John Barrowman or Neil Patrick Harris? The Winner of the Big Gay Battle Is...

Man oh man!

Who could have predicted our lil' ol' Gay/Bisexual Man of the Decade poll would go so explosively viral, drawing the attention of not just two of the top contenders, Neil Patrick Harris and John Barrowman, but also their legions of Twitter supporters, celebrity and otherwise, and media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal?

In his tweet, Neil Gaiman dubbed the brouhaha the Big Gay Battle, and it's a name we liked so much we adopted it ourselves. Hey, we even had our own hashtag!

So in the end, who won? We'll get to that soon, but first, let's talk about the significance of what this all means.

Kidding!

The winner is Neil Patrick Harris — and not really by a nose either, not unless it's Barbra Streisand's. (Hey, it's a gay poll, after all! We've got to get a dated Streisand reference in here somewhere.)

Out of more than 80,000 votes cast, with more than 600 write-in candidates, here are the full results:

Here's what Neil told us about his unambiguous victory:

Huzzah! At last, I have risen atop John Barrowman! While excited, I must admit that I was worried he wouldn't like it. And yes, it may have been uncomfortable at first, but I soon saw that he was enjoying himself and, therefore, so did I. Good times. A fine way to start Aught Ten.

Joshing aside, I was pretty amazed at how this took on a life of it's own. Big thanks to everyone who threw a vote my way, but even bigger thanks to those who rallied their legions of fans on my behalf. That was very cool. (Jimmy Fallon? Totally unsolicited? How nice was that?!?) Thanks also to Michael and the gang at AfterElton.com, who seem to be the real winners. And to Twitter. My Twitter followers rock.

Mr. Barrowman, sir, well played. We have never actually met, but know that I am a fan of yours onstage/screen and off. You are a true class act, and represent yourself extremely well. Happy Decade to you.

While I am aware that there are far more deserving people for this award — Tony Kushner and Larry Kramer and Paul Rudnick and Ian McKellen and Dustin Lance Black spring to mind — I will humbly accept this honor. And I vow to not turn straight for at least another ten years.

BTW, what exactly do I win? A crown? A medal? Turtle Wax..? A tote bag..?

Happy 2010.