Co-Founder Of Advocate And Gay Rights Champion Aristide Laurent Dead At 74, 18-Year-Old Male Charged With Murder Of Stuart Walker, Uganda Complains That United Kingdom Threat To Withhold Aid Unless Gay Rights Record Reversed Childish Act, Irish Independent Writer Argues That Loud And Proud Gays Have Forgotten They Are A Minority And Need To Know Their Place, Poll Finds Majority Of Washington State Residents Support Same Sex Marriage, Zachary Quinto Halloween Costume, Michael Trevino Underwear Model, Patrick Schwarzenegger

Aristide Laurent has died. According to an obituary in Out in New Jersey, the 70-year-old died at his Los Angeles home from complications of cancer. Laurent was a co-founder of what is today The Advocate, writing on the occasion of the magazine’s 40th anniversary, that “The founding purpose of the early Advocate was to unite and inform the gay community of what was happening in their closed society.”

A teenager has appeared in court charged with the murder of barman Stuart Walker in East Ayrshire. The 28-year-old's body was discovered at the side of a road at Caponacre Industrial Estate in Cumnock shortly before 5:00 am on October 22. Ryan Esquierdo was charged with murder and theft when he appeared in private at Ayr Sheriff Court. The 18-year-old, from Cumnock, made no plea or declaration and was remanded in custody. The case was continued.

The United Kingdom is showing a "bullying mentality" by threatening to cut aid to countries where homosexuality is illegal, a Ugandan official says. UK Prime Minister David Cameron said at the weekend that those receiving British aid should respect gay rights. But Ugandan presidential adviser John Nagenda told the BBC Ugandans were "tired of these lectures" and should not be treated like "children.” Homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda and most other African countries. Many people see it as violating religious and cultural beliefs. In Nigeria, the government has unveiled a draft law which makes it an offence for anyone to support gay marriages. Cameron told the BBC he had raised the issue of gay rights at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in Perth, Australia, last week. Cameron said those receiving UK aid should "adhere to proper human rights.” Ending the bans on homosexuality was one of the recommendations of an internal report into the future relevance of the Commonwealth. Nagenda accused Cameron of showing an "ex-colonial mentality" and of treating Ugandans "like children.” "Uganda is, if you remember, a sovereign state and we are tired of being given these lectures by people," he said. "If they must take their money, so be it." Cameron's threat applies only to one type of bilateral aid known as general budget support, and would not reduce the overall amount of aid to any one country. Malawi has already had some of its budget support suspended over concerns about its attitude to gay rights. Nagenda said the UK's "bullying mentality" was "very wrong," and added that "Those who have more should give to those who have less. It's as simple as that." Nagenda said he doubted that the Ugandan parliament would ever approve a bill which proposed the death penalty for some homosexual acts, adding, “I believe it will die a natural death. But this kind of ex-colonial mentality of saying: 'You do this or I withdraw my aid' will definitely make people extremely uncomfortable with being treated like children.” The bill - tabled by MP David Bahati - sparked widespread international condemnation earlier this year. Meanwhile, a Senate committee in Nigeria is holding public hearings into a proposed new law on same sex marriages. Homosexual acts and same sex marriages are already illegal in Nigeria but the draft law would also punish those who aid or abet such marriages, reports say. Cameron said he had spoken with "a number of African countries" and that more pressure had been applied by Foreign Secretary William Hague, who deputised for him during parts of the Commonwealth summit. Some 41 nations within the 54-member Commonwealth have laws banning homosexual acts. Many of these laws are a legacy of British rule.

The Irish Independent publishes an opinion piece by Eamon Delaney that may very well be the most inane argument against the advancement of gay rights ever. Titled Loud and Proud Gays Want to Take Over The Rest Of Society, the 49-year old Delaney begins by stressing that “some of my best friends are gay,” but then quickly states “like many, I've recently begun to get impatient with the endless trumpeting of gay 'identity', and the growing appetite for more and more rights and privileges. I'm not being reactionary and I'm all for gay rights and an end to prejudice and discrimination, and always have, but at this stage it seems as if the tables have turned and a minority community -- the gays -- want to increasingly change mainstream culture to suit them.” It gets worse.

A new state-wide poll by the University of Washington Center for Survey Research found most voters would support a state gay marriage law if it's approved by the Legislature. The Seattle Times reports that of voters surveyed, 55-percent indicated they would uphold a Legislature-approved same sex marriage law if it were challenged by referendum. The poll found 38-percent would oppose the law and 7-percent were undecided. However, additional questions in the poll found that 44-percent of voters surveyed said gays and lesbians should have the same legal right as straight couples to marry; and 22-percent said they should have the same legal rights as married couples, but it should not be called marriage. 17-percent said there should be no legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples. The wide-ranging poll touched on several other issues, including the state budget shortfall. The Washington Poll surveyed 938 registered voters state-wide from October 10-30. It has a plus or minus 3.2 percentage points margin of error. State Senator Ed Murray (D-Seattle) and Representative Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle) have said they're considering a push for same sex marriage in the next regular session in January. Both men have worked on gay rights issues for years and have been building incrementally toward same sex marriage.

Zachary Quinto is “fireworks on the fourth of july” for Halloween, and since it was apparently a costume cobbled together in ten minutes, Quinto gets high marks.

Michael Trevino, Vampire Diaries hotness, is the new underwear model of Bench Philippines.

Patrick Schwarzenegger spotted Sunday donning a USC tank top.