Towleroad Talking Points: Damon, Maddow and a One Direction Kiss

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Well this certainly isn't gonna help those gay rumors. Pardon me while I swoon! 

BY SAM GREISMAN

A look back at today's top stories

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Towleroad is being honored by the Stonewall Community Foundation! Come celebrate with us!

**

GAY ISSUES

Last night on her show Rachel Maddow took a moment to register her shock that the GOP party in Virginia is obsessed with sodomy. John Oliver continues to fill in for Jon Stewart while the latter is on summer vacation and last night skewered the Boy Scouts for their hypocritical and confusing policy on gays. A New Jersey assembly has taken the first steps toward banning gay 'conversion therapy' for minors. 

In celebration of Pride Month some authors sat down to discuss writing gay characters and LGBT themed books. Also in honor of Fathers Day this Sunday, check out this beautiful video about how anti-gay laws are keeping these two men from legally being fathers. 

**

WINGNUTTERY

Judging by the insanely racist and homophobic prank this frat played on a mail carrier, University of Chicago is not the place of advanced learning I thought it was. It is truly hard to keep one's lunch down while watching the editor of a Ugandan tabloid explain with joy how he caught gays in the act. Well known wingnut and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft says that Tim Tebow's devout Christianity played a part in the team's decision to sign him. And one anti-gay lawmaker had a really rough day when he made a wrong turn and found himself drinking with a room full of gays. 

**

ENTERTAINMENT

The first full-length trailer for Neil Blomkamp's follow-up to District 9 (starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster) has arrived. Chris Brown is quickly becoming universally reviled but he wants everyone else to love one another. Also Cheyenne Jackson has a new music video out. 

50 Years of Gay Culture in 5 Minutes: VIDEO

Gay artist/activist Leo Herrera shares with Towleroad his piece The Fortune Teller, which fuses words, sounds, and images from across five decades of gay culture.

Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP...

Writes Herrera, of his compelling collage:

The story is told through the trance of The Fortune Teller (played by Stanley Frank) and created using archival and modern footage. The film is a documentary and time capsule, paying homage to psychedelic films of the 1960′s and the modern art of the YouTube Montage film. From Mapplethorpe to Lohanthony, Uganda to Burning Man, Vogue to Sissy Bounce, AIDS to The Berlin Patient, meticulously edited clips create a kaleidoscopic five-minute journey through more than 50 years of gay history. See the “The Fortune Teller” decoded for a visual legend to the clips.

“The Fortune Teller” is comprised of 50 years of imagery and footage. The 5-minute clip took six months to film and assemble, and is made up of 100 carefully selected clips. The style is a take on Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” video, or The Scissor Sister’s “Let’s Have a KiKi”. It also pays homage to some of our modern day gay “preachers,” such as Chris Crocker or Lohanthony, or Kid Fury, who, as we always have, developed ways to use technology to reach one another.

Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP...

And Herrera decodes all the clips HERE.

Obama Names Two Gay Men to Ambassadorships

President Obama has named Rufus Gifford, a prominent fundraiser who was most recently Finance Chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, as Ambassador to Denmark. He has also named James Costos, Vice President of Global Licensing and Retail for Home Box Office (HBO), as Ambassador to Spain.

Background from the White House:

Rufus Gifford most recently served as Finance Chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.  He served as Finance Director for Obama for America from 2011 to 2012, and as Finance Director for the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.  From 2008 to 2009, he was the California Finance Director for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, after working as a political consultant in California from 2004 to 2008.  From 1998 to 2004, Mr. Gifford was Creative Executive for Davis Entertainment, an independent film company based in Los Angeles.  He is currently a Federal Club Member of the Human Rights Campaign and a Partner in Conservation for the World Wildlife Fund.  He received a B.A. from Brown University.

James Costos is Vice President of Global Licensing and Retail for Home Box Office (HBO).  Before joining HBO in 2006, he was President and CEO of Eight Cylinders, Inc., an entertainment marketing and licensing agency.  Previously, from 2002 to 2004, he was head of Promotions and Consumer Products at Revolution Studios in California.  He began his career in New York as a fashion and retail executive.  From 2001 to 2002, he was Vice President of Retail for Hermes in New York, and from 1991 to 2001, he was Vice President of Retail Operations for Tod’s in New York.  Mr. Costos currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Humane Society of the United States.  He received a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts. 

The nominations need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1389

THE AIRBUS A350: Takes its first flight.

YOUR LIFE AS A DOG: Just in case you were wondering.

COLIN AND JOE: A gay binational couple fights uncertainty brought on by DOMA.

GOD IS GAY: Elliot Darrow, performing for University of North Carolina during finals at the 2013 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

News: Nike, Prince William, Kraft, Israel, Kylie Minogue, PFLAG

U.S.: Syria crossed "red line", used chemical weapons against rebels.

One Million Moms goes nuts over beefcake dude in Kraft ad.

Prince William has Indian ancestry: "The DNA analysis of saliva samples taken from the Duke of Cambridge's relatives have established a direct lineage between the 30-year-old prince and an Indian housekeeper on his mother Princess Diana's side."

Rise of the Daddies: "An informal poll of men reveals that there seems to be an uptick of younger men who are interested in guys of my 'seasoned' age bracket."

LGBT ally and philanthropist Joan Parker dies at 80.

Obama will have role in shaping scope of SCOTUS marriage ruling: "Gay rights advocates, aware that a Supreme Court ruling that overturns the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act would be the beginning of their push to have the federal government recognize same-sex marriage, are urging White House officials to plan to modify hundreds of mentions of marriage throughout federal statutes and regulations. Many legal analysts say there is a substantial chance that the Supreme Court will strike down the 1996 law, which in defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman denies federal benefits to same-sex couples."

VIDEO: Kanye West performs "New Slaves" at Design Miami/Basel.

Wes Bentley is back and he's bearded.

Gay Lansing, Michigan couple invited to White House for Father's Day.

Northern Ireland out in the cold on marriage equality.

New survey shows Israel not as gay-friendly as some think: "According to a comprehensive survey conducted by the institute in 39 countries, only 40 percent of Israelis believe society should accept homosexuality, while 47 percent believe the opposite. This figure is lower than in any other Western, developed country surveyed, with the exception of South Africa."

Tom Cruise on a lunch date with Sumner Redstone.

Plaque to be unveiled at NYC birthplace of PFLAG on June 23: "Celebrate LGBT Pride and History Month by joining GVSHP, PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), and the Church of the Village for the unveiling of a historic plaque marking the founding of PFLAG forty years ago at the church. Earlier this spring we joined PFLAG and the church in memorializing PFLAG founder Jeanne Manford, who died this year at the age of 92.  A mother and school teacher from Queens, Jeanne Manford held the first meeting of what came to be PFLAG at the church after marching in the Christopher Street Liberation Day March (now the LGBT Pride March) with her son and Dr. Benjamin Spock, carrying a sign that read “Parents of Gays Unite in Support for Our Children.” Forty years later, PFLAG has 350 chapters and more than 200,000 members, and has affected countless lives."

One Direction's Harry Styles has released a solo record.

Nike shows its Pride.

Kylie Minogue working with Timbaland? "In February, it was announced that Ms. Minogue was parting with Terry Blamey, her manager of 25 years, and signing with Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s influential entertainment company, which has worked with Rihanna and Rita Ora. Since then, she has been spending time in Los Angeles, recording tracks with the Roc Nation producers Timbaland and Pharrell Williams."

Nebraska's largest Ford dealer backs anti-lesbian Grace University.

Dan Savage talks to Kenneth Walsh about his son's coming out: "We had a few conversations when he was younger — prepuberty — during which he insisted that he would be gay. When he was nine he told us that he didn’t like girls and so, you know, case closed: going to be gay when he grows up. We told him that we loved girls when we were nine. Not liking girls when you’re a little boy is almost always evidence of straightness-to-come, not gayness. He doubled down and insisted he would be gay. Maybe that’s the reason he was hesitant — he’s pretty stubborn (wonder where he gets that?), and he basically had to admit that he was wrong."

Editor of Ugandan Tabloid That Outed Homosexuals Explains His Devious Methods: VIDEO

Here's a fascinating new clip from the documentary Call Me Kuchu, opening today in New York. The film documents the story of slain Ugandan LGBT activist David Kato and others prominent in that country's struggle.

If you missed the trailer, which is amazing, you should watch it HERE.

You may remember that in October 2010 Uganda's Rolling Stone tabloid published the names and addresses of 100 "top homos" and called for them to be hanged. In the days that followed its publication at least four of the gay Ugandans on the list were attacked and many others went into hiding, in fear for their lifes.

In this clip, Giles Muhame, the tabloid's Managing Editor brags about how man issues the tabloid sold, saying, "I think Ugandans are interested in looking at pictures of homosexuals" and explaining how they use a special investigative technique called "disguise" to figure out who's gay and who's not.

Says Muhame:

"You pretend you're one of them. You Join them. You drink with them. You know all the members, you get their pictures at parties, you see? (laughs) And we got all the facts."

Muhame also says he did not call for them to be hanged (even though the tabloid's cover plainly said "hang them"). "The government does that," he explains.

Watch the clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

Call Me Kuchu opens in New York today at Quad Cinema (34 West 13th Street), and will open in Los Angeles next week Friday, June 21 at Laemmle's Music Hall (9036 Wilshire Blvd).