Halloween's tomorrow and you haven't got a costume yet?  Me neither!  Sure, we could just go as ourselves -- since gay people are apparently scarier than Paranormal Activity -- but if you want something a bit flashier, here's some last-minute ideas:

Scary Costume:  Joe Jackson

Michael's father is a bigger monster than Frankenstein!

Superhero Costume:  Elton John 

  

I hope I can pull off such acrobatic moves when I'm 80!

Political Costume:  An egg

A Colorado initiative insists that ovum should have the legal rights of a person.  In 2012, Sarah Palin will become president thanks to the new voters in the produce aisle:

Sexy Costume:  The Chinese Fruit Bat

An environmental blog writes, "Prepare to enter the fascinating world of fruit bat fellatio." Oh scientists, you had me at hello!

Party Costume:  Yet Another South Carolina Family Values Republican

Damn, these right-wingers know how to party -- in a cemetary, no less: 

Judy reveals that she knew her son was gay after young Matt went out as the Backwoods Barbie three years in a row.  That is both the cutest and most bittersweet thing I've heard all week.

Movie Costume:  Brokeback Mountain 2 

Jake's appearing on Sesame Street and the jokes just write themselves, don't they?

However you decide to dress this Halloween, have a safe and happy weekend!

Last night, I attended the candlelight vigil in Toronto for Chris Skinner. It was a somber yet somehow thrilling evening -- a powerful reminder of the beauty and strength we see when a thousand of us come together in a single cause. Sure, there's the annual Pride parade or the occasional Madonna concert but this was a display of true community as we gathered to honour our friend and neighbour.

Skinner's death was a huge blow to Toronto's image of itself as a safe haven and thus a big story.  I've been asked a few times this week why I didn't say anything about it here on the Roundup. Surely I could stop my round-the-clock coverage of Levi Johnson's penis to discuss something important, no?  Well frankly, I was itching to but didn't because
1) I tend to stay away from Toronto-centric news on what is a national blog
2) the Roundup is meant to be a light, pop take on the day's events (gay in every sense!) and
3) my Xtra colleagues Rob Salerno, Matt Mills, Brent Creelman and Michael Pihach have already covered the story so far in great and skillful detail.  No need for my chatter there.

But one thing nagged at me: the constant discussion around whether or not Skinner's murder was a hate crime.  The extreme viciousness of the crime certainly leads to that conclusion but the police are insisting that there are many other possibilities. They're factually correct, of course, but what's breaking my self-imposed silence is a comment I heard this weekend -- a man who "heard from a friend" that, in his fatal encounter with the occupants of that black SUV, Skinner may have brought the attack on by striking the truck with his hand as it drove by.  It's entirely possible, he said, that Skinner was "drunk and angry."

Now I never got to meet Chris Skinner but friends in common tell me he was anything but. The police, however, are duty-bound to jump in and say that, well, anything's possible.  An anonymous commenter on the Towleroad blog snarked, "I'm so glad being gay makes us immune to getting drunk and saying stupid things, while projecting a sobering effect on others so all their actions are rational and intentional."

But while we all play our game of amateur trial jury, let's just remember that "drunk and angry" is the classic defense lawyer's gambit -- a way of defusing the crime by putting partial blame on the victim.  It takes two to tango, they say, but we've heard this song before.

Just a couple months ago, in Toronto, bike courier Darcy Allan Sheppard argued with the driver of a car that raced up from behind him at an intersection. Sheppard was allegedly drunk and angry so the driver stepped on the gas, dragging the cyclist a block before grinding him under the car's wheels.  Earlier this year, police in Bay City, Michigan, were called in to apprehend a drunk and belligerent 15-year-old boy. They handcuffed, then tasered him and the boy died. 

And will we ever forget the infamous ABC News '20/20' piece in 2004 that attempted to shatter the Matthew Shepard "myth" by telling how a drunk and horny Shepard came on to his eventual killers.  The piece inspired conservative blogger Pam Meister to write that Shepard "was a troubled young man who was HIV positive and into the drug scene too" (drunk and angry!) and it led North Carolina Representative Virginia Foxx to oppose proposed hate crime legislation in the US with this speech:

It's a tactic based on reasonable doubt that gets trotted out again and again:  pour a few beers into guys like Shepard and Skinner, it's said, and hey, shit happens.  Anything's possible.

But nothing I'm hearing in all this talk of what possibly happened in Toronto last weekend goes into what probably happened.  Let's turn the story around with a quiz:

You're an ordinary, tank-top-loving straight guy, out driving around with your buddies on a Saturday night when some drunk and belligerent guy smacks your black SUV with his hand.  Do you:
a) keep driving, smirking at the awesomeness of your fortress of truck
b) honk your horn and give the guy the finger as you keep driving
c) stop the car, lean out the window and yell at the guy
d) stop the car, get out and argue with the guy
e) stop the car, get out and punch the guy in the face
f) beat the guy down and kick him
g) beat the guy down and kick him, with your friends joining in
h) beat the guy down and kick him, with your friends joining in, then get back in the truck and RUN THE GUY OVER
i) do all this and then drive away in a panic and refuse to turn yourself in to police

- answering a-c means you're responding to a drunk and belligerent guy in a typical manner
- answering d-f means you have no justification, sorry, for being a violent asshole
- answering g-i means you're a goddamned monster.

The police may eventually conclude that Skinner somehow incited a road rage attack by a pack of goons full of alcohol, drugs or even steroids.  All this is possible.  But I remain convinced that most incidents like that would end at f, maybe g, while Chris Skinner's homosexuality is the most probable reason for this horrific escalation in brutality.  I'm still willing to bet it's a hate crime.  How about you?

One unexpected (but highly entertaining!) offshoot of Tuesday's US presidential election is the flood of stories from disgruntled McCain aides about Sarah Palin. Newsweek is reporting that Palin spent a whole lot more than $150,000 on clothes: "An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as 'Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast,' and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books." Then there's this hilariously awful report from FOX News:

Palin, of course, blames the media with its pesky need for "accountability" and "truth."

TV shows like 'Sex and the City' and 'Dexter' are being blamed for teen pregnancy and even murder!  It's scary -- why, just last week, I watched an episode of 'Brothers & Sisters' and was unable to stop myself from calling up family members and blurting out inappropriate emotional truths!

Parents trying to protect their children from sexual abuse are finally shifting their blame from the gay men who have no interest in children to the hockey coaches who have too much interest. 

But the big blame story, of course, is the ban on same-sex marriage enacted in California and Florida on Tuesday. Florida -- the home of boy bands, fundamentalists and Disney -- was no great shock but sunny, liberal California? That hurt, and the aftermath's been unpleasant: there's shock over African-American voters favouring the ban by 70% (what would Obama say?) and Christians are nervous about gay blogger rage (it's scary -- why, just last night, I pistol-whipped a Christian boy and left him to die on a fence!  Oh wait, no, I'm thinking of what happened to Matthew Shepard ten years ago. Why is that always on my mind?)

Me, I blame the Mormons, who funded the anti-gay vote to the tune of $20 million. I'm appalled that a group who've had some (ahem) marriage debates of their own would become so militant on this issue and I truly hated this comment from yesterday: "Salt Lake City-based church elder L. Whitney Clayton says the church is genuinely concerned about the emotional divide created by the gay marriage issue and says he hopes people will treat each other with civility and respect." Translation: "We feel terrible about the bad names you called us after we kicked you in the head."

Tell you what, Whitney -- I can't speak for all gay men but I myself promise to treat you and your religion with the same civility and respect you've shown us and our lives, which is to say, none whatsover. Blame me if you must but the protests in California last night back me up:

Ten years ago this morning, 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard was found beaten and tied to a fence, left to die. For a lot of us, it was one of those 'do you remember where you were when you heard about it?' moments, like the Kennedy assassination or the Challenger explosion or the morning of September 11, 2001. There had been so many gaybashings before and way too many afterwards but this attack on someone so young and so seemingly defenseless shocked the public in a way that has lingered on. Memorials will be held next week on October 13, the anniversary of Shepard's death in hospital. A Texas paper has a good update on the status of hate crime legislation in the US while, in a pleasing development, one Republican(!) senator is making it part of his re-election campaign:

And here's a much happier story: 24-year-old Pape Mbaye had to flee his native Senegal because of anti-gay persecution but now he's making a life for himself in New York. Mbaye still tends to avoid his own people, like the man in Harlem who said, "If you were in Senegal, I would kill you." I often pick on the US for being, well, the US but it's great to know that Mbaye can now choose to snap his fingers and say, "Yeah, but you're in New York now, bitch!"

A chaplain at the London Stock Exchange says that gay men should be tattooed with health warnings like on cigarette packs. It's a shame he can't tell his fags from his fags but also that, as a chaplain at the London Stock Exchange, there are bigger issues requiring his prayers right now.

Mind you, it doesn't help when the UK papers are full of stories about the Mr. Gay UK winner who then went cannibal! You can read the literally gory details if you want but I just think some guys are taking their "no carbs" diets a little too far.

We've been laughing for weeks at Tina Fey's glorious Sarah Palin impression but ladies and gentlemen...Alec Baldwin. Meanwhile, in the midst of the Fey love-in, Andy Samberg did an awesome Mark Wahlberg.

Things are looking up on the election scene in Canada while tonight is, according to CNN, "Debate Night in America!" (C'mon people, it's politics, not boxing!) In an odd bit of opportunistic philanthropy, Kentucky Fried Chicken says that if either Obama or McCain mentions world hunger during the Presidential debate, KFC will donate $20,000 to World Hunger Relief. It's a lovely gesture but it just gave me disturbing flashbacks of the sabotaged presidential campaign in "Undercover Brother" (I blame Neil Patrick Harris).

Bruce Springsteen says, "I want my America back!" and he thinks Barack Obama is the guy to do it. I'm feeling sorry for John McCain: he may be a maverick but he's up against The Boss!