Mr. Gay Aftermath

Last week, Philadelphia hosted the 2010 Mr. Gay USA pageant at Club Voyeur which apparently rendered a small attendant. It's no wonder, nobody could really be that interested in a pointless pageant with an entrance fee of $40. Honestly, we're going through a difficult time and few of us have the extra bucks to go see a contest for a meaningless title.

My friend, a budding local journalist, Nicholas went to the show and ranted in an article he did for PhillyGayCalendar.com about how utterly purposeless to have a Mr. Gay competition. Especially when the mission statement of the organization is to "...advocate international equal rights by confirming the essential nature and contributions of gay men to a healthy society where gay is not a stereotype." while the event is basically a hot body contest with hairless twinks walking around in speedos and the whole thing happens in a gay bar. Talking about stereotypical, I mean, can you spell irony?

His article was reblogged by some other blogger who agreed with Nick's point of view and both the article and the blog entry received some slacks from the organizer who stated that they are creating more hate in our own already hated community.

Nick advocates for the winner to do some social work like helping with preventing teen suicide, I mean some responsibility should come with the title to make it more meaningful, right? In practice, that might be a bit difficult to do. We don't exactly have a gay Donald Trump or Hugh Hefner that looks for young things for playmates and they don't exactly receive a job or a living stipend for them to invest a large amount of time to do community service. Do they get anything more than a sash?

Another issue with the competition is the lack of inclusion. From what I can see, they are all hairless muscular lean twinks representing a few gay hot spots like D.C., Asbury Park, Virginia Beach. Out of the 20 contestants, 4 are from California 4 are from Pennsylvania and 3 from New York State. No one came from San Francisco, Boston or Seattle. Only one came from middle America. The two only blond ones got 1st and second place. Obviously the contest is not meant to be taken seriously.

It's USA Mr. Gay like how the World Series is representing the world, it doesn't represent all of USA or all spectrum of gay people for that matter. If there was ever a Mr. USA contest, I think it's best to emulate the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show right down to the cupping of the balls. (Can I apply for the ball cupper position?) Rent out a conference center and hold a brief event/house battle of each individual stereotype groupings and select the best one for each: Frat/jock, gay nerds, gym bunny, roid pigs, bears (of all kinds), wolf, cub, chubs, hipster, man in suits, slaves, masters, kink, daddy, smaller stature (boy toy), fems, twinks, freaks and the what have you's. And then from the champion of each group select the best in show. Now that kind of competition I'll pay to see.

There is no need for the competition but were there any need for any competition or a dog show for that matter? It's a distraction, a form of entertainment for the few who finds this kind of stuff interesting. Though I don't think it's $40 interesting since obviously there's no $40 worth of substance in it anywhere.