Towleroad Guide to the Tube #557

JOE SOLMONESE: Speaking at the hate crimes bill presser this morning. Sorry, can't find clips of other speakers.

ALAN GRAYSON: FOX News is the enemy of America.

ARMARIO: Ad for Gay Pride in Salvador, Brazil says come out of the closet.

MICROSOFT: Entering the first Microsoft store. Rip-off much?

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

News: Meghan McCain, India, Alan Cumming, Joe Solmonese, Boyzone

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese suggests that the time frame in his 2017 letter can be seen as a "narrow window" in the scope of the gay rights movement.

Straight Italian couple sues cruise company after showing up for their vacation to discover they were departing on Italy's first gay cruise: "My clients were also left embarrassed because among the passengers were people they knew and had no idea that were gay, which was uncomfortable for all parties."

Gay Al is feeling tender.

Iowa NAACP President announces support for anti-gay gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats.

Report: Iran hanged a man last week for gay sodomy.

Gay activists plan kiss-in at Fort Worth Stockyards: "The kissing booth will be on Exchange Street, right in the heart of the Stockyards and its bound to stir up controversy. In fact, one old cowboy has been quoted as warning gays that if they are not careful, they might be in for a whuppin'."

Dan Savage has never slept with Janet Napolitano.

A Spice Girls musical?

Gus van Sant and Bret Easton Ellis collaborating on film adaptation of Vanity Fair article "The Golden Suicides".

Gujarat state in India becomes home to the country's first elderly home for gay men: "The brainchild of Manvendra Singh Gohil, popularly known as India's gay prince, the project will be ready to accommodate elderly homosexuals by the end of the year. Manvendra Singh Gohil says, 'We will offer food, drinks and medical facilities for the people staying here, it will be their home.' The Rs 25-crore project will be home to 50 elderly gay men to start with. Requests for accommodation have already started trickling in."

Alan Cumming in new photo shoot from David LaChapelle.

Gecko madness!

Boyzone to hold Stephen Gately vigil on night before the funeral: "Grieving Boyzone bandmates plan to stay in the church with Stephen Gately's body the night before his funeral. Ronan Keating, 32, Mikey Graham, 37, Shane Lynch, 33, and Keith Duffy, 35, have taken the decision because Gately 'would not want to be there on his own', a source close to the group revealed."

No! Mia Michaels quits So You Think You Can Dance.

Passerby mistakenly frees female killer of London gay man: "Police are looking for three young people including two blonde teenagers who were caught on CCTV arguing with Baynham and his 30-year-old companion. The victim's friend grabbed one of the girls, receiving cuts and bruises in the process, but the girl was freed by members of the public who wrongly thought she was being assaulted, said Detective Chief Inspector Clive Heys, who is leading the inquiry."

Britney Spears shoots video for new single "3".

Meghan McCain creates Twitter furor with cleavage photo.

Muslim football team kicked out of league for refusing to play gay team.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler: Repeal DOMA now.

Lesbian says she was the victim of a hate crime at the National Equality March.

Bishop Gene Robinson will be appearing tonight at an event in Portland, Maine: "Join us for an evening of edification and education as we gather to worship God and to hear the words of the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. Sponsored by the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination, the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry in Maine, Rev. Ann Fowler, the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, the Equity Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and Integrity Maine"

News: Walt Whitman, Submarines, Leona Lewis, Polaroid, Steve-O

HRC's Joe Solmonese responds to 2017 letter uproar.

18-year-old arrested in beating death of Oakland Park, Florida gay man.

Clinton disappoints gay activists in Moscow by not decrying anti-gay abuses of Mayor Luzhkov at Walt Whitman statue unveiling, but does urge Russia to respect human rights and the democratic process: "In an innovative society, people must be free to take unpopular positions, disagree with conventional wisdom, know they are safe to challenge abuses of authority."

Man punches singer Leona Lewis in the face at book signing.

Gay poet Carl Phillips a finalist for National Book Award.

House Minority Leader John Boehner thinks sexual orientation is not an immutable characteristic, and that's why he opposes hate crimes legislation that includes it.

Ed Westwick explains his giant feather tattoo.

Navy considers allowing women to serve on submarines: "Some sailors and wives warn that putting men and women together in extremely close quarters underwater for weeks at a time is just asking for sexual harassment cases and wrecked marriages. But supporters of the idea say it is a matter of fairness and equal opportunity, and what worked on ships can work in subs."

Last-minute donations pour in for Referendum 71 in Washington: "The campaign in favor of R-71, called Washington Families Standing Together, now has nearly $1 million in the bank. Big donations include $60,000 from a special fundraising committee set up by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights group. Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer and co-founder Bill Gates each gave $25,000. The campaign against R-71 also has some last-minute donors. A relatively new committee called Vote Reject on R-71 has collected about $200,000 from the Family Policy Institute of Washington, a Lynnwood-based conservative religious group."

GQ launches in China.

Patrick Swayze gets a memorial jack-o-lantern.

Masks come off: Michael Jackson's kids to co-star in Jackson family reality show.

Gay sex club closes after man falls to his death in D.C.: "At Men’s Parties, safety doesn’t mean ensuring that the apartment’s stairs, surfaces, and exposed metal pipes provide a secure sexual landscape for party attendees. It doesn’t even mean encouraging members to engage in protected sex. At 1618 14th St., 'safe' means ensuring anonymous sex for a group of gay men sporting wedding rings, sensitive careers, or shame."

Same-sex marriage state by state: an interactive map.

Polaroid instant film cameras to make a comeback.

Video Phone: Beyoncé and Lady Gaga team up for super secret music video.

Steve-O stands up for frogs.

Senator Olympia Snowe, the sole Republican vote on the Senate Finance Committee which approved the health care bill yesterday, says any final bill that includes a public option won't get her vote.

Queer theory: "Vampires have overwhelmed pop culture because young straight women want to have sex with gay men."

Make love on a real train and get crabs while you're at it.

John Mayer gets $800 haircut, debuts new video, wants to sodomize an editor at New York magazine.

Joe Solmonese: HRC Dinner Attendees 'More Politically Aware' and Have 'Better Sense of What's at Stake'

This interview took place on Sunday but there seems to be quite a bit of discussion of it around the blogosphere regarding some statements HRC President Joe Solmonese made to Don Lemon about diversity within the organization in response to a panel discussion the night before.

Here's the panel:

Solmonese interview:

Pam Spaulding writes:

A couple of things are quite notable. Lemon asks about the diversity issue within HRC. Solmonese can't answer that question without either fibbing or going down a really uncomfortable path, so Joe chooses to answer the question in terms of paid membership, so he can reference the multitude of small dollar donors. Those donors weren't at the dinner, nor are they in leadership positions or on the board of the advocacy org.

The real boo-boo, however, is the claim that the crowd attending the annual dinner is more politically engaged, more boned-up on the issues, and even more incredibly, know more than you folks out there -- living in places where you have no rights whatsoever -- about what is at stake. Well, those who opened their wallets to see the fabulous Lady Gaga and the cast of Glee (after all, the dinner sold out before the President's appearance was billed), surely are in touch with the issues more than you are. Joe said so.

But seriously, there obviously were committed activists in that room, people who deeply care about those without the access and power to effect change in the same way they can. It's too bad that they get scooped up in the criticism of HRC's poor handling of the diversity issue. By raising the value of the attendees as "the players" who know better, he's essentially confirming all of the worst stereotypes.

Adds Michelangelo Signorile: "The idea that Solmonese is now trying to claim the people who go to the HRC black-tie dinners are actually more politically aware than grass roots activists is both hilarious and immensely elitist. But they are pretty desperate these days, threatened by the the grass roots/net roots."

I think that the major point to be taken away from events last weekend is this divide between the major lobbying organizations like HRC, and the grass roots, which proved this weekend that they are a younger force, able to mobilize, and not willing to wait until 2017 to get the rights we so desperately need. Certainly the young people who came from all around the country to participate in the National Equality March have a sense of what's at stake and a political awareness that's not spoon-fed to them by a lobbying group hungry for their donations in return.

NOTE: Solmonese will be a guest on Michelangelo Signorile's Sirius radio show at 4:30 ET today.

Andrew Sullivan: Joe Solmonese Must Resign

UPDATED

Speaking from the Equality to End HIV/AIDS Rally and Vigil which was held on Saturday evening at the Ellipse in front of the White House, Andrew Sullivan calls for Joe Solmonese, the President of the Human Rights Campaign, to resign.

Says Sullivan of HRC's leadership: "They are so out of touch. They are so out of touch with the young generation. They are so out of touch with what America actually is and could be. They are full of fear and self-loathing, and we have to stand up to them."

And here's something of a companion piece to the video.

UPDATE: Today, Sullivan posts some thoughts after reflecting a bit. "I was wrong to personalize this, but at some point the anger needs to be expressed. I'm not a politician and this video helps explain why. I should have let myself cool down before gabbing in front of a camera."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

HRC Moves Goal Post for Obama and LGBT Rights to January 2017?

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese sent out a bizarre email blast last night, on the eve of National Equality March weekend, that seems to suggest that LGBT folks should cut Obama some slack till the end of his second term to pass judgment on the promises he has or hasn't carried out. 

Folks around the blogosphere are scratching their heads.

Writes Solmonese: 

But what has he [Obama] done? 

I've written that we have actually covered a good deal of ground so far. But I'm not going to trot out those advances right now because I have something more relevant to say: It's not January 19, 2017. 

That matters for two reasons: first, the accomplishments that we've seen thus far are not the Obama Administration's record. They are the Administration's record so far.... 

I am sure of this: on January 19, 2017, I will look back on the President's address to my community as an affirmation of his pledge to be our ally. I will remember it as the day when we all stood together and committed to finish what Senator Kennedy called our unfinished business. And I am sure of this: on January 19, 2017, I will also look back on many other victories that President Barack Obama made possible.

Read the entire email blast, AFTER THE JUMP...

Whatever its meaning, as a forecast of what Obama might say tonight at the group's annual dinner, it isn't encouraging. I've heard that what's coming tonight from Obama is an announcement of a push to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in 2010, some recognition of David Huebner, the new gay ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, and some words against Question 1 in Maine. That's completely unverified, but it's what I'm hearing. I hope there's more.