News: R-71, Gordon Brown, D.C., David Hockney, Will Young, Toronto

Justice Kennedy refers R-71 names case to full Supreme Court?

Excitement over Thai AIDS vaccine fades: "Now, two other analyses of the trial data suggests that the results could have been due to pure chance, and therefore the vaccine may not have conferred protection to people after all. The additional data are published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and will be more fully discussed today by researchers attending an AIDS meeting in Paris."

Twins wreak havoc on X-Factor with their cover of "Oops, I Did It Again".

Toronto chosen for World Pride 2014.

Man pleads guilty to 2008 gay bashing in Springville, New York.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown backs opening Parliament to gay weddings: "The Prime Minister will insist that it is unfair only heterosexual couples can marry inside the Palace of Westminster. Mr Brown will be speaking at a Parliamentary inquiry into how to increase the representation of gay people, ethnic minorities, women and the disabled at Westminster."

Joss Whedon to direct Glee.

Daniel Radcliffe purchases third NYC residence.

Threats on President's life up 400%: "The Boston Globe reports that a new internal Congressional Research Service report and government sources say there are an unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama -- and that the Secret Service is insufficiently funded and staffed to deal with them."

Astronomers find 32 planets outside our solar system.

Transgender woman found strangled to death in her flat in Brighton, UK by firefighters responding to a blaze. Police have arrested a 42-year-old man: "The body of Andrea Waddell, 29, who had a masters degree and worked as a prostitute, was found just before midnight on Thursday by firefighters. The man in custody, from Brighton, was held on Saturday night, police said."

Big Brother 9 winner Adam Jasinski used his $500,000 prize to fuel his oxycodone drug-dealing business.

Elvis hair: it sells for $15,000.

John Mayer releases augmented reality music video.

More of Lance Bass in the boxing ring.

Character on Law and Order: SVU to come out of the closet.

Inside David Hockney's iPhone obsession.

D.C. activists oppose phase-out of domestic partnerships, fearing that failure of same-sex marriage law would leave gays and lesbians with nothing.

Singer Will Young guest edits Attitude magazine: "Explaining why he took on the job, Will says: 'The first time I bought Attitude I was 15 and Chris O'Donnell was dressed as Robin on the front cover. I didn't know it was a gay magazine at the time. It is never easy adjusting to being different but things have changed so quickly over the last 10 years. I dedicate this issue to the people who were at the forefront of that change by being brave enough to be themselves."

Adam Lambert album to be called For Your Entertainment.

Fashion chat: Paul Smith blabs with Simon Doonan.

Lesbian couple attacked in Brighton, UK: " The couple, who are aged 18 and 22, were walking hand in hand at about 3am on October 7. When they turned towards the three men shouting homophobic insults at them, two of the men attacked them, punching them both in the head. Even when the young women begged the third man, who had a large brown dog, to stop his friends, he did not intervene."

British Government Apologizes to Gay Codebreaker Alan Turing

After thousands signed a petition calling for a formal British apology to mathematician Alan Turing. During World War II, Turing, who is known as the father of modern computing, devised the Turing Bombe, a codebreaking device that was used to decipher the Nazi enigma codes, up to 3,000 messages per day. He was also gay, and two years after being convicted of "gross indecency" and sentenced to undergo hormone therapy, he killed himself with a cyanide-laced apple.

 Today, Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologized:

"Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time, and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair, and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted, as he was convicted, under homophobic laws, were treated terribly. Over the years, millions more lived in fear in conviction. I am proud that those days are gone and that in the past 12 years this Government has done so much to make life fairer and more equal for our LGBT community. This recognition of Alan's status as one of Britain's most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality, and long overdue...

...It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe's history and not Europe's present. So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work, I am very proud to say: we're sorry. You deserved so much better."

Read Brown's full piece in the Telegraph.

Gordon Brown: I'm proud to say sorry to a real war hero [telegraph]

Pictured: a statue of Turing at Britain's Bletchley Park.

An excerpt of a documentary on Turing, AFTER THE JUMP...

Conservatives to Gay Britons: Are You Being Served By Labour?

Ahead of this past weekend's Pride march in London, a political war of words. First, the Labour Party's Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw observed that "a deep strain of homophobia" still exists in the rival Tories. Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant backed him up, stating, "If gays vote Tory, they will rue the day very soon."
These remarks followed an official apology by the Conservatives for implementing the anti-gay Section 28 in the 1980s. "I am sorry for Section 28. We got it wrong. It was an emotional issue. I hope you can forgive us," said Conservative leader David Cameron (pictured), who voted to keep the measure as recently as 2003. But his words were deemed "25 years too late" by Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman.

Apparently, apology not accepted.

Striking back, Alan Duncan, a gay Tory Cabinet Minister accused Bradshaw and Bryant of "stirring up hatred and division."

More from the Times: "[T]he next generation of Tory MPs will be more socially liberal. In a survey of 133 prospective parliamentary candidates in winnable seats for the ConservativeHome website, 62 per cent said that same-sex couples should be given the same benefits as married couples, while 31 per cent disagreed."

"Cameron's apology on Section 28 is HUGE news," according to Boyz Magazine Managing Director David Bridle. "Gay people I know were delighted. This is a fantastic way for him to start rebuilding relations with the gay community."

With a large number of gay respondents saying they would vote Conservative in a recent poll, it would  seem the current state of the Conservatives is one possible future for the Republican party in the U.S.—jettison the religious right, become more socially liberal and attract a broader spectrum of moderates, including quite a few gay people with short memories or whose priorities never included gay causes in the first place...or whose only liberal position is gay rights.

In related news, PM Gordon Brown (Labour) didn't attend the London march, instead sending his wife (pictured).

PM Brown Snubs UK's Most Famous Activist from Gay Pride Event

Well-known British activist Peter Tatchell says he was scratched from a list of invitees to a gay event at Downing Street at Prime Minister Gordon Brown's request.

Said Tatchell "I have been campaigning for LGBT human rights for 40 years. I was one of the group of people who helped organise Britain's first gay pride parade in 1972. An insider tipped me off that my name had been removed from the invite list, at Gordon Brown's personal request. He was apparently still angry that I had heckled him over his government's erosion of civil liberties, when he opened the Taking Liberties exhibition at the British Library late last year...He [Brown] claims to support gay equality but his government actually endorses some aspects of homophobic discrimination. It supports the ban on same-sex marriage. Civil partnerships are not equality. They are a form of sexual apartheid, with different laws for gay and straight couples. I don't do my human rights work to win awards, honours or invites. It doesn't matter to me that I haven't been invited. What angers me is the principle - the way the Prime Minister invites and fetes mostly tame pro-Labour loyalists in the LGBT community. It is a manipulative tactic by an insecure government that knows its record on LGBT human rights is not as glorious as it claims."

Downing Street denies the claim: "It's not a reception, it's a very small meeting. The prime minister and Sarah Brown will meet organisers of Pride and others who have contributed to the event. You could fill number 10 with people who have been involved in gay rights."

David Beckham Visits Downing Street for Malaria Campaign

David Beckham paid a visit to Downing Street and Prime Minister Gordon Brown to launch the Malaria No More campaign. Andy Murray and Olympic gold medal-winning heptathlete Denise Lewis were also on hand.

  

Said Becks: "It's truly incredible to think we can stop this killer disease forever and it's such a simple thing to do. For less than the cost of a football you can protect a family from dying. I urge the UK public to get behind the Malaria No More UK campaign to save a life and make malaria no more."

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #458

ANAL POISONING: Rush Limbaugh says British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will get "anal poisoning" from his admiration of Obama.

KEITH OLBERMANN: Jane Velez Mitchell and Hannah Storm present Keith Olbermann with GLAAD's award for "Outstanding Journalism Segment" in New York for his special comment on Proposition 8.

THE QUEEN: Some British offended that Michelle Obama touched her shoulder.

TURTLE ATTACK: A pigeon has a bad day.

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