Like we promised you last week, every day between now and Christmas we are listing the reasons why 2005 was gay. So Gay! Need proof? Take a look at the musicians who made 2005 gay, gay, gay!

5. Green Day. The punk trio released the brilliant American Idiot technically in late 2004, however its staying power lasted all through 2005. Front man Billie Joe Armstrong gave kids everywhere one positive message: you can wear make-up and be tough at the same time. And we love him for that.

4. Gwen Stefani. Like Green Day, she too released her Love. Angel. Music. Baby. album in late 2004, but the first single “What You Waiting For?” tanked at radio. Fear not, she rebounded big with hit single after hit single, a clothing line co-designed by Zaldy at Fashion Week, and an album that stayed near the top all year. While Britney becomes a mother, it’s this Southern California girl who has, dare we say, become the new Madonna.

3. Melissa Etheridge. Melissa Etheridge does not get the credit she deserves. It took a battle against cancer and a soaring Janis Joplin cover to prove that this woman, who appeared to be past her prime, still has a lot of rocking left to do. Green Day and Kanye West look like sissies next to her.

2. The 1980s. The 80s have been back in fashion for a while and the decade’s influence on music has been apparent in many hip-hop and pop records of late. But 2005 could have been 1985 all over again. New records were released by Kate Bush, Cyndi Lauper, the Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, and Erasure. This revival gave us a reason to break out our parachute pants and leg warmers.

After the jump, the #1 gayest thing in music in 2005.

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• Anderson Cooper (the only reason we ever watch CNN) gets a book deal that will “deal with the last year of [his] life as a journalist and human being in Sri Lanka, Africa, Iraq and Louisiana/Mississippi.” No word on if it will cover the gay human being part.

• Some fire-happy teens tore down and burned an amalgam of Old Glory and the rainbow flag because they thought it was "unpatriotic." Apparently ripping down private property, dousing it with kerosene, and then dropping a match is the American way.

• Reach out and touch Arjan. He has Depeche Mode's entire new album available to stream.

• Katie Holmes's parents are more upset about the unholiness of a shotgun wedding than her marrying crazy couch-leaper Tom Cruise.

• Fliers are showing up in Austin and Dallas claiming there's a plan to bus gays into Texas to vote against the state's same-sex marriage ban. Well, there's your first sign it's all bull. We'd never ever take the bus.

•We know you used to sit in your bedroom and sing "People Are People" dreaming of the day you could act out your adolecent lust for other boys. Well take a stroll down memory lane this fall. Depeche Mode are going on tour.

•In a post from last week we suggested supporting the Children's AIDS Fund. Well don't. A reader alerts us to the fact that the organization is run by Anita and Shephard Smith, who are abstinence-only fundamentalists. See? Give here instead.

•An "ex-gay" goes on Howard Stern and and Howard plays clips of gay porn. Classic.

•Champagne for Hilary! We mean Lulu! Hillary Clinton and British pop tart/AbFab alum Lulu, seperated at birth?

•City Rag shows us that Hellbent is not the 1st gay horror film. Anyone remember A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge? Well, duh. We don't either but this is funny nonetheless.