WORLD OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

THE WEEK
ACCORDING TO
GARÇON STUPIDE

• Darryl Stephens named one of the "Sexiest Men Alive" by Australian magazine DNA.

• Half of Americans think being gay is a choice.

• Gay students want mixed-sex dorm rooms.

• Prediction: Obama will do nothing for us in 2010.

• Will Dallas get its first gay judge? (What would ole J.R. say?)

• RuPaul IS Palin.

• Robert Downey Jr. uses "homos" slur on Letterman.

• Chicago hope: Victory over hate music as Evil Incarnate thwarted!

• Gay marrriage signed off in Washington DC by Mayor Adrian Fenty (below left). Well, damn, Mister Mayor... (Excuse me while I fan myself.)

• One tiny spark... How a single Facebook comment led to the cancellation of a Beenie Man concert.

• Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not not pass go, do not collect $200... Poor Buju Banton's been had on drugs charges. Awww...

• Why is this picture (right) so newsworthy?

• Male hookers are now permitted in Nevada - but not everyone is happy.

• Islington Council has "won its appeal against a ruling it discriminated against a Christian registrar who refused to conduct same-sex civil partnerships." Symon Hill writes in The Guardian, "In Lillian Ladele we find a worker who wanted to put her prejudice into practice through her employment."

• Sadly, this won't be the last we hear of the Christian bigot: "Ladele and the Christian Institute, which is supporting her, were refused leave to appeal at the Supreme Court yesterday. However, they plan to go to the Supreme Court directly to attempt to overturn the ruling."

• 21-year-old Ben Rakestrow, a trooper serving in Afghanistan, talks about the support and acceptance he's received from his fellow soldiers since coming out.

• Peter Tatchell stands down as Green candidate; cites brain injuires inflicted by Moscow neo-Nazis.

• BBC Uganda gaffe: BBC asks Should homosexuals face execution?; doesn't get why people are upset.

• BBC Uganda gaffe: Chris Bryant, Minister for Europe, labels the question a "ludicrous mistake".

• BBC Uganda gaffe: Peter Tatchell says, "The BBC's commentary... read like an open invitation for homophobic endorsements of the state-sponsored killing of gay people."

• BBC Uganda gaffe: Debate was murderous breach of impartiality.

• BBC Uganda gaffe: Join the Facebook group demanding an apology from the Corporation.

• BBC Uganda gaffe: Mike Tidmus asks, Should BBC execs face execution?

• Convictions for homophobic hate crime up 10 percent in the UK.

• Popbarz, owner of London gay clubs Ghetto and Popstarz, has collapsed into administration; the number of gay bars in London has dropped from 250 five years ago to 150.

• News that gay club operator Popbarz has just gone into administration is symptomatic of a wider decline in London's gay business scene.

• Canterbury's only gay venue to close after just six months.

• Alfred Hrdlicka - the Viennese artist who riled the Vatican with his "homo-erotic Last Supper" - has died.

• Uganda: The white Zimbabwean behind Uganda's war on homosexuality.

• Uganda: Taboos silence opponents of anti-gay bill.

• Uganda: Parliament debates anti-homosexuality bill.

• Uganda: European parliament denounces the bill.

• Uganda: U.S. urges Uganda president to block the bill.

• Uganda: Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, condemns the bill.

• Uganda: What's Mrs. Bill Clinton have to say?

• Uganda: Officials livid after public rebuff by U.S. politicians and clergy.

• Uganda: U-turn?

• Uganda: Is Uganda's antigay fervor spreading? An African domino theory, examined.

• Rwanda: A vote on criminalising homosexuality is postponed... until next week.

• Walter Trochez, a "well-known LGBT activist in Honduras, was assassinated on the evening of December 13, shot dead by drive-by killers".

• Domestic violence, Jamaican-style: "According to the police, the [couple] were involved in a fight at their... St Andrew apartment when the accused used his fingers to gouge out Pryce's eyes. The fight was reportedly as a result of Pryce's failure to sleep at the house on the previous night."

• Joseph just ain't the man God was.

• Arrested for filming public buildings in London: abuse of power, or the stark reality of post-7/7 London?

• WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!

• Absolutely exquisite: The Philco PC by designers SchultzeWORKS, inspired by television designs from the 1950s, antique typewriters and "steampunk" objects.

• Scientists crack 'entire genetic code' of cancer.

• More from the school of thought that teaches selling sex is a good AIDS prevention technique.

• Animal pictures of the week (30 pictures).

• Shape-changing deer!

• Thinking of a trip to the circus? Think again - unless the torture of baby elephants is your bag.

• Pet Shop Boys on their influences and idols.

• Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland (let's hope he doesn't make as big a mess of this as he did Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory).

• Porn actor Dustin Michael dies after "allegedly attempting to swallow a bag of weed".

• Polyamorous, ex-army reserve, former Starbucks barista Element Eclipse talks to Gay Porn Blog about his leather family, on-set romance with Race Cooper and being a pup.

• Corbin Fisher sues eBay sellers for content piracy.

• EastEnders: Syed outed on New Year's Day.

• First gay male sex scene for daytime soap.

• Anthony D. Langford delivers this year's final edition of Gays of Our Lives - a review of everything gay the world of soap, from around the world! Right, Danny Miller as Aaron in Emmerdale.

• "Kellan Lutz, the other piece in Twatlight who isn't Taylor Lautner or RPattz, has just signed a deal to star in an underwear campaign for Calvin Klein. And not just any campaign. Sources say the hos at Calvin Klein want Kellan to remake Marky Mark's iconic campaign from the 90s that made genitals everywhere go weak. I still have the paper cut scars on my ass." No one tells it quite like dlisted.

• Jeweller Marc Woods has created a series of "fetishistic objects" for an exhibition in London. To Have and to Hold runs until 31 January 2010 at the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station.

• And finally, a word from Timaya...

Issue 40 of World Outside My Window (The Week According To Garçon Stupide) refers to the week 12th-18th December 2009.

POSTSCRIPT
"You know, we might just as well not have bothered to come. The whole thing's been ridiculous."