Today is the 20th anniversary of the 1993 March on Washington in D.C. I took the bus down alone, reading an uncorrected galley of the Randy Shilts book Conduct Unbecoming, which I'd gotten from my co-worker Michael Denneny. Denneny is in the news lately for confessing that "Patient Zero" was a made up ploy for publicity for Shilts's And the Band Played On.

Once there, I recall meeting up with friends and being awed by the sheer numbers. I made sure to get a numbered wristband: Mine was #669! I guess I was early.

I remember this image was everywhere:

I've never felt so blown away by being a part of the gay community, not before, not since. 

QUESTION: Who'da thunk it that just 20 years later, gays in the military would be a moot point and we'd be pushing rapidly toward full marriage equality? ANSWER: We thunk it. We did. That day, everything seemed possible. And you know what? It was.

A Chris before dying

New trailer for Chris Colfer's Struck By Lightning.

Al Gore on Sandy: "Toldja!"

President Obama: "Streamlined"assistance to Sandy victims.

Mitt Romney not a fan of flood prep.

Romney surrogate lies: Roe v. Wade would be safe under Romney.

Bill Clinton gives out lesbian Tammy Baldwin an assist in her Senate race.

Poll guru Nate Silver mocked, called "effeminate."

Polling may be affected by Sandy; just vote in a week.

Clueless Stacey Dash still LOVES Romney/Ryan.

Britney Spears fans—sticklers for keepin' it real—hated Lucky's fakey cover.

Damiana & Barbara are a fright.

Anderson Cooper's daytime talk show canceled.

Madonna teases on Gaga.

Jeff Stryker's penis does Vaudeville (Work Unfriendly) in Florida.

Can I have its autograph?

"I will win by this much!"

Jonathan Chait has a compelling read at NYMag.com about how Romney's team is semi-successfully duping the media into going along with the idea that his election—considered nearly impossible before the first debate—is now a fait accompli. It's a bluff, but it's one that could work because when the media buys into something, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"You sank—I mean, my battleship is as ship-shape as ever!"

I was particularly struck by Chait's comparison to George W. Bush. He was slightly ahead in all the polls in 2000 and behaved very much like his election was a foregone conclusion. However, it was not. In fact, Al Gore bested him in the final popular vote and the only reason Bush won the electoral college was by Supreme Court intervention. He was projecting confidence, and it probably took him as far as he wound up going.

Whiny Ann Romney—who's never seemed less like a First Lady than here—sharply rebukes the help her husband's peers who have been complaining about his historically seismic gaffes:

"Stop it. This is hard. You want to try it? Get in the ring."

I daresay many of his biggest critics did try it and did get in the ring but were swamped by his personal fortune and the character assassination it bought. Now, he's getting his just desserts. Let's hope this anti-Romney wave continues for another several weeks, right through Election Day. So far, so good.

Meanwhile, Romney—like Al Gore before him—is being excoriated for apparently spray-tanning himself in an effort to look more Latino at a Latino forum.

If Al Gore had been this forceful when running for president, all those idiots who vote based on if they think a president is interesting enough might have put him over the top in Florida—he's now literally calling bullshit on climate-change deniers.

"Masseuse" by Joshua Kirby

Al Gore has been cleared in short order by the Portland police regarding allegations that he sexually assaulted a masseuse.

I'd hate for Al Gore to be a molester of ladies, but I would accept it if it seemed credible; with new info emerging about his alleged sex attack, I have to say I don't think it does. 

The accuser did a few things that make her seem credible—called a friend the night of, called a sex-harassment hotline within a few days—but so many other things that really don't seem credible. Her actions seem sketchy, to say the least. And those semen-stained paints...weren't. And she failed a lie-detector test.

I don't see this as a legit case, and it's a shame if it's all made up because that's all it took to lose him a lot of points with people who otherwise admired the man.

American Media, Inc., goes full-bore anti-Obama with Globe (July 12, 2010) touting a cover story "proving" that he was not born in the U.S. (actually, their source, formerly in the Hawaiian bureau of records, sounds shakier than Kirstie Alley on a treadmill) and National Enquirer (July 12, 2010) presenting us with Al Gore's sex-attack accuser (who has some steel balls if she's lying). Oh, and regarding the latter, there's not a witness and video; there's a man she allegedly called after the attack and the video—unseen as yet—is video taken of the hotel lobby that may or may not exist and that may or may not show the alleged victim being upset.

Hope it's not true. So far, Gore is flatly denying it all. I have to say, the timeline (she told police when it happened, never did interviews with them for years, later filed a report, now wants money) is suspicious. As is the image of Gore mauling a lady for sex. But stranger things have happened.

Not so boring after all, eh?

Hopefully, National Enquirer (July 5, 2010) is bluffing with their story confirming that Al Gore was accused of sexually assaulting a massage therapist back in 2006—a potential crime whose statute of limitations expires within months but which may be pursued in civil court. He apparently hired a masseuse after hours on a business trip, and she later filed a report—uninvestigated by police when she decided against cooperating—that Gore, under the alias "Mr. Stone," subjected her to "sexual contact without consent."

Oh, and get this—she reportedly saved her pants just like Monica Lewinsky saved her dress.

We'll see.

The tabloids can't decide if Al and Tipper Gore are dunzo because Al's gay (Globe's June 21, 2010, issue, above) or because he's a womanizer (Star's June 21, 2010, issue, below): 

My favorite B.S. quote: "He's obsessed with his daily massage. He has a string of beefy guys who service him on a regular basis. Al can't get through the day without what he calls 'my rub.'" Globe also points out that Gore has a pad in the St. Regis Hotel and Residences in San Francisco.