Towleroad Guide to the Tube #225

JOHN KERRY: Endorsing Obama, John Kerry quotes MLK: "The time is always right to do what is right." Move seen as slap to former running mate John Edwards.

ASK HILLARY: Clinton releases video in which she answers questions from young voters.

CONSERVATIVE CATFIGHT: Pat Toomey and Tony Perkins argue over whose candidate is more liberal.

SANDBACH RUGBY CLUB: Male bonding. I featured a link to this a while back, but it's worth revisiting (NSFW).

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News: Ivri Lider, Provincetown, Anderson Cooper, Aurora Borealis

Provincetown police to receive civil rights training following negligence over several hate crimes that have occurred at the tip of Cape Cod. Police Chief Warren Tobias reportedly remains unwilling or unable to communicate with victims and LGBT anti-violence advocates: "At a committee meeting last week, Provincetown acting Police Chief Warren Tobias said he would not seek input from those who complained this summer, such as the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project in Boston and off-Cape resident Richard Hall." Here's a refresher...

Hunk du Jour offers up a lengthy interview with out Israeli singer Ivri Lider. Lider: "I think famous people coming out is an extremely important thing that helps to change lots of peoples' views. It also helps a lot of young people who are dealing with their sexuality and the feelings of being isolated and alone in the world. With regard to Israel, or at least Tel Aviv, you could probably call it one of the gayest cities in the world. For most people here, it's just not an issue."

John Kerry urges military working on investigation into slain Arghanistan lesbian soldier Ciara Durkin's death to work faster: "The Durkin family has waited patiently for more than two months for a final report on Ciara’s death. This incredible family deserves answers, without delay, so that they can begin to find some closure."

Minneapolis church and others take stand: No heterosexual marriages until same-sex marriage is legal. Reverend: "If you feel that gay and lesbian people are loved and credited by God, then how can we continue to discriminate against our brothers and sisters?"

Scientists discover energy source of Aurora Borealis: " New data from NASA's Themis mission, a quintet of satellites launched this winter, found the energy comes from a stream of charged particles from the sun flowing like a current through twisted bundles of magnetic fields connecting Earth's upper atmosphere to the sun. The energy is then abruptly released in the form of a shimmering display of lights, said principal investigator Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California at Los Angeles."

Suck it Jesus, Kathy Griffin's My Life on the D-List just got renewed: "Official word from Team Kathy, EMMY award winning My Life on the D-List has been renewed for a forth season. But this just isn't any renewal. Instead of six episodes, try ten on for size."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams refuses to allow Bishop Gene Robinson or "turn-coat" Martyn Minns to attend next year's Anglican Lambeth Conference.

The harrowing career of Anderson Cooper: the newsman must evade both chest-beating gorillas and Kelly Ripa.

Christian video site GodTube bans the word gay, yet allows 'fag' and 'dyke'.

Madonna to be inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with Leonard Cohen, the Ventures and the Dave Clark Five.

Gay British Stonewall volunteer receives prestigious Diana award: "I'm so proud to receive the Diana Award. When I was bullied for being gay there was no one I could talk to and when other young people told me about their experiences of homophobic bullying, I knew I wasn't alone. I was determined to set up a youth group where people like me in my local community could share their experiences and offer each other support in dealing with the bullying we faced."

Bring Jack back: Project Runway fan starts campaign to bring back Jack Mackenroth, who left the show this week after developing a staph infection. If you missed his Flashdance parody, don't.

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Mystery Surrounds Shooting Death of Lesbian Soldier

Mystery surrounds the shooting death of Ciara Durkin, a lesbian serving in Afghanistan with troops from the Massachusetts National Guard.

The Boston Globe reports: "The Defense Department says it is investigating Durkin's death, which it described as a 'non-combat-related incident.' Durkin's family says Army officials have told them she was found with a single bullet in her head, lying near the church where she worshipped on the secure Bagram Airfield. The Army has not publicly disclosed whether a weapon was found near her body. The Massachusetts National Guard initially reported that Durkin was killed in action, though a Guard spokesman later said the term meant only that Durkin was serving in Afghanistan at the time."

US Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy and US Representative William D. Delahunt have made special requests to the Defense Department for answers about Durkin, a resident of Quincy, Massachusetts.

Durkin's sister, Fiona Canavan, one of nine siblings in the family, has concerns that the shooting could have been related to Durkin's sexuality: "Ciara was a lesbian, and that's bound to come out. It is possible that someone over there found that out, and, you know, maybe they were very homophobic."

Canavan added: "She did say to us that she had concerns about things she was seeing when she was over there. She told us if anything happened to her, that we were to investigate it."

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John Kerry Releases Statement on Florida Taser Incident

Senator John Kerry released a statement this afternoon about the unfortunate incident at the University of Florida, in which student Andrew Meyer was was pulled from a microphone by police and led away before being tackled and tasered in front of an auditorium full of students. Meyer was in the process of asking Kerry a series of questions.

Said Kerry: "In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody. I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building. I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."

Background
University of Florida Student Tasered at John Kerry Event [tr]

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University of Florida Student Tasered at John Kerry Event

Andrew Meyer, a student at the University of Florida, was pulled from a microphone by police and led away before being tackled and tasered in front of an auditorium full of students as Senator John Kerry urged the audience to "cool down".

Other students in the auditorium can be heard objecting to the tasering and shouting "police brutality!"

Local 10 reports: "Meyer screams for help and asks "What did I do?" as he tries to break away from officers. He is forced to the ground and officers order him to stop resisting. Meyer says he will walk out if the officers let him go. As Kerry tells the audience he will answer the student's "very important question," Meyer struggles on the ground and yells at the officers to release him, crying out, "Don't Tase me, bro," just before he is Tasered. He is then led from the room, screaming, 'What did I do?' Meyer was charged with resisting an officer and disturbing the peace, according to Alachua County jail records. No bond had been set. Meyer was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning, a jail official said."

Says Lane Hudson in the Huffington Post: "He's clearly upset that Bush's Administration is clearly ripping the Constitution to threads, edging towards ANOTHER ill-conceived war, and that Kerry could have stopped it if he had forced the issue on the 2004 voter suppression reports. If more people were this passionate, then we might have a chance at bringing this country back from a state of absolute apathy in the face of corrupt government. This guy made the people in the room feel uncomfortable because of his passion and tough questions. Because of the uber sensitive environment that George Bush's 'free speech zone' society has created, everybody is on edge and thinks that free speech has gone away. I'm not sorry to say that most of America needs a reality check. Serious issues are before us and sober conversation with polite head nodding isn't gonna make anything better."

UPDATE: Meyer to be released by police.

UPDATE: John Kerry released this statement on the incident: "In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody. I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building. I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."

Student from Weston Tasered at John Kerry forum [miami herald]
Andrew Meyer [website]

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News: Legally Blonde, John Kerry, James Lyons, Prince William

Separate but equal still not so equal. New Jersey couples who have formed civil unions encountering denials of coverage from insurance companies: "I called to ask if they were going to be honoring that law and providing me with the same coverage that they would any married couple, and I was told no. The woman on the phone actually said to me: 'We do not have to obey New Jersey law.'"

He's the ticket: Beckham set to take America.

The Washington Post looks at gays at the State Department. Foreign Service general director George Staples: "They serve among us, and it's not an issue," George Staples, director general of the Foreign Service, said recently. "We really don't track or follow these kinds of things at all. I have no way of knowing."

Gay film editor and actor James Lyons dies at 46. Worked on Todd Haynes films Velvet Goldmine, Safe, Far from Heaven, and Poison: "The cause was squamous cell cancer, which followed more than a decade of treatment for H.I.V., his brother Patrick said....A member of Act Up, the AIDS awareness organization, in the 1990s, Mr. Lyons said he saw film as a medium to spread awareness of the disease. At his death, he was preparing to direct a short film about Andy Warhol."

Royal dumping: Prince William splits with girlfriend Kate Middleton.

Obama fundraising list shows shift in cash away from Clinton: "Among the biggest fund-raisers for Mr. Obama’s campaign are as many as a half-dozen former guests of the Clinton White House. At least two are close enough to the Clintons to have slept in the Lincoln bedroom. At minimum, a dozen were major fund-raisers for President Bill Clinton. At least four worked in the administration and one, James Rubin, is a son of a former Clinton Treasury Secretary, Robert E. Rubin. About two dozen of the top Obama fund-raisers have contributed to Mrs. Clinton’s Senate campaigns or political action committee, some as recently as a few months ago." The money race...

The NYT takes a look at Jerry Mitchell, the choreographer-turned-director behind the Broadway musical adaptation of Legally Blonde: "Mr. Mitchell and his partner, Erik Sherr, an actor, have been together for six years. Perhaps because he is not tortured about his sexuality, as both Bennett and Robbins were, he is not torturing either. Mr. Luftig, who came to San Francisco to keep an eye on his novice director, said there were no prima donna meltdowns; tech rehearsals, when shows often hemorrhage cash because of a director’s disorganization, finished ahead of schedule."

Delta Lambda Phi: Gay frat opens at University of Wisconsin Madison.

STUDY: Gay men who use crystal meth five times more likely to test HIV positive than those who don't. "The center also found that 25% of the 6,360 MSM it tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in 2006 reported using crystal meth at least once, compared with 18% of the 5,300 MSM tested in 2005. Mike Rizzo, the center's manager of crystal meth recovery services, said 43% of people newly infected with HIV report some meth use."

NYDN Widdicombe: "Which R&B singer likes to drop ecstasy in the studio and fool around with his posse as if it doesn't count as gay because they're all taking drugs? Wonder if he knows there's security camera footage?"

Enough already. John Kerry leaves possibility open of entering the White House race again.

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #79

JON STEWART: Breaks down the Dick Cheney/Wolf Blitzer interview.

JOHN MCCAIN: All aboard the double talk express!

IRAQ WAR VETS: Against escalation.

JOHN KERRY: U.S. is an "international pariah".

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