Briefs: A "Modern Family" Halloween, "Glee" May Give Kurt a Bullying Storyline, and "Spartacus" To Recast Title Role

Modern Family goes all out for Halloween.

• Above you can see the cast of Modern Family getting in costume for the Halloween episode, but who is who? Eric Stonestreet deliberately wanted some mystery. I'm not sure who the gargoyle is bottom-right, but I think I've got the rest figured out.

• Tom Pritchard of the Minnesota Family Council wants everyone to know we don't have nine dead teenagers because of anti-gay bullying, . Rather those kids are dead because they adopted an "unhealthy lifestyle."

• That does bring up the question of this Saturday Night Live skit that I missed about a dad beating the crap out of his artistic kid in the name of helping him stand up to bullies. I could see the argument that at least dad is involved, but I'm not certain this was the best approach at this time. 

• Another individual not helping the situation is Church of Latter Day Saints' Apostle Boyd Packer. I guess the Mormon strategy of toning down the rhetoric is over.

There are both moral and physical laws irrevocably decreed in Heaven before the foundation of the world that cannot be changed. History demonstrates over and over again that moral standards cannot be changed by battle and cannot be changed by ballot. To legalize that which is basically wrong or evil will not prevent the pain and penalties that will follow as surely as night follows day.

• Chris Crocker knows something about hate, and how it can affect you. That's what makes his It Gets Better video so powerful.

• As you would expect, Cyndi Lauper took time to tell teens they are not alone, and that there is help out there.

• Spurf says that Glee is searching for child actors to play younger versions of Puck, Mercedes, Santana, Rachel and Brittany. What, no Kurt?

• Speaking of the Spurf, he reports exclusively that Michael Ausiello is leaving Entertainment Weekly to start his own online brand. Best of luck, Spurf!

• When Matthew Morrison and Cory Monteithrecently talked about the rash of teen suicides due to bullying  they mentioned that Ryan Murphy might incorporate that storyline more tightly into Glee and Kurt's upcoming story with the jocks. I'm torn between the importance of the message and my desire to see Kurt tell a new, triumphant gay teen story.

• Want to see a happy marriage? Look at how Jane Lynch manages to include her beautiful wife, Dr. Lara Embry into the red carpet discussion on why they support PFLAG.

• Logo has acquired the rights to Will & Grace beginning in 2013. I know it's a long wait, but to me, it's job security: if they're planning that far ahead, maybe I'll still have a job then.

• Rachael Ray did a four minute segment this morning on the exotic toppings that are offered by the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. It was a fun segment, and I hadn't heard the theme song for the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck.

• ABC Family has canceled Huge, which means that we'll never get to see the gender identity storyline that GLAAD said was coming in their Where We Are on TV report.

• We had our gays out in force last night on Desperate Housewives. Here Bob and Lee are bickering when Mrs. McClusky had had enough and told them to kiss and makeup ... in a rather odd fashion. Old people are so adorable.

• Next wants to know why everybody already hates The A List when they haven't seen it yet, including quoting us as having called the show "insufferable." As for the Vice President of Original Programming for Logo, Christopher Willey, he's fine with the judgment, because he knows we'll watch anyway.

• George Michael's stint in prison for driving while high isn't stopping him from getting the news, or at least the gossip about himself. The Sunday Mirror ran a story that he was drunk behind bars and getting special treatment, and George is contemplating a suing the tabloid.

• CBS News and Vanity Fair risked their credibility with a survey about all manner of serious and not so serious questions, including one that voted Jennifer Aniston the most eligible bachelorette. But what caught my eye was the opinion that most people don't think gays will divorce at a higher rate than straights. Well, that was what I noticed after I got past them misspelling "divorce."

I wonder if the results change if you spell it right.

• A new, comprehensive survey on sex is out, and the good news is that young people are using condoms at an unprecedented rate of 80%. The slightly odd news is that while 7% of adult women and 8% of adult men identify as lesbian and gay, 15% of men aged 50-59 have at least received oral sex from another man.

• There were early reports that "Gay & Lesbian" was a missing category on Netflix via the new Apple TV, but it turns out that Apple TV only shows you your most commonly watched genres on the menu for Netflix Watch Instantly. Watch a couple gay movies, and the category, like many others, will appear.

• Starz has officially announced that Spartacus: Blood and Sand will recast the title role after Andy Whitfield had to drop out to battle cancer. That's quite a loin cloth someone has to fill.

Happy Birthday to Brad "Cheeks" Bell

• The hearing on the personal protection order for University of Michigan student body president Chris Armstrong against Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has been delayed three weeks without explanation. The original request was filed in September. If the purpose of a protection order is the safety of Armstrong, how is delaying the hearing in any way justified, as it seems to keep him at risk?

• Senator Jim DeMint said if someone is openly gay or a single woman sleeping with her boyfriend, they shouldn't be allowed to be teachers. Presuming the woman isn't sleeping with her boyfriend in the classroom, I don't see how either status is relevant. Senator DeMint, your horse and buggy are waiting.

• The BBC has put a huge archive of their coverage of the gay rights movement online for viewing (and it's not geoblocked!). The footage runs from 1957 to 2009 and is a fascinating time capsule that ate most of my day.

• Last night on American Dad, Stan called anchor gays Terry and Greg to announce a $50,000 reward for anyone who could stop his daughter from eloping. This led to a funny Cannonball Run montage, including Terry and Greg in a Lamborghini convertible changing a speed limit sign.

• Cheyenne Jackson led the crowd that the glow stick remembrance of the teens we lost to suicide in a sad, touching rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

• Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn was worried the nautical themed costumes for the bands new tour might make the look gay. "It might look a bit, well, gay. Not that there's anything wrong in that but I didn't want us being like something from a Jean-Paul Gaultier advert."

• Joe Jonas is appealing to his army of tween fans to stop bullying. Has anyone heard anything from Justin Bieber on the subject?

• And finally, a question on Family Feud stopped host Steve Harvey dead in his tracks. I thought it was a perfectly logical answer to the question myself. I hope they reset the clock for her.