Asshat Voting Now Open! Focus on the Family vs. Vlatko Markovic vs. PFOX vs. The Wrap

Who will win the trucker hat of shame?

Every Friday we ask you to select from a current crop of schmucks, jerks, demagogues and harpies to see who is most deserving of the week's coveted Asshat Crown!

We'll announce the results every Monday, and that Asshat will reign supreme until a new challenger is crowned the following week.

Here are this week's nominees.

Focus On the Family's Day of Dialog

When Exodus International decided even they weren't brazen enough to sponsor the Day of Truth in opposition to GLSEN's Day of Silence, which raises awareness of homophobia in schools, we thought the issue was dead. Given the fact that queer teenagers are still killing themselves in tragic numbers, it seemed even the ex-gays at Exodus thought it was tacky to try and tell kids their orientation was wrong.

But no homophobia is too far for Focus On the Family as the organization picked up sponsorship of the day. They re-branded it Day of Dialog, and moved it from November to April, so we won't go a year without them telling gay kids they aren't worthy of happiness.

Croatian Football Federation president Vlatko Markovic

The same week you have German soccer star Mario Gomez telling professional players they should come out if they're gay, we have Croatian Football Federation president Vlatko Markovic saying "While I'm a president of the Croatian Football Federation, there will be no homosexuals playing in the national team." When asked if he'd ever met a gay player, Markovic said "Luckily, only normal people play football."

He's since made a rather half-hearted apology, saying "Sorry that my comments have been in any way misinterpreted.”

No worries, Markovic. We understood you perfectly well.

The Wrap calls GLAAD a bully

In a rather stunning stray from its normal reporting on who got cast in what movie, The Wrap (which finishes a distant third when it comes to Hollywood industry websites) called GLAAD a bully for calling out Glee for using the word  "tranny" as well as for GLAAD's advocacy concerning The Dilemma's gay joke. The Wrap also mocked GLAAD for not having called out the "gay" scene from The Forty-Year-Old Virgin when that movie came out.

We're not at all sure that The Wrap understands what an 'advocacy group" is supposed to do, nor do they get the difference between what they did with The Dilemma (actually contacting the studio and encouraging people to do the same) vs. Glee (which amounted to a simply blog post about the issue.).

But calling an advocacy group a bully for doing their job is utterly ridiculous. Maybe they should skip the editorials and keep reprinting press releases from the studios?

PFOX and the World Bank

I'm actually  somewhat impressed with PFOX (Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays). They've been trying for years to get big organizations like Pepsi and Disney to recognize their group the same way they recognize the PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Alas for them, they've mostly been ignored, as reparative therapy should be, according to the APA (American Psychiatric Association).

But the World Bank allows five employees to sponsor any properly registered non-profit group for its Community Outreach Program. Depending on the level of Employee giving to a particular group, the World Bank matches the donations 50 to 100 percent.

So now a reparative therapy group will be able to say they're sponsored by the World Bank, and use that to gain credibility in other settings, only to take advantage of people struggling with their sexuality.

And Sue Sylvester calls gays sneaky.

Vote for your Asshat by 11 PM EDT Sunday. And be sure to check back Monday on the blog to see which network gay our readers have carried to infamy!