oppose it and demand that Romney do the same.)

Given that Romney is a reflexive liar, the question then becomes why LCR chooses to believe Romney. For that, I have no answer other than wishful thinking on their part.

Jerry O'Connell Puts on a Show in Ellen's Dunk Tank: VIDEO

If you're going to grind in Ellen's dunk tank, a sparkly Speedo is the way to go.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1236

MARRIAGE NEWS WATCH: Strikeout #8 for DOMA.

PLANK FISHING: Not hard to predict what's about to happen here.

XELLE: "Queen".

CODEBREAKER: Alan Turing documentary premiering this week in NYC and LA.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

News: Battle Bears, Clark Kent, Queen's Head, Honey Boo Boo

Bishop Gene Robinson to speak about marriage equality in Portland, Maine.

Activists campaign to save one of London's oldest gay pubs, The Queens Head.

Dan Savage's caption contest: "Apparently you can stick a round peg into a square hole."

VIDEO: Honey Boo Boo "falls asleep" to avoid a Dr. Drew interview.

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly says gays are in "pain" and are at battle with "the creator of the universe."

Ellen DeGeneres on the possibility of a Romney presidency: “Well, I am certainly hoping our president stays put,” DeGeneres said on the red carpet before the Kennedy Center event. “If you’re a woman, you should be very, very scared of that, for many reasons,” she said. “And obviously as a gay person he doesn’t believe in me having the same rights, so of course I’m not happy about that.”

Politico: The battle for 7 states. "The main battlegrounds: Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida and Wisconsin. The late inclusion of Wisconsin on this list reflects a bet by Romney — buoyed by some polls showing an opportunity for him there — that he can turn a state that has not voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1984."

Clark Kent quits the Daily Planet to start a blog.

Beyonce and Jay-Z's request to trademark the name of their daughter Blue Ivy denied.

Battle Bears peddling thinly disguised homophobia to preteen boys?

Boston Globe endorses gay Republican Richard Tisei over pro-LGBT Democrat John Tierney: "Had US Representative John Tierney not been weakened by a controversy that grew out of his brother-in-law’s illegal offshore gambling operation, voters in the Sixth District might well have returned him to Congress term after term without feeling much dissatisfaction."

Check out this list of ugly anti-gay tweets from Cardinals fans after the SF Giants won the pennant last night.

Skyfall premieres in London.

Kansas church keyboardist Chad Graber booted for being gay.

Photo: Obama greets Romney's grandson.

Photos from the NYC Halloween dog parade.

Sign war happening in Hutchinson, Kansas over a gay rights ordinance: "Raigoza says some members of the New Harmony Baptist Church have reported their yard signs missing as well. He blames gay community. 'Oh, no way,' says Jon Powell with the Kansas Equality Coalition. Powell says his group has been too busy putting up their own signs, urging people to vote yes to extended rights for the gay community. 'We are swamped. We are busy. We have placed over seven hundred signs in the city,' explains Powell. 'And we have had our yard signs go missing too.'"

Director Tony Scott had anti-depressant in his system but no cancer: "The LA county coroner's office also confirmed yesterday that Scott's death was suicide, though his motive remains a mystery. A number of suicide notes reportedly contained no details of why the Top Gun director chose to kill himself. The report said Scott's immediate cause of death was blunt force trauma and drowning. Non-toxic levels of the antidepressant mirtazapine and the prescription sleeping pill Lunesta were in his system."

Ellen DeGeneres Honored with Kennedy Center 'Twain Award': VIDEO

Ellen DeGeneres was honored with the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain award for humor last night. MetroWeekly's Randy Shulman and the Washington Post were on hand and spoke with DeGeneres as well as Lily Tomlin, Sean Hayes, John Leguizamo,Jane Lynch, Steve Harvey, Jimmy Kimmel, and Kristin Chenoweth about her career and her legacy.

The WaPo writes:

As her friends made clear Monday night at the Twain ceremony, DeGeneres has played splendidly across the media gamut. She’s been an awards show host (trifecta: Grammys, Emmys, Oscars), a sitcom star (two bore her name), a voice actor (”Finding Nemo”), a commercial shill (American Express, JC Penney, and on and on) and an advocate for various causes. She was even a judge on “American Idol.”

DeGeneres probably deserves a Twain award just for one legendary quip. While hosting the Emmy Awards just after the terrorist attacks of 2001, she asked, “What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?”

For all the talk of equal rights, DeGeneres is just the fourth woman to receive the Twain Prize in its 15 years, following Whoopi Goldberg, Tomlin and Tina Fey.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...