Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (June 19, 2009)

While those of us in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Europe are gearing up for gay pride, our Chinese counterparts recently finished celebrating, although they had less to celebrate as their gay pride activities were hassled by Chinese authorities. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in China in 1997 and was considered a mental disorder until 2001. State authorities shut down various celebrations for not having proper permits, proper authorization or just because. At some events — most of which were held privately to avoid public scrutiny — police simply showed up and stood around in an attempt to intimidate patrons.

I wonder what the Chinese words for "Stonewall" and "drag queens" might be?

Out Front Blog, devoted to covering gay issues pertaining to communications and marketing, this week posted an an interview with out musician Dave Koz. Dave not only discusses how nice it is to feel 100% himself and comfortable on stage, but how his biggest fear — that being out would hurt his career — turned out to be 100% not true. In fact, after he came out in 2004, he suddenly found himself named one of People Magazine's sexiest bachelors and sold more concert tickets and albums than ever before. Now that's something to toot your horn about!

Entertainment Weekly set off a bit of a tempest in a magic teapot with their review of NBC's new show Merlin. The mag liked the show just fine including the homoerotic tension between the young Merlin and Prince Arthur. But some fans of the show wondered if that was a good thing given that this is a family friendly show aimed at young audiences.

I suspect there isn't much to fret about here. All the Harry Potter slash fiction hasn't hurt that franchise any. And it's not as if NBC is going to start running promos showing Prince Arthur seductively bathing in the moat while Merlin looks on.

So what if we find each other hot? It's not as if we're brothers!
Now kiss me, you fool!

It's well documented that India is a good thirty years behind western countries when it comes to most gay issues. Case in point, this article from Bollywood.com stating that gay themes are no longer in the closet in Bollywood. How exciting! Does the writer refer to positive portrayals of same-sex love? Explorations of homophobia? An Indian version of Brokeback Mountain?

Nope. Here "out of the closet" apparently means it's okay to joke about/make fun of gays, as happened at last Saturday's International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA). Bollywood.com reports that gay jokes, quips and innuendos were rampant, with the show's male hosts jokingly making "advances" toward male actors on stage and that "The 15,000-strong audience at the Chinese resort here lapped it all up with huge applause."

Gay panic — it gets big laughs in any language! For that, and for still treating gays as punchlines in general far too often, Bollywood is the winner of this week's #FAIL award.

U.S. award shows can certainly have their share of gay jokes, but these days they are made more often than not by out hosts such as Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris, or gay-friendly celebs including Jon Stewart and George Clooney.

Finally, there is no truth to reports that Sacha Baron Cohen appeared on stage making out with a Mahatma Gandhi lookalike. He just wishes he'd thought of it.

Next page! Who is Rik Makarem? And will he date you?