Mark Gower, New Jersey Library Director Gail Sweet Self-Censors Gay Youth Anthology Removing Book From All Shelves, Tom Hardy Comes Out As Bisexual, Sam Worthington Sexy Shirtless And Soaking Wet, Guys With iPhones Goodness, Zac Efron Gets Lap Dance, CBS Goes From Having No Gay Characters To Have Three Random Gay Characters In Mere Moments

Mark Gower, a 26 year old gay man from Portland, Oregon, who was living in Washington, D.C. since 2006, was found dead in his apartment Thursday, July 22nd. A graduate of Portland State University, Gower had spent several years working as an executive recruiter at Ledgent Search Group, a staffing agency, and recently worked as a dancer at Secrets, a gay club in the district. Police do not suspect foul play. Tim White, a friend, said police are apt to investigate the death as accidental, and added that he didn’t “fell Mark would want his legacy to have been that he was a ‘gay dancer.’ He was a human being. A caring, capable, and independent individual who just happened to be gay. It was only a part of who he was. He was a son, brother, grandchild, and a very good friend. He is missed by all who knew him.”

In New Jersey, the American Civil Liberties Union, under the auspice of the Freedom of Information Act, obtained e-mails revealing that Gail Sweet, director of the Burlington County Library System, has been successful in removing Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology from all of the systems shelves, Sweet categorizing the book as “child pornography.” The censorship, incidentally, was prompted by Glenn Beck’s 9.12 Project, an organization that wants to return America to a time that never actually existed. The link, by the way, contains the phone numbers – cell and office – of Sweet, should you want to voice your opinion.

Tom Hardy – a standout in Inception – was asked in an interview whether he had any sexual relationships with men, and replied “As a boy? Of course I have. I’m an actor for fuck’s sake,” adding that “I’m done experimenting but there’s plenty of stuff in a relationship with another man, especially gay men, that I need in my life. A lot of gay men get my thing for shoes. I have definite feminine qualities and a lot of gay men are incredibly masculine.” The 32 year old, who has battled an addiction problem publically in the past, has a two year son from a previous relationship, and is currently engaged to 28 year old actress Charlotte Riley.

Sexy Sam Worthington, whom Tom Hardy is replacing in This Means War, spotted on the beach in Italy, shirtless, soaking wet.

My future husband makes an appearance on Guys with iPhones. (Site NSFW)

Perhaps in some misguided attempt to quell rampant rumours, Zac Efron, in New York City over the weekend promoting Charlie St. Cloud (Efron is getting good reviews; the movie not so much) reportedly accompanied High School Musical co-star Corbin Bleu to Flashdancers Gentlemen’s Club Sunday night, staying till 3:00 am, spending more than $2,000 on lap dancers and vodka. Although the same source reports that Kevin Jonas is all sensual with his spouse Danielle and you know how true that story has to be.

CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler says that after receiving a failing grade for the second straight year from GLAAD, the network intends to a gay character each to the new sitcom $#*! My Dad Says, as well as returning comedy Rules of Engagement and returning drama The Good Wife. "We’re disappointed in our track record so far. We’re going to do it. We’re not happy with ourselves,” said Tassler, apparently oblivious to how random her response is. Should not gay characters appear, organically, as a part of an overall thoughtfulness on the part of the producers and writers, and not just magically appear?