South African Wins Mr Gay World Pageant

A South African man has won the 2010 Mr Gay World pageant, beating rivals from Australia, Hong Kong, China and Spain, the organisers said on Sunday.

Charl Van den Berg, 28, who runs a restaurant in Cape Town, won after four days of competition finished with a walk down a fashion runaway in an Oslo nightclub dressed in skimpy swimwear and various costumes.

The competition is aimed at "finding a leader who can take on the responsibility of being a spokesman for the community and who can also speak out on equality and human rights on the world stage," a statement said.

Xiaodai Muyi, 26, from China and who took fourth place, competed despite Beijing's attempts to prevent him doing so.

The Chinese authorities blocked China's own first gay pageant, in which contestants were vying for the right to represent China at Mr Gay World, last month.

Xiaodai's identity had been kept secret in the run-up to the competition in which some 20 men from around the world vied for the Mr Gay World title.

Homosexuality was a crime in China until 1997 and it was officially considered a mental illness until 2001. Since then, however, an increasing number of visible gay and lesbian events has taken place.

Australia's Byron Adu, 25, who works for the Australian government, was in second place followed by Rick Dean Twombley, 33, a dancer from Hong Kong while Spanish entrant Sergio Lara, a 26-year-old psychologist, came fifth.

The first Mr Gay World competition, held last year in Whistler, Canada, was won by an Irish man.

Zachary Quinto at LA's Gay & Lesbian Gala

Zachary Quinto, one of the stars of NBC’s Heroes and last summer’s box office smash Star Trek, appeared at this weekend's LA Gay & Lesbian Center gala to pay tribute to his friend, drag performer Coco Peru.

He recalled a friend taking him to see Miss Coco’s Universe and “I remembered leaving that night so staggered by how powerful it was for me.”

Zachary then read a letter from Coco’s pal Lily Tomlin who was in New York City working. But he did it as Lily and even snorted at the end! It was adorable.

Cynthia Nixon Marches For Gay Rights

Sex And The City star Cynthia Nixon took to the streets of Washington, D.C. on Sunday to lead a gay rights march.

The actress and her long-time partner Christine Marinoni were among the thousands who participated in The National Equality March in the U.S. capital.

Nixon was spotted holding up a banner as she walked with hundreds of fellow New Yorkers, before taking to a podium to address the crowd.

Holding back tears, Nixon said, "I drove down here with 1,400 other New Yorkers from the theatre community and from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and I am prouder than ever to be from New York today because last month my congressman Jerrold Nadler introduced a bill that will at long last repeal the hateful, discriminatory and absurdly named Defense of Marriage Act."

The star then paid tribute to late student Matthew Shepard, a teen who died in 1998 after he was tortured for being gay.

She added, "Our right to marry is of paramount importance. It is important because when a country has different laws for different categories of people it sends its population a message that the different group of people with lesser rights are somehow inferior or less deserving of respect.

"That message is heard loud and clear by the worst elements in our society. It instructs them that if they are looking for someone to bully or beat or even kill, if they are looking for someone vulnerable to prey upon, gay people are a ready target. And that is why this movement is not just about our ability to get married. It is about demanding equal rights, equal responsibilities, equal opportunities, equal treatment and equal protection under the law so that we can herald in a new day."

Singer Lady Gaga was also spotted at the rally.

Southern Decadence Returns This Weekend

Almost forty years ago, Southern Decadence started with a small group of New Orleans residents as a birthday party pub crawl. The celebration party made their way through the French Quarter.

Today, the party has evolved into a traditional Labor Day weekend event attracting around 100,000 people.

Over the past four years however, two of the events were cut short as hurricanes thrashed the city. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina took a toll and last year Gustav, under evacuation orders, brought the festivities to an abrupt end.

This year, the weather may be raining, but there are no hurricanes in site which is a very welcome weather report as the event is a huge economic boost for French Quarter merchants as they are usually recovering economically from the slower summer months.

Southern Decadence is a week-long, predominantly gay-male event held in New Orleans, Louisiana and its environs by the gay and lesbian community during Labor Day Weekend, climaxing with a parade through the French Quarter on the Sunday before Labor Day.

Most events take place in or around the French Quarter neighborhood of New Orleans, centering especially on the intersection of Bourbon and St. Ann streets.

For details on this event, visit their official website: http://www.southerndecadence.net/.