Vancouver Pride, Stand-Up Comic Barney Frank Zings Kathy Griffin, Iowa November Elections Another Referendum On Gay Marriage, Nathan Lane Appears On Modern Family, Glee Wins Three Television Critics Awards, Alan Cumming Is A Foreskin Fan

Hundreds of thousands spectators lined the streets of downtown Vancouver, British Columbia Sunday for the city’s 2010 Gay Pride Parade. There were an estimated 150 floats, among them the RCMP, the Vancouver gay men’s hockey team, and the always popular Cirque de So Gay. This year’s parade, while celebrating the city’s cultural and sexual diversity, highlighted political activism, the controversial Queers Against Israeli Apartheid among the parade participants, the group chanting “More Masturbation! No Occupation!” Among those attending, Gordon and Diane Peters, from a small town in Manitoba who had come to the city for a wedding this weekend, and who watched their first ever gay pride parade. Diane said that while “not a big parade person, there is a lot of people here, and a lot of support for different people, different cultures. It’s amazing,” adding that should any of her children or grandchildren choose to participate in a gay pride parade at some point “it would be totally fine. Why should it bother me?”

Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank is not a fan of Kathy Griffin. Frank, who appearance on Griffin’s My Life on D-List was controversial – she called fellow Massachusetts politician Scott Brown’s two daughter’s “prostitutes” to which Frank promptly demanded she apologize – is asked why he allowed Griffin to film an episode partly in Frank’s office. “She asked if I would do it, and you say no, then you get demonized as someone who is afraid,” said Frank. “So she came to my office and said, ‘I demand that you pass he repeal – don’t ask, don’t tell – by tomorrow, and if not, it will be a bitter pill.’ I said, ‘Well, it won’t be the only pill you swallow this week, I’m sure.’” Asked if he were implying Griffin is a pill popper, Frank stated “I said what I said.”

Both the pro-gay marriage One Iowa and the anti-gay marriage National Organization for Marriage were in downtown Des Moines, Iowa Sunday, and although the state Supreme Court ruled that the gay marriage was legal in March, 2009, the upcoming gubernatorial election this November NOM wants to endorse the candidate that will place a ballot measure asking voters to overturn the court’s decision and amend the constitution to define marriage as that existing only between one man and one woman. NOM head Brian Brown, speaking to a crowd estimated to be in the 50’s, said that “we’re encouraged and optimistic that we’re going to have candidates elected who the basic rights of the citizens of Iowa to have a say on gay marriage. “ One Iowa executive director Carolyn Jenison told a crowd of an estimated 150 pro-gay marriage supporters that “we are confronted with the possibility of waking up November 3rd with a newly elected anti-gay governor. One or both of our legislative chambers controlled by extremists who seek to deny the right to marry for gay and lesbian Iowans.”

Nathan Lane is joining the cast of ABC’s Modern Family for a one-off episode where the award winning actor will play Pepper, the flamboyant older friend of Cameron and Mitchell who was referenced last season.

Modern Family won the Best Comedy award Saturday night at the Television Critics Association, Glee won Program of the Year, Outstanding New Program, and Jane Lynch won for Individual Achievement in Comedy. Best Drama was a tie between Breaking Bad and Lost. Julianna Margulies won Individual Achievement in Drama.

Alan Cumming would rather a man retain his hood, Cumming posting a blog entry titled Foreskin Man that reads in part “I was saddened to hear that President Clinton and Bill Gates made statements last week at the AIDS conference in Vienna strongly advocating circumcision as a preventive measure in the fight against HIV/AIDS, citing ‘overwhelming evidence’ that it works and saves lives. Of course, the word ‘might’ being used in the same sentence as an exhortation to genitally mutilate on a mass scale should perhaps ring alarm bells. It certainly does mine, and reports such as this one makes me wary. I have been looking at a lot of material online about this issue, here for instance and have been gratified to see that the issue has made it into the comic books, and as well as being entertaining Foreskin Man highlights the politics and lack of objectivity in the reports and studies that advocate hacking off genitals above education on safe sex and more money for research and drugs.”