Battle of the Network Gays: October 1, 2009

Every week we pick the gays who we think have made the biggest splash in television (or pop culture in general) and leave it to you, the keepers of the flame, to decide who will be crowned Gay of the Week. We'll announce the winner in Friday's BGWE column, and that champ will reign until a new set of challengers are introduced the following week to try to steal his title.

Last week, for the second week in a row, Glee's Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) won your hearts and took the crown. But he was somewhat on the back burner for the most recent episode of Glee - opening up the field to four new candidates, including a pair of proud gay das, two globetrotting gay brothers, a German politician, and a chart-topping singer - who doesn't even have an album to sell yet!

Check them out after the break, and vote for your favorite!

This week's contenders:

• With the September 27th elections, German politician Guido Westerwelle, became the first openly gay leader of a major German party, and following tradiotion, will become Germany's Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor. Oh, he's got a pretty cute boyfriend to boot. Some guys have all the luck.

Guido Westerwelle (left) with partner Dr. Michael Mronz.

• Gay brothers, Sam & Dan McMillen nearly got eliminated early in The Amazing Race competition, when, through no fault of their own they couldn't catch a break on a Japanese game show. Fortunately, they survived their encounter with a "wasabi bomb" and managed to battle their way back to the front of the pack. We think these guys are going to be around for awhile!

Sam (left) and Dan McMillen

• The second epsiode of ABC mockumentary Modern Family had gay fathers Cameron (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) & Mitchell (Eric Stonestreet) attending "Toddler Town" with their adopted Vietnamese daughter. The characters (particularly Mitchell) may be stereotypes, but the clever writing and talented cast had us completely on their side.

Eric Stonestreet (left) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson on Modern Family

• With no actual title, no cover art, and no track listing, somehow Adam Lambert's theoretical first album (which at least we know will be released November 24th) currently sits at #1 on Amazon.com's sales chart. If anyone had doubts that this guy could sell albums, clearly they've been laid to rest.

Adam Lambert

Vote for your favorite by 10 PM EDT Today. And be sure to check back either in tomorrow's BGWE or on the blog to see which network gay our readers have carried to glory!