Towleroad Writes:

Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.

"Teenage angst has paid off well. Now I'm bored and old." So begins Nirvana's third and final album, 1993's In Utero?the opening lines of "Serve The Servants."

Nirvana. Not the most gay topic of discussion, nor the gayest of music to bring up. So why bring it up at all?

This week is actually the eve of my first year doing a pop music column on Towleroad.

One question I keep coming back to is this: what really constitutes "gay music"? Scissor Sisters, Ari Gold, Elton John, Sam Sparro, Darren Hayes, Pet Shop Boys, The Feeling, George Michael and Andy Bell are mainstream gay artists or groups with gay members?all of which we've talked about here on Towleroad?but is the actual music those folks create gay?

As well, Madonna, Amy Winehouse, The Killers, Britney Spears, Sally Shapiro, Mariah Carey, LCD Soundsystem, Robyn, Kylie Minogue, Frankmusic, Sugababes, Cyndi Lauper, Spice Girls, Girls Aloud and Saint Etienne are music artists who have somewhat of a "gay appeal," though what does that really mean?

Is country music gay enough? Did Mika ever come out? Does Hip hop speak to us? When all was said and done, was Hard Candy any good?

And where do Chris Brown, Miley Cyrus, Duffy, Fall Out Boy, Santogold and Smashing Pumpkins fit in?

The truth is, I don't have the foggiest idea. What I do know is that pop music is subjective. And while I can't answer the question on what gay music truly is, I can say that no two people will probably every see completely eye to eye when it comes to individual taste.

But that's okay. Life would be pretty dull otherwise.

Over the past year, I've pondered my own psychological state after listing to Mariah's "Touch My Body," posed the question to you on whether Katy Perry is truly offensive, let nostalgia get the best of me over the re-release of Michael Jackson's Thriller and offered up Robyn scolding her godchildren in Swedish over the phone from Stockholm here on Towleroad?all in the name of delivering pop music news to the online masses from one guy's gay perspective.

Something about pop, whether it be one song, one artist or a single bar or note, can reach into the heart and send the imagination soaring, or hurtling back to a certain time and place.

Which brings us back to the original topic at hand. This past week NPR ran an interesting "All Things Considered" feature on 17-year-old Los Angeles native Spencer Elden (pictured right), who you may remember best as the baby swimming after the dollar bill on the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind album.

Admittedly, I'm a longtime Nirvana fan from the time when I was 17 myself and Nevermind hit like a grenade. So it's a bit surreal to catch up on what this kid's been up to.

Given that Elden appeared sans clothing on the cover, it's amusing to read him looking back: "Quite a few people in the world have seen my penis. So that's kinda cool. I'm just a normal kid living it up and doing the best I can while I'm here."

As for teenage angst paying off well, he notes that his father was given $200 for letting his son be photographed for the seminal, 26-million-selling record's artwork.

I guess it should be noted that, judging from his comments about "worrying about stupid girls," Spencer is apparently straight?a fact which inevitably calls to mind the opening of "All Apologies," the last track on Nirvana's final album:

"What else should I say? Everyone is gay?"

Towleroad Writes:

Due to a technical change made by the House, same-sex couples from out-of-state will not have to wait the standard 90 days before the repeal of the law takes effect. They will be able to be married immediately after Governor Deval Patrick signs the bill:

"The measure has moved to the Senate for its final approval. Aides say Gov. Deval Patrick may sign it into law as early as Thursday."

Towleroad Writes:

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Douglas Daily ruled yesterday that Brandon McInerney, the 14-year-old who shot and killed his classmate Lawrence King at school in February and was charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime, can be tried as an adult. Said Daily: "I cannot say that this is unconstitutional."

According to the Ventura County Star, "Before making his ruling, Daily heard legal arguments for about 30 minutes from McInerney's lawyer, William 'Willy' Quest, and from a prosecutor, Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox, on whether the teen can be tried in adult court rather than juvenile court. In 2000, California voters approved Proposition 21, which widened prosecutors' authority to file charges in adult court against juveniles 14 and older without having to go to a judge. Before he made his findings, the judge called for a 20-minute break to go back to his chambers to read the California Supreme Court cases cited by Quest and Fox in their legal petitions."

Quest, as well as a coalition of gay groups including Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Transgender Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Equality California, Gay Straight Alliance Network, Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, had urged the court to try McInerney as a juvenile.

McInerney's arraignment is now scheduled for August 7.

More from the County Star on the arguments heard in court.

Meanwhile, folks are rightly still outraged about the Newsweek cover story on the King murder published this week.

Writes Sara Whitman in the Huffington Post: "Read the article and you'll be informed that in fact, Larry was the problem. He was always the problem. And while kids are experimenting with sexuality at younger and younger ages overall, being gay is dangerous. Heterosexual play is fine but, 'Kids may want to express who they are, but they are playing grown-up without fully knowing what that means.' What does that mean? The article is one of the poorest forms of journalism I've ever read. If it is an Opinion piece, okay, but to write 'Even as homosexuality has become more accepted, the prospect of being openly gay in middle school raises a troubling set of issues' and to state it as fact?"

You may remember a similarly horrible piece published in Time shortly after the killing which suggested that gay groups exaggerate the amount of bullying made against kids because of their sexual orientation in order to make the situation sound more dire and drum up the need for legislation.

Towleroad Writes:

The family of Steven Hirschfield, the dancer on a San Diego gay pride party boat who was shot and killed by police who claim he resisted rescue attempts and seized an officer's weapon, says they don't believe the officers' accounts and plan to sue.

The family's lawyer calls the police version of events a "complete fabrication": "The officer who shot him had a Taser ? why didn't he use it? And if he was in a brawl, why isn't there more evidence of that? There was very little scratching or bruising on his body."

KNBC: "Results of an autopsy released Monday showed he died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Claypool said medical examiners confirmed Hirschfield was shot in the back and his family believes officers acted with "excessive force" and disputes accounts given by police. 'It is our belief based on a witness account and information learned through the autopsy performed by the San Diego County coroner that Mr. Hirschfield was not the aggressor and was not involved in a brawl with police officers prior to being executed by this police officer,' [their] attorney [Brian Claypool] said."

According to a witness, there was a former Marine in the water attempting to rescue Hirschfield who has not yet been contacted by the family's attorney.

"Claypool said his suit would seek punitive damages from the Harbor Police Department. He told KNSD-TV he was first contacted about the case by a civil rights watchdog group that monitors alleged police brutality matters. I think this is a gay-rights issue,' Claypool said."