WORLD OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

THE WEEK
ACCORDING TO
GARÇON STUPIDE

• Kicked and stomped to death: 32-year-old Marland Woods.

• Stabbed to death in his own home: Don Belton, "a distinguished writer and one of the leading black gay voices in academia". Rod 2.0 has more; again, interesting to read what the community thinks about this case. Reader dhampton100 says: "53 year old gay man having sex with a 25 year old bi-sexual man. Sounds like a predator to me. And I would say the exact same thing if this was a straight couple in a sexual relationship! The age spread is too much and the mental maturity is so far advanced it equates to child molestation." Idiot.

• Bartender found stabbed to death in The Drama Club, a Louisiana gay club (left), on Christmas Day.

• A match made in heaven? "As much as she'd like to pretend otherwise, there's nothing new or different about this particular hussy's pretentious prancing. Does the simple slut truly think that she can change God's standards by seducing a generation of rebels into joining her in fist-raised, stiff-necked, hard-hearted rebellion against Him?" Megan Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church shows her love for Lady Gaga.

• Naked football player makes TV jocks scared.

• Ripped from the headlines! Jamie Foxx begs fan to be his gay sex toy!

• Faggots at Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil!

• Anti-gay hate or freedom of speech? The bus ads causing a storm in Washington DC.

• Boy Scouts anti-gay discrimination is a demerit.

• Pressure on Pentagon as 100 members of the House of Representatives demand detailed data on people discharged under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

• The Washington Post asks: Gays, lesbians should be able to serve openly in the military.

• Good riddance: Iris Robinson, the Northern Ireland MP who said homosexuality was an abomination which made her feel sick, is to stand down.

• Belfast Telegraph: Why we must not forget Iris's intolerance of others.

• Stephen Fry writes a letter to a young, arrogant and confused 16-year-old: himself.

• Quentin Crisp wanted to be the only gay in the village. Peter Tatchell explains why Quentin Crisp was no gay hero.

• He's been beaten by Mugabe's thugs and Russian Nazis: Is Peter Tatchell the bravest man in Britain?

• Sleazy white trash Eminem - the one who looks like a lesbian - will play herhis first UK show in 5 years after agreeing to drop homophobic lyrics.

• The gay highs and lows of 2009.

• Australian newspaper spews bile in a homophobic editorial about gay parents.

• Australia's older gays hit by the blues: "senior gays would rather commit suicide than risk abuse from a prudish and conservative aged health-care system".

• GayRussia.ru names the closure of Moscow's oldest gay club, Club Body & Soul, the "main event" of 2009.

• How gays and lesbians play a key role in the campaign for freedom of assembly in Russia.

• Tracking the legality of same-sex marriage around the world.

• KER-CHING!! America take note! Mexico City wants gay marriage tourism.

• Gay activists fined for taking part in human rights demo near Iranian embassy in Minsk.

• Marriage equality to be recognized in Dutch Caribbean islands.

• Two gay weddings on two continents, but only one happy ending: celebration in Argentina (left) and arrest in Malawi.

• Argentinian couple Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre's story.

• But the Malawians, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza (right) face "a humiliating medical examination aimed at proving they have had sexual relations".

• iafrica.com reports on homophobic Malawi.

• Senegal police arrest 24 men for 'homosexual activities': officers are said to have found condoms, lubricants, wigs and make-up at a house where the men were holding an unauthorised party.

• Ugandan tabloid Red Pepper incites hysteria (left) by purporting to out "city tycoons who bankroll Ugandan homos." As with an earlier public vigilante campaign waged by the same tabloid last April, this sensationalistic hit piece reveals names, residences, places of employment, and other clues of where people can be found who purportedly finance Uganda’s beleaguered LGBT community.

• Pakistan's Supreme Court orders authorities to allow transvestites and eunuchs to identify themselves as a distinct gender.

• Hong Kong implements amendment, designed to protect same-sex couples against violence, to its Domestic Violence Ordinance.

• Year of gay China: a monumental year for China's LGBT community.

• The Big Picture: Five years since the Tsunami (25 pictures). Above, unimaginable horror as countless bodies float in the water near Banda Aceh on December 29, 2004. Below, Tsunami survivor Abhilash Jeyaraj, also known as Baby 81.

• The Big Picture: Afghanistan, December 2009, below (43 pictures).

• Detroit terror attack: Umar Mutallab in pictures (19 pictures).

• Detroit terror attack: the underwear that could have downed a plane.

• Detroit terror attack: A murderous ideology tolerated for too long, Jihadist Islamism is comparable to Nazism in many respects.

• So, about these full body airport scanners? Just how much can they see, again?

• 31st December 2009: 24 hours in pictures (12 pictures). Right, a botched demolition in China.

• Phallic Jesus.

• "So, like, this happened! On the the subway! No, I don't have an explanation. Just letting you know!" Bmad says at !! omg blog !! And, well, what else can you say, really?

• Really stupid Aussies (right).

• The Fountain of Youth? Restricted calorie diets - specifically in the form of restricted glucose - help human cells live longer.

• Coming soon: The alcohol substitute that won't get you drunk, leave you with a hangover - and can be "switched off".

• More than a third of health workers believe coffee causes cancer despite no evidence of a link.

• Ten tips for safe computing in 2010.

• Google? Groovle? Are you confused?

• Free yourself from oppression by technology.

• The best of the week in wildlife 2009 (50 pictures).

• Endangered: the cuckoo.

• Endangered: Vultures (South Africans are smoking their brains for good luck).

• What to do with the hundreds of thousands of tons of earth dug from beneath London's streets? Make an island out of it! For birds...

• Polar bears fighting!

• Trey Songz "Invents Sex", strips down, water poured on him.

• Kid Cudi on his HBO series, How To Make It In America.

• What did JLS have planned for Christmas?

• The boys want to be bigger and better in 2010.

• Westlife's Mark Feehily on Stephen Gately: "Stephen was extremely brave. He was the first member of a boyband to come out, and, in hindsight, it helped me and probably lots of other gay lads to understand their sexuality and come out."

• Ben Barnes and Ben Chaplin hot wet kiss in Dorian Grey.

• The Hollywood flick with a gay couple - but the studio doesn't want anyone to know about it! Shush!

• The 10 most underrated movies of the decade.

• The Celebrity Big Brother house for 2010 is unveiled.

• The BBC's most embarrassing programmes.

• Too much Tennant? The Doctor Who actor's 75 appearances over Christmas.

• The 13 houses where Brookside (the Channel 4 soap that ended in 2003) was filmed, are finally going on the market this year.

• Advertisements 'make television more enjoyable'.

• Brazilian actor Micael Borges, from soap Malhação, at the beach. It was this or Ian Beale shopping in Tesco.

• So wrong, yet so right. Or is it just wrong? Bel Ami's identical twins Milo and Elijah Peters (left) seek, locate and destroy the ultimate taboo - then do each other bareback for good measure. Whatever you think about the deed, the polarised opinions of gay men to the episode are fascinating to read. So what do you think?

• 2009 in Hindsight: AVN looks back over the year in gay porn. Right, the Goffney twins made headlines again this year.

• The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: "an intimate accounting of a disgruntled professor who trades his soul to the devil in exchange for 20-some-odd years of pleasure. The film is the first gay adult production to cleave so closely to the source material—except for the gay sex part".

• Collin O'Neal's World of Men visits Colombia.

• Michael Lucas is looking for someone to write his memoirs.

• Backstage at Dolce&Gabbana spring/summer men's campaign. There's lots of underwear...

• Big boys: footballer Quadtrine Hill covers ESPN magazine.

• Paper Star Wars spacecraft!

• Daewon Park Observatory (right) by Korean architect Changki Yun.

• Wolverhampton voted the fifth worst city - IN THE WORLD! I once knew a boy from Wolverhampton...

• 2009's "funny" pictures of the year...

• And lastly, a word from Timaya...

Issue 42 of World Outside My Window (The Week According To Garçon Stupide) refers to the week 26th-31th December 2009.


Cover: The photography of William Walsh.

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