News: Howard Dean, iPhone, Lance Armstrong, Reggae, Ryan Gosling

Russian gay activists to picket Iranian Embassy in Moscow. Nikolai Alexeyev: "We need to continuously remind the state authorities that the death penalty must be abolished."

Line forms a week early for 3G iPhone...

Ryan Gosling makes an excellent case for the white T-shirt.

Larry Craig's bathroom stall to return to spotlight: "Thousands of members of the international media will have to walk past it when they land at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul at the end of the summer. Many will feel obligated to stop and file a story. For the party that bills itself as stronger on family values than the Democrats, it likely will prove an unwelcome distraction."

UK Study: employees who are "out" at work perform better.

Half Blood Prince: First look at new Harry Potter film.

Lance Armstrong gets a beard.

Signorile on Arthur Finkelstein, the gay Republican behind Jesse Helms: "Conservative, then-closeted, Republican political operative Arthur Finkelstein helped engineer Helms' racist campaign against African-American Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt in 1990, as Helms was vilifying gay sexuality, blocking AIDS funding, stalling prevention and attacking queer artists. (See the ad below that was aired at the height of the campaign and which resulted in Gantt going from a a lead in the polls to defeat on Election Day). Had Jesse Helms not had the handiwork of Finkelstein, who worked for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and various right-wing senators, he might have lost that race. Instead, we had another decade of his antigay grip on the Republican Party, as he blocked HIV prevention measures and thousands more died."

SALON: Transgender man delivered a baby, but failed to deliver respect.

Nicole Kidman gives birth to a Sunday on a Monday.

Obama campaign plane makes emergency stop due to mechanical problems.

"No Homo" the latest catchphrase to sweep NFL locker rooms: "LenDale White says to Vince Young: 'Vince, you’ve got great nips. No homo.' Did you catch the subtle twist there? LenDale has said something that on any other day might be considered gay, but, and this is key, he’s inoculated his heterosexuality by appending, no homo at the end. No homo also works at the front of the phrase but then it’s much less enjoyable because the other party has been keyed into the homosexuality of the statement that’s to follow. Hence, 'No homo. Vince you’ve got great nips.' No dice there."

Reggae music label plans "Straight Pride Parade" in Brooklyn to protest ban of gay murder music artist Stapler.

Howard Dean holds holiday fundraiser in Provincetown: "From a small podium Dean spoke of the enormous progress that has been made in terms of civil rights — for instance, the number of states that have had referendums on gay marriage — despite eight years under 'one of most oppressive presidents' the country has ever known and a Supreme Court he characterized as 'a disgrace. It’s interesting,' he said. 'Sometimes you have to just sit back and look. The grassroots have changed dramatically.'"

NBC to buy The Weather Channel for $3.5 billion. Hurricane Bertha forms in the Atlantic...

Matt Damon checks into the Green Zone.

Michael Ausiello: Hit TV show planning big gay twist.

Getting away with it: Kylie Minogue breaks royal protocol as she is bestowed with the Order of the British Empire...

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Clinton Wins Puerto Rico as DNC Votes on FL, MI Delegate Issues

The DNC Rules and Bylaws committee voted to resolve the Michigan and Florida delegate situation over the weekend.

Said Howard Dean at the opening of the meeting: "This is not about Barack Obama, this is not about Hillary Clinton. "This is about our country. This is about restoring America to its greatness. There have been very tough disagreements and ugly moments. Emotions have run very high. There have been blatantly sexist comments, particularly by some members of the media. And blatantly racist remarks. And we know that those comments have no place in our society... We need to come together."

Talking Points Memo reports: "In a huge blow to Hillary's hopes, such as they are, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee has now voted in favor of a compromise measure for Michigan, giving 69 pledged delegates to Hillary Clinton and 59 to Barack Obama at a half-vote each. This effectively ends Hillary's bid to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations in full -- which she was hoping for in a last-ditch effort to close the delegate count and, more importantly for her campaign's moral arguments, to try to narrow Obama's unofficial popular vote lead. Still, Hillary's chief delegate counter, Harold Ickes, seemed to signal that there's still a possibility that she might fight on. In a harsh tone of voice, Ickes told the committee that Hillary personally informed him that she reserves the right to take the dispute over Michigan to the Credentials Committee in Denver, on the grounds that the committee had no right to transfer 'Uncommitted' votes over to Obama."

Ickes remarks at the DNC meeting, above right. Here's the Clinton campaign statement.

The decision upset many Clinton supporters, including this woman, who was thrown out of the rules committee meeting and whose ugly rant was widely published across the blogosphere this weekend:

AmericaBlog reports that protests over the DNC meeting have been overblown by the media.

Meanwhile, Clinton won an overwhelming victory in Puerto Rico over the weekend.

The NYT: "Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won another overwhelming victory over Senator Barack Obama on Sunday — this time in Puerto Rico — even as many Democrats, including some of her supporters, suggested it would be best if she dropped her threat to battle on past the end of the primary voting on Tuesday. 'There’s nobody taking Hillary’s side but Hillary people,' said Donald Fowler of South Carolina, a former national party chairman and one of Mrs. Clinton’s most prominent supporters, referring to her campaign’s suggestions that she might seek to challenge the way the party resolved the fight this weekend over seating the Michigan and Florida delegations. 'It’s too bad. She deserves better than this.' In a telephone interview Sunday from San Juan, P.R., Mrs. Clinton still raised the possibility that she would challenge the party’s decision on seating those delegates. 'Well, we are going to look at that and make a determination at some point,' she said. 'But I haven’t made any decision at this time.'"

Despite the Clinton victory, Barack Obama gained 17 delegates in the Puerto Rico vote, leaving him just 47 short of the 2,118 required for the nomination.

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #277

ABC NEWS: Pilloried for its ridiculous Democratic debate coverage. (source: daily dish)

HOWARD DEAN: Tells superdelegates to decide now.

GAY DAD: Recent sketch comedy from Stanford University students.

CAFFEINE: Caffeine may protect you from sun damaged skin and skin cancer.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here.

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News: Poland, Magnum P.I., Arizona, Howard Dean, The Joker

Arizona ballot measure to constitutionally ban same-sex marriages appears defeated: "The House gave preliminary approval Thursday by a 28-27 vote to put the question on the November ballot. But that OK came only after Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, lined up enough votes to tack on a provision to grant certain rights to unmarried couples living together, whether gay or straight. That move effectively tied the two issues together as a single ballot question, meaning voters who want to make same-sex weddings unconstitutional would be voting for some constitutional rights for gay couples. A spokesman for House Speaker Jim Weiers, sponsor of HCR 2065, said that is unacceptable and that the Phoenix Republican will now kill his proposal."

Magnum P.U.: Matthew McConaughey to take Tom Selleck role to the big screen?

Naomi Campbell a free supermodel after getting arrested for assaulting and spitting on a cop.

Poland passes EU Charter but gets around gay requirements: "This week Prime Minister Donald Tusk reached a deal with the opposition, inserting a clause in the rights bill guaranteeing Poland's sovereignty within the union. The cause is seen as a means where the government can opt out of EU LGBT rights protections. Kaczynski has said he will sign the revised bill."

Perez Hilton says he made out with John Mayer. But is it Pop Fiction?

Redwood City, California man faces hate crime charges for attack on gay neighbors: "Herbert Santos-Coy, 30, remained behind bars Wednesday on one count of felony assault for hate crime purposes, two counts of felony commission of a hate crime and one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest. If convicted, he faces up to eight years in state prison. 'There’s nothing the victims did that would have provoked this. It’s an outrage,' Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. Santos-Coy and his wife lived next door to the couple on Buckeye Street. On Sunday, the victims were working on their car when Santos-Coy approached them and began hurling anti-gay epithets, Wagstaffe said. Santos-Coy then allegedly struck one man in the face repeatedly before picking up a wrought iron table and swinging it at the couple. Santos-Coy had been drinking but prosecutors do not believe he was drunk at the time of the incident, Wagstaffe said."

Massive archive of gay and lesbian historical items at New York Public Library gets digital gallery and will be organized under new donor committee: "It is a newly organized... committee called LGBT@NYPL; for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. Carey Maloney and Hermes Mallea, the cochairmen, are also partners in M (Group), a design company. The goal, Mr. Maloney said, is “to get everything cataloged and digitized and to get an endowment” for the care and maintenance of the collections. Mr. Maloney is to announce at a party at the library this evening that the committee has raised $1.5 million so far. Time Warner has pledged $300,000. The MAC AIDS Fund has pledged $150,000 to improve public access to materials dealing with HIV and AIDS. Estée Lauder Companies has pledged $30,000."

Apparently, gays in London love renting cars.

Tom Brady makes 100 Unsexiest Men of 2008 list: "an overexposed, supermodel-dating, out-of-wedlock-fathering, big-game-losing metrosexual -- with a bowl haircut."

New Heath Ledger Dark Knight photos show The Joker disguised as a nurse.

Sir Ian McKellen speaks at Stonewall Equality Dinner in London: "The Lord of the Rings star spoke about the need to change society and not just the law, and lamented that many who are brave enough to be out on the gay scene still live closeted lives and careers. Sir Ian criticised religious intolerance and said he had wanted Mehdi Kazemi to be his date for the Equality dinner, but he is still in custody in Holland."

Howard Dean tells crowd at University of Wisconsin Madison that he doesn't get gay Republicans: "'They can't become more diverse. Who in their right mind, if they were African-America or Hispanic or Asian-American, if they were gay or lesbian, would join the Republican Party?' Patrick Sammon, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, called Dean's statement "callous" and said that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should publicly state what they think of it."

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News: Al Gore, Donatella Versace, Sperm, Howard Dean

Former NBA player John Amaechi's appearance on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" has been moved up to this Sunday at 9:30am ET.

Al Gore planning day of Global Warming concerts around the world that would dwarf Live Aid: "Organisers of the event, scheduled to take place on 7 July, hope to amass a worldwide television audience of two billion people in order to present the message about global warming. The series of co-ordinated concerts in seven cities - London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto - is expected to be announced today by the former American vice-president Al Gore, who is now a figurehead of the campaign against climate change. Promoters of the event, which will be branded "SOS", yesterday promised that the line-up of artists - likely to include U2, Coldplay and the Scissor Sisters - will "dwarf" those amassed for Live Aid and its successor, Live8. Venues for the London event are still being discussed but the shortlist includes Hyde Park and the new Wembley stadium." Gore has also teamed up with Richard Branson to offer a $25 million prize to inspire innovators in the private sector to compete in combating climate change.

Fundraiser for gay hip-hop Homorevolution Tour to go down this weekend in Long Beach, California. Organizer Deadlee: "I enjoy the political side. I want to be a revolutionary in homo rap. Homo rap is fresh. It comes from a different place. There's a struggle in it. Coming out is still tough for a lot of blacks and Latinos. There's still a lot of hate at us for being gay."

Howard Dean still not winning LGBT hearts and minds.

Anna Nicole: Death of a pop culture icon takes media by storm.

Teri Hatcher caught in liplock with George Bush the elder.

Donatella Versace tells Hillary Clinton to ditch the pantsuits: "I can understand (trousers) are comfortable but she’s a woman and she is allowed to show that. She should treat femininity as an opportunity and not try to emulate masculinity in politics. I admire her for her determination, which will hopefully take her to the White House."

Amsterdam Pride to feature canal boat for 11 to 16-year-olds: "A 14-year-old Danny Hoekzema came up with the idea and has conducted an Internet campaign to drum up support for his campaign, and says he has already found around 10 participants for the 30-place boat. Gay Pride organizers had said that it would be kept well away from more 'provocative' boats parading along the Dutch's city's canals and that the youngsters would be joined by their parents on board." Academic support threatened...

World's largest sperm sighted in Louisiana.

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