For the second year, the British edition of GQ magazine has listed Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish on their list of the most powerful men in Britain. The high profile couple are ranked at number 30 on the list and are the only case where two men share an entry. (Last year the couple shared the number 40 spot.)

This year's issue boasts a couple more gay men new to the list. Sir Ian McKellen comes in at number 98, while Spencer Livermore, Pink News' most powerful gay man in British politics, debuts at number 84.

GQ highlights John's annual fundraiser for the Elton John AIDS Foundation (which raised £3.5 million last year) as a contributing factor in his selection, while calling Spencer the Labor Party's "precociously young attack dog". The selection by GQ is less about popularity and prominence than it is a recognition of their accomplishments.

Men like McKellen, John and Furnish are rarities on the list, which largely avoids popular celebrities. Editor Darius Sanai notes that:

"We are becoming more savvy about the cult of empty celebrity. I think five years ago aspiring young gentlemen would have been much more influenced by the sort of celebrities on television. They are now seen as kind of irrelevant and kind of trashy."

Sounds reasonable enough. It takes a special kind of celebrity to demonstrate true power.

Interesting article in the Guardian Unilimited looking at how the issue of civil unions have settled out in the UK now that they've been legal for eighteen months. The writer, Paul Flynn, is surprised at how easy the transition has been. As proof he cites the fact that John Barrowman's (that's him in his wedding kilt) nuptials were featured in OK! Magazine which is apparently the official British seal of mainstream acceptance. Sort of like People Magazine in the US I guess.

Part of the reason for the easy acceptance? According to Flynn, it has at least something to do with the union of Elton John and David Furnish and the huge public fanfare that accompanied it. The idea being that treating their big day just like Tom and Nicole, or Tom and Kate, or Tom and whoever comes next, normalizes the idea for the average Joe. I suspect there is truth in that, although it could also be seen as something only radical elites, rich folks, and eccentrics do unless the gay guys next door also exchange vows. And that, says Flynn, might not be the case.

He himself feels a little ambivalent about the acceptance from his heterosexual counterparts and wonders if the GLBT community isn't giving up some of its uniqueness and identity. Says Flynn:

I still know of people who talk with nostalgia of their connection of kinship with "the gay community" pre-legalisation. Where once I would have thought this reactionary, now I know what it feels like to have something you had struggled to have taken seriously become a statutory norm. It undermines your own story.

Interesting thoughts, but there is no going back and, not to state the obvious, change is the one thing that can't be stopped. Barrowman's being on the cover of OK! might not be the height of cultural achievement, but I'm glad for it nonetheless if helps further our cause. I look forward the first People Magazine cover featuring a gay couple getting hitched.