News: Kay Hagan, UFO, Sean Hayes, Sex Education, Diddy

The Human Rights Campaign has released its annual scorecard, measuring support for equality in the 110th Congress.

Michael Phelps to get his own reality show?

Backstage war on The View over Elisabeth Hasselbeck's pro-McCain T-shirt: "If you do that again I will burn you down."

Researcher: HIV can lie dormant in a single cell.

Diddy goes "Black on Black" for L'Uomo Vogue.

After uproar over Roger Ebert's review of gay indie film Tru Loved (because he wrote it after only watching 8 minutes of it), Ebert goes back and reviews the whole thing: "A good number of my blog commenters pointed out that I picked on a small indie film. They are right, and I wish I hadn't. I discuss this in the new blog entry posted today, 'Definitely read me second!' Here I want to observe that it's a miracle any film gets made. Millions of tiny pieces have to come together. It takes courage and resolve to pull it off, especially on a limited budget. Stewart Wade, the writer and director of 'Tru Loved,' has achieved that miracle. Attention must be paid."

Filming to commence on Big Gay Musical.

Anti-gay offensive launched against North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan by NC Republican Party: "A new mailer in support of incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole claims that Hagan's agenda, with the help of 'liberal judges,' will be to advance a 'radical homosexual agenda' which includes same-sex marriage, removing 'Under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance, and forcing the Boy Scouts to accept gay and atheist troop leaders."

Sean Hayes and Anne Hathaway hold secret reading, may be headed to Broadway in a revival of Promises, Promises: "Craig Zadan and Neil Meron opened the reading by introducing their producing partners John Gore and Beth Williams (Broadway Across America) and Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Assuming the show moves forward, this will be Zadan and Meron's Broadway producing debut after making the hit movies of Chicago and Hairspray. The production will also be a re-teaming with the infamous Weinsteins after they all worked together on Chicago during the Miramax days...We're told that Hayes and Hathaway stunned the audience with their performances (both singing and acting) and that they garnered many huge and consistent laughs throughout--as well as a few tears."

Tabloid: Pink cloud baffles Londoners.

UFOs over Turkey!

Yeti footprints!

Ugliness on the set of Ugly Betty.

Gay former Vallejo Councilman Gary Cloutier talks to high school students a year after his failed mayoral bid: "Cloutier, who delved into local politics in 1999, said he's always embraced his sexual orientation in office, but said that never defined him as a politician. He also criticized the media for paying too much attention during the mayoral campaign to his gay identity and Davis' race. The contest was often framed by some news media as a first for Vallejo no matter what - either the city would get its first openly gay mayor or first African-American mayor."

Lucas Grabeel's character in High School Musical 3 still coded gay.

Sex education to be made compulsory in primary and secondary schools in the UK: "Children will learn about body parts and the fact that animals reproduce from the age of five, puberty and intercourse from the age of seven and contraception and abortion from the age of 11. Schools will not be allowed to opt out of the rules but the government is promising separate guidance to faith schools, which could find elements of the new curriculum at odds with their spiritual beliefs. The schools minister, Jim Knight, said they would still have to teach the curriculum - which includes contraception, abortion and homosexuality - but will separately be allowed to continue to teach religious beliefs about sex."

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #369

YOU VOTE: More celebrities urge involvement in the voting process.

ELISABETH MCCAIN HASSELBECK: and the ladies of The View erupt over campaign allegations.

SARAH PALIN: I didn't bring up Ayers, the New York Times did.

GWEN IFILL: Palin "blew me off" during the debate.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here

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News: Senegal, Orlando, Jake Gyllenhaal, Genetics, Edmund White

Company to offer service sequencing an individual's complete genetic make-up for $5,000.

Senegalese entertainer who was forced from his country after appearing in magazine photos of a 'gay wedding', has found refuge in New York: "I'm fabulous. I feel good."

Orlando to become first central Florida city to offer benefits to partners of gay employees: "Orlando city commissioners are expected to approve the plan on Monday. There are currently 18 Orlando city employees who would benefit from the measure, which would cost the city about $37,000. 'It's going to be a good thing. It shows we're progressive. It will help us attract good people. Benefits are an important package if you're going to work for government, and this will help us compete with other government agencies,' Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan said."

He Bopped: Robert Downey Jr. on his former compulsions..."I was a compulsive, serial masturbator, but it was the best thing I could have been. I utilized that organ and rode it for everything it was worth."

Columbia International University in South Carolina warns Soulforce they'll be arrested should they try to enter campus today.

Brad Pitt shows his support for Obama.

Report reveals that lesbian soldier Ciara Durkin, who died under 'mysterious circumstances' at an Afghan airbase, took her own life, and sent text messages before she did it: "According to the report, Ms Durkin was found lying against shipping containers behind the chapel. It found that she shot herself in the head while sitting on the ground, leaning back against the containers. Just before she died, text messages were sent from her phone to a friend saying she was going to take her own life. The report does not draw any conclusions as to why the soldier took her own life, but sworn statements from fellow soldiers on the base suggest she was dealing with a range of stressful issues."

Madonna Sticky & Sweet Tour arrives in the U.S.

Signing smack: Project Runway's Jack Mackenroth's thoughts on New York fashion week: "I know some of the designers from other seasons were talking smack about the Project Runway finalists and all their families were right in front of them. I was hanging out with Martin Ritchie, the deaf model on Janice Dickinson’s Modeling agency and we were signing that the Rock and Republic collection was terribly boring so anyone who new sign language within eye view may have 'overheard' us."

Hillary Clinton steps in for Joe Biden at HRC dinner in Washington D.C...."[McCain's] not a maverick. He's a mimic." HRC statement on death of Biden's mother-in-law.

O.J. Simpson guilty on 12 charges in robbery-kidnapping case.

Jake Gyllenhaal goes solo in London.

John Barrowman just wants a little respect.

Rolling Stone eviscerates McCain: "In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward."

British MP once caught up in internet underwear scandal appointed Deputy Leader of the Commons.

Edmund White on his new biography of Rimbaud, and Rimbaud's relationship with Paul Verlaine: "I think it’s quite clear that Rimbaud was the top in the relationship, and I think that’s something that straight people don’t usually grasp very well. They often see the younger boy as being a sort of stand-in for a girl—maybe that comes out of the classical Greek model. But this idea of a tyrannical younger boy frightening and controlling an older married man is something that people who are gay and who’ve lived in gay life recognize as a possible variation of that situation."

Ugandan government promises strengthening of anti-gay laws.

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Barack Obama Takes Flight on Men's Vogue

He's also taking flight in national polls, capturing a "statistically significant" 48 to 44 point lead over John McCain following the tumult in the financial markets.

It's the second time for Obama on the cover of Men's Vogue. He appeared before in September 2006.

I appended this to yesterday's post on Obama's interview with Philadelphia Gay News, but since some may not have seen it, here's the link to the full interview.

In other Obama/Biden news, the Human Rights Campaign announced yesterday that Biden would be the featured speaker at its National Dinner in Washington D.C. on October 4th.

Said Biden: "I’m honored to participate in this event. Discrimination has no place in this country and I am proud to stand with HRC in the fight to end it. Barack Obama and I will bring the change we need in Washington. The Bush Administration's policies have been disastrous for the LGBT community and a McCain Administration would just mean four more years of the same."

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Lesbian Says Security Assaulted Her During SF HRC Dinner

Catherine Cusic, a 63-year-old lesbian who bought a ticket to the Human Rights Campaign dinner in San Francisco on Saturday night, said she stood up to begin distributing material (presumably in protest of the HRC's position on ENDA) during President Joe Solmonese's speech. She says she was then manhandled by securited who threw her out:

"At this point 2-3 large men accosted me. I don’t remember their exact words but I quietly said that I had bought a ticket and had the right to be there. I began to place printed material on a table when I was grabbed roughly by at least 2 men (who I think were behind me). One of them put my right arm in an armlock behind my back and up and bent my right wrist with tremendous force. I was also held by both arms (with force enough around both upper arms that I had bruises within 20 minutes). At some point I was knocked to the ground and dragged out of the dining area into the outer room where they lifted me to my feet but did not let go. I then said to them: "let me go, I will leave." (We were walking to a stairwell). They did not let go and dragged me off my feet again and down the stairs to the exit on Post street."

Cusic says she has also been ejected from the St. Francis (by SF police) but is accusing the private security hired by HRC of excessive force.

In related news, Castro in the Streets created a video clip regardingthe alternative street party thrown in support of trans people outside Saturday's event.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

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L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa Pulls Out of HRC Dinner

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined other California political figures in deciding not to attend Saturday night's Human Rights Campaign dinner in San Francisco. Villaraigosa was reportedly the headliner:

"The Human Rights Campaign is one of the nation's most prominent gay rights organizations and the Washington-based group already has given over $500,000 to defeat the same-sex marriage measure. But many transgender activists and their allies have been angry at the group since the fall, when its leaders agreed to support a federal job discrimination ban that protected gays, lesbians and bisexuals - but not transgender people. Matt Szabo, Villaraigosa's spokesman, said the mayor's decision was more a byproduct of the Human Rights Campaign controversy than a snub of the group itself. When Villaraigosa agreed to appear at the dinner at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, he was unaware that the San Francisco Labor Council had urged its members to boycott the event, which would have put the Democratic mayor, who is mentioned as a possible 2010 gubernatorial candidate, in the position of having to cross a union picket line, according to Szabo."

Above, Villaraigosa officiates the wedding of American Beauty producer Bruce Cohen and his partner Gabriel Catone last month.

In late June, San Francisco Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Bevan Dufty, Assemblyman Mark Leno, and state Sen. Carole Migden announced they would not be attending the event.

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Mars Pulls Homophobic Snickers Ad After Talks with HRC

Following discussions with the Human Rights Campaign, Mars Inc. has pulled a homophobic Snickers ad in which Mr. T shoots at a swishy jogger with a Gatling gun, ordering him to "run like a real man!" and "Get some nuts!"

The ad was recently slammed in an editorial by Ad Age critic Bob Garfield, who called on the agency parent Omnicom to stop with its homophobia.

Like two other spots, one for the Dodge Caliber (created by Omnicom agency BBDO, Detroit) featuring a couple of 'fairies', and the first well-known Snickers Super Bowl ad (created by Omnicom's TBWA, New York) which featured two mechanics who accidentally kiss and then force each other to do something "manly" to rid themselves of the gay, a new Snickers spot features the same type of effeminate stereotyping and bullying.

Said HRC in a statement: "Following conversations between the Human Rights Campaign and senior Mars representatives, the company has agreed to pull its most recent ad using stereotypes of gay men to sell its Snickers product line. HRC applauds Mars for taking swift and appropriate action...These kinds of ads perpetuate the notion that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community is a group of second class citizens and that violence against GLBT people is not only acceptable, but humorous. We are hopeful that Mars will make the necessary changes in their organization to ensure this does not happen yet again."

View the spot, AFTER THE JUMP...

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SF Politicos Recognize Boycott of Human Rights Campaign Dinner

San Francisco Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Bevan Dufty are among those local politicians supporting a boycott and protest of the Human Rights Campaign dinner in that city next month, over the organization's failure to support a trans-inclusive employment non-discrimination bill (ENDA) last year. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "The city's two LGBT Democratic clubs support the boycott, as does the San Francisco Labor Council. Assemblyman Mark Leno and state Sen. Carole Migden, both of San Francisco, also are not attending the event."

It's a scene that has played out in New York (pictured) and other cities.

The paper reports: "On Tuesday, San Francisco Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Bevan Dufty introduced a resolution at City Hall calling for a bill that includes transgender people and recognizing the boycott. 'The Human Rights Campaign should not be human rights cowards,' Ammiano said at a news conference at the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center. He said the organization seems uneasy with transgender issues. Dufty said he will skip the fundraising dinner for the first time in 23 years and instead will make dinner at his home for people protesting outside the event."

Matt Foreman, former executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, will be among those protesting outside the event. Said Foreman: "What is going on here is an emperor-has-no-clothes moment. We still don't have one single federal law that protects gay people, let alone transgender people."

HRC defend its actions in a statement from President Joe Solmonese: "HRC's position is that we could not oppose - and, in fact, should support - legislation to provide crucial civil rights protections that would be brought to the House floor for a vote, even though we did not and, certainly, would not have chosen that course...At a time when our community is threatened, once again, with a cynical election-year ploy that could hurt our families, we believe that it's time to set aside our differences and fight for what we all want."

The HRC dinner, which will benefit marriage equality (the organization has already made an initial pledge of $500,000 to the Equality for All marriage coalition), takes place on July 26th at the Westin St. Francis hotel.

Activists to boycott gay-rights group dinner [sf chronicle]

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