Like us, the US gay activists quoted in The Globe and Mail were delighted by the Oscar speeches by Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black:

"Many gay advocates are hoping the win adds momentum to their cause as the California Supreme Court prepares to consider the legality of Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state."

Me too but, at the risk of being Debbie Downer, let's remember that Hollywood isn't that influential.  Just ask Rupert Everett:

A solid profile in the New York Times recognizes that Everett never become the movie star he should have been. While it's delightful that actors like Penn, Tom Hanks, William Hurt, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Hilary Swank have won Oscars for playing gay roles, actual gay winners are rare or, in the case of our brilliant actor Ian McKellen, they lose out to Roberto fucking Benigni.  Just sayin'!

But true progress, of course, is always slow -- while we honour the memory of Canadian writer Scott Symonds, remember that he had to flee the country in 1967 with his younger lover.  Now there's a movie waiting to be made!

And progress is bumpy -- last week, we praised another Canadian literary legend Margaret Atwood for spurning a Dubai book festival for censoring a gay-themed book.  Now it turns out we were all conned by some publicist.  I'm still glad Atwood stood up for us but I would not be the guy who crossed her -- dude, her book's called "Bodily Harm" for a reason!

And progress is strange -- check out this past Saturday's Scrabble Word of the Day: 

So who knows where all this is headed -- let's just relax and smile on the way, preferably with a soundtrack from Royksopp:

Today, we've got what it says on the tin...

Thanks to the internet, I'd thought I'd encountered every possible fetish by this point but no -- here comes Dinosaurs Fucking Robots!  I was this close to coining the term 'bi-ceratops' but knew someone would slap me.

Xtra's man in Parliament Dale Smith is spending today covering the people who are covering the people who are covering Barack Obama's first presidential visit.  Smith's not impressed, even if Obama "comes in riding on a unicorn with trumpeting angels heralding his arrival."  If only -- it'd be better than the treatment Obama got from the foul, anti-gay editorial cartoonist Sean Delonas, who proves once again that the pen is douchier than the sword! 

Sure, you're asking, "What the hell is with the horse peeing rainbows?" but the bigger question is, can you make through all 1:21 of its "song?"

Who knew Canada had its own X-Files? I can sleep at night knowing that someone is out there, trying to catch the Wendigo.  And I still maintain that the Chinook is caused by aliens.

Speaking of aliens, while we wait for the new season of 'Torchwood' later this year, the UK TV site has an adorable online comic that proves Captain Jack will flirt in any medium:

Of course, since aliens don't exist, homosexuals are our greatest threat, says Utah state senator Chris Buttars. Gay people, he insists, are "the meanest buggers I have ever seen...just like the Muslims." As always, the facts prove him completely wrong but who needs facts when you're a senator?

Now I'd love to see Buttars locked in a UFC cage with Margaret Atwood, who has refused to attend a Dubai literary festival because the organizers banned a book that contained a gay character. Go, Peggy!

I was going to go out on a limb and say that this was the weirdest video I have ever seen but that was even before CBC hosts Steven and Chris showed up:

But finally, some good music -- as I mentioned on Tuesday, the Pet Shop Boys received their "Outstanding Contribution to Music" honour at the Brit Awards last night and had Lady Gaga and Brandon Flowers join them for a very weird, very wonderful medley of their two decades of hits:

And yes, I promise I won't mention them again until at least, say, March 24th...

And there was the news:  Drew Barrymore went on a karoake date with my Jason Segal. 

Cow.

But it forced me to accept that, like it or not, despite my best ongoing efforts, some people will stubbornly remain heterosexual -- even Daniel Craig, despite the photos from his Christmas vacation:

But that's okay. Some of my best friends are heterosexual and, believe it or not, gay activism is meant to help them too. Even though I may rail against the evil, evil straight people trying to revoke 18,000 marriages in California, for example, I'm always aware of the many, many more straight people who'll eventually be harmed by what these forces want.

You see, while social conservatives are clearly out to marginalize (if not eradicate) gay people, they won't stop there. While gay sex upsets them more than anything (even child molestation, apparently), their views on heterosexual sex aren't much more positive. Here's just a few recent examples:

-- three cops in Texas beat the 12-year-old girl they thought was a prostitute. That is seriously messed up.

-- there is, of course, the ongoing creepiness of father-daughter "purity balls." Have you heard of these? Clive Barker couldn't make this shit up!

-- meanwhile, there's yet another research study showing that such abstinence pledges don't work.

-- the wingnuts are always going on about "protecting the Biblical definition of marriage" but the delightful bloggers at Pam's House Blend ask, which one?  In the Bible's seven types of marriage, there's polygamy, slavery and rape, oh my!

-- and, speaking of rape, that's what national right-wing radio host Dennis Prager flirts with recommending as he advises good Christian women on how "mood should play little or no role in a woman's determining whether she has sex with her husband." Seriously!

In the end, it all amounts to the same thing: stamping down on "messy" sexuality for the benefit of a tidier, more orderly society -- the kind of vision Dr. Strangelove delighted in, the kind of nightmare Margaret Atwood warned us all about:

Me, I'd rather live in a country where a doomsaying Margaret Atwood is proven wrong and the charming Zen reprobate Leonard Cohen is proven right because, ultimately, sexual freedom for gay people means sexual freedom for straight people. In 2009, we'll continue to advocate for that...even if that freedom extends to Jason Segal!