Yeah, that's right -- we're not afraid!  So here:

-- the Barbra Streisand Barbie Doll is a must-own!

-- the Lambda Literary Foundation is wrong in its decision to refuse awards to heterosexual authors

-- I still refuse to see the next 'Twilight' movie, even after the new poster:

-- Kyle Freeman is an activist hero for counter-suing Canada Blood Services after lying about his sexual orientation

-- Kylie Minogue is God:

(actually, that last bit's not controversial at all, now is it?)

Good news all around today -- for me, I capped off Celebrate Bisexuality Day by going to a preview here in Toronto of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre's sexy and scandalous new show Neon Nightz -- a wildly entertaining ode to the Montreal strip club scene in the '90s starring Sasha Van Bon Bon and Kitty Neptune:

And thanks to the wonders of the internet, I didn't have to miss out on last night's episode of Glee, featuring this utterly ridiculous and wonderful scene:

The show was hilarious and poignant and proof that the gays have taken over the airwaves.  Sure, I didn't think anything could top the news that Heather Locklear is returning to Melrose Place but there's also been the adorable coupling of frathouse roommates Calvin and Grant on the ABC Family college-life series Greek:

What amazes me is the lack of controversy over this show -- there's an interracial gay couple in a show on the aimed-at-teens ABC Family network yet not a peep from the wingnuts?  Ah, progress!

This is why this pop culture stuff matters, of course -- it's what's helping kids to now come out as early as eleven.  Now we get to see if all that "family values" talk really holds up as these brave kids demand support.

And finally, the best potential news of all:  successful trials of a possible vaccine against HIV!  As always, it's too early to celebrate but even other researchers appear dazzled by the news today.

Only trouble is, all this good news leaves me nothing to snark about, which is....what's that?  Stephen Harper skipped out on the United Nations for a visit to Tim Hortons?  When Canadians asked just how useless he could be, he said, "Double double?"  He thought Ban Ki-Moon meant order a cruller instead?  Did he tell the other world leaders he'd be there in a Timbit?

Oh that Stephen -- like Tim Horton's, he's always there for me!

A growing 'asexual pride' movement seems to think so, as the whoopie-adjacent are now demanding society stop discriminating against them for, umm, what they're not doing.

But when I see today how gay sexuality is being used as a cheap ratings stunt for 'Gossip Girl' (hey, gay guys are the new lesbians!), I can see how the asexuals do have a point.  We all know that sex is mostly just used to sell stuff, like with this cheesy clip of "Twilight: New Moon" actor Alex Meraz making the rounds on the internet:

I am not seeing that movie and I don't care how many shirtless boys they throw at us to make us!

Then, of course, there's the serious part -- the harrowing news of one new study from the US that says gay men and other men who have sex with men contract AIDS at a rate more than 50 times greater than women and non-gay/bi men (condoms, people, condoms!!) and another finding that circumcision is not the defense against HIV some have believed.  On the bright side, I guess I can cancel that surgery appointment!

Even dating can be a nightmare (hearing this, I'm so glad I'm not a single straight girl!) and one starts to wonder if Penelope Cruz and Pedro Almodovar have the right idea.  Can you really party without sex?  And if so, does it mean having to listen to Miley Cyrus?

Could you really live without it?

As the great Morrissey once sang:

"Shyness is nice / but shyness can stop you / from doing all the things in life you'd like to."

How shy are you?  See where you fall on the following scale:

-- PATHOLOGICALLY SHY

Latin pop singer Ricky Martin, telling a gossip magazine "his heart could belong to a male or female."  Oh Ricky.  We still love you after all these coy, sexually-ambiguous years but seriously -- this is either the most protracted coming-out or the longest cock-tease in all of history.  Enough already!

-- VERY SHY

In a sad case of "pot, kettle," Barack Obama's timid support for the gay community has him getting schooled by the creator of "Will & Grace!"  Obama is so empty right now that, during a discussion of his policies on CNN, my mind kept wandering to thoughts of Dustin Lance Black getting barebacked by Anderson Cooper on the desk (is it just me?):

-- RATHER COY

An online ad for thongs that lets you "undress" the model.  When will these underwear companies just drop the pretense and start making porn?

-- UNDERSTATED

Cher, responding to questions about her daughter's decision to transition and become a man: "Although I may not understand, I will strive to be understanding. The one thing that will never change is my abiding love for my child."  That's so lovely, I cried on behalf of Cher, since she no longer has tear ducts.

-- ASSERTIVE

Me, reminding you of the fundraising party for the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation at the Beaver tonight.  Shameless, perhaps, but for a good cause!  Besides, it's not as though I made a plug for my own fundraising efforts yet again, right?

-- QUITE CHEEKY

Canada's own Ryan Reynolds -- the only man I'd leave Paul Rudd for -- isn't just frequently naked (though we'd love him just for that), he's also willing to be very silly, as in his 'Entertainment Weekly' cover shoot:

-- BOLD!

It's one thing to do a nude scene in a movie but how about on the subway?  While I'm not convinced the "half-outfit" truly is "sweeping through Asia," it's still fun to imagine zany pranksters going out like this:

-- UTTERLY SHAMELESS

Roland Emmerich, gay director of disaster epics "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow," finally throws any last shred of sanity or artistic integrity out the window with his end-of-the-world opus "2012."  This guy's movies are crap but we just keep lining up because dammit, no one does ludicrous spectacle better than this:

So remember, "fortune favours the bold" and have a great weekend!

Man, I wander off for one day and look what I miss!

Carrie Prejean is finally fired for spending more time being Miss Anti-Gay instead of Miss California (but now free to choose between same unemployment and opposite unemployment), while American Idol's Adam Lambert comes out on the cover of Rolling Stone (not as gay -- we all knew that already -- but as an ophiophile)!

Lambert's not the only one making questionable fashion choices, however -- check out the fetching ensemble that got this man arrested:

That's right -- this man is going to jail because he makes people feel uncomfortable!  If that were, you know, actual law, Pat Roberton should be on death row for creeping us all out with his latest theory on homosexuality:

For the record, my big gay self went to a Catholic school, where I was beaten by nuns, yet I developed no attraction to lesbian penguins.  So while Robertson gets fitted for a straight jacket, Dan Savage explains why his views are so offensive...to Christians.

While we're talking jailhouse fashion, check out this first photo of Mickey Rourke as the Russian mafia bad guy Whiplash in next summer's 'Iron Man 2' -- will he fight Robert Downey Jr. or invite him along to a fetish party?

Other guy dressing in something he's totally unsuited for?  Umm....me.  I've been squeezing myself into spandex for next month's Friends for Life Bike Rally. I and, more importantly, the Toronto PWA Foundation could really use your help.  After all, look at what I'm going through!

But the best change of clothes is no clothes, like in this French TV ad bringing back everyone's favourite naked pole vaulter:

And of course, Ryan Reynolds, who -- in a naked attempt to bring you back -- I'll talk about tomorrow!

Till then, however, I'll be wearing black to mark the passing of Rick Bébout, one of Toronto's finest gay journalists and historians. Gerald Hannon will be writing a remembrance for Xtra and here's a terrific interview he did with Bébout about his queer philosophy: