Now the news is anything but celebratory after Zimbabwean contestant Taurai Zhanje withdrew from the contest over the past weekend because of what Coenie Kukkuk, the director of Mr Gay World Africa, vaguely deemed the political landscape ahead of the country's general election.

Zhanje's withdrawal coincides with the unapologetically homophobic Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's decision to mark his 88th year by going on an anti-gay rant at a birthday rally following British Prime Minister David Cameron's threat a few months ago to pull aid from countries that did not safeguard the rights of queers. 

Mugabe's rejoinder? "We reject that outright and say to hell with you."

Mugabe, who has called gays "worse than dogs" in the past, told the rally in a televised speech that he would never allow gay rights in Zimbabwe. He has also criticized his major political opponent, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, for supporting gay rights.

On the heels of Mugabe's nonsensical nattering and the Zimbabwean contestant's withdrawal, Mr Gay Ethiopia, Robel Gizaw Hailu, has also reportedly fled his home because of death threats and does not plan to return to his country, even though he still intends to compete in the global pageant, according to Gay Star News.

The saga of persecution doesn't end there: the first ever Mr Gay Namibia, Wendelinus Hamutenya, also faced down an apparent homophobic attack in December when he was followed by two men and attacked with a bottle. He, too, will remain in the competition.  

"I do not think LGBTI people in the West really have an idea what black LGBTI Africans have to deal with on a daily basis. That is why most of them still are, and will remain, closeted," Kukkuk told Gay Star News.  

Canada's representative at the Mr Gay World competition is Vancouver-based Thomas Egli, who emerged winner of the Mr Gay Canada competition held at the recently concluded WinterPride festival in Whistler, BC.

The Mr Gay World competition is scheduled to run April 4 to 8.

BY ANDREA HOUSTON - Plan on wearing pink tomorrow (Feb 29) to stand in solidarity against bullying and homophobia for the fifth annual Pink Shirt Day. 

Pink Shirt Day started in 2007 when two Nova Scotia students, David Shepherd and Travis Price, decided to take a stand after they saw a Grade 9 student attacked by a group of bullies after wearing a pink shirt to school.

The bullies called him "fag" and "homo" and threatened to kill him if he ever wore pink again, the Chronicle Herald reported. 

Shepherd and Price decided to take action. That night they bought as many pink shirts as they could find in thrift shops around town and distributed them to their friends to wear the next day at school.

Almost every student in the school showed up wearing a pink shirt. Price says, "The bullies got angry. One guy was throwing chairs [in the cafeteria]. We’re glad we got the response we wanted."

According to Shepherd, when the bullied kid saw the group of students in the pink shirts, "he was all smiles. It was like a big weight had been lifted off his shoulder."

Since then, Pink Shirt Day has spread across North America as a day for students and adults everywhere to stand up to bullying.

BY ANDREA HOUSTON - Canada's Christopher Plummer became the oldest actor to win an Oscar last night. He won for his role as an elderly gay man in Beginners.

The 82-year-old silver fox, best known for his role as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, thanked his wife and kissed his gold statue. "You're only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?" 

In the film, Plummer's character comes out of the closet after spending 45 years in a loveless marriage. His son, played by Ewan McGregor, is plagued by terrible memories of his parents and is unable to form healthy relationships. While his dad embraces being gay and pure happiness for the first time, his son struggles to understand.

Beginners was based on the true story of director Mike Mills' father, who was also very late to come out.

Also noteworthy, Meryl Streep picked up her third trophy. Streep holds a record 17 Academy Award nominations, the most of any actor.

She won the Oscar for Best Lead Actress for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. It was her first win since Sophie's Choice in 1982. She also won for the 1979 film Kramer vs Kramer. 

She beat out Glenn Close, who was nominated for the film Albert Nobbs, about a woman who dresses as a man to find work, something women did occasionally to fight in wars, land jobs or go on adventures. 

BY ROB SALERNO - Glory Hole Doughnuts, a new upscale doughnut bakery in Toronto, is combining two of the world's most perfect delights: doughnuts and bacon.

If you thought I meant something else, shame on you. There is no way that would pass the health code.

Glory Hole is part of a trend toward upscale junk food, and its luxurious desserts are basically junk-food porn. Just look at these works of art:

Maple Bacon

Fried Chicken and Waffles

Coconut Cream

Pudding

S'mores 

I suppose some guys of a certain size could make a glory hole out of these things, but would any man benefit from the comparison?

Mmmm . . . bacon. 

BY ANDREA HOUSTON - As a young girl I was obsessed with Barbie, My Little Pony, Cabbage Patch dolls and Jem and the Holograms. 

I didn't have much interest at all in GI Joe, Tonka trucks or Transformers. 

But it wasn't until much later in life that I asked myself why.

Political remix artist Jonathan McIntosh has also pondered this question. He recently created the "Gendered Advertising Remixer" to make the gender stereotyping obvious to children, parents and educators.

"In a nutshell, the app lets you re-combine video from ads directed at boys with audio from ads directed at girls (and vice versa) to create hilarious and insightful fair use mashups. It allows you to drag and drop clips from a library of 40 different gendered toy commercials into 800 possible remix combinations," McIntosh explains.

"Young people in the United States are subjected to an average of 25,000 TV commercials every year. Embedded in those advertisements are a very regressive and stereotypical set of social values about gender roles for boys and girls," he writes.

Here, wise young Riley sums up gender stereotyping perfectly: "The companies that make these are trying to trick girls into buying the pink stuff instead of the stuff that boys want to buy! Why do all the girls have to buy princesses? Some girls may want superheroes; some girls like princesses. Some boys like superheroes; some boys like princesses."

Try the Gender Remixer here.