After cancellation last year due to the weather, Southern Decadance is back, though maybe a bit smaller. Of course the "weather" last year was more than just a few showers. Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and forced most of the residents to leave. There were a couple dozen hardy souls who marched down Bourbon St. on Sept. 5, 2005 to keep the spirit of New Orleans's legendary Pride celebration alive, but for the most part, the party got rained out.

This year Southern Decadence is back and starts today, continuing through the long weekend. All the hotels and guest houses are full already, and the event even has two official websites, not doubt due to some petty gay argument. We don't have time to figure out who is right in this one, so you can just visit both if it interests you.

With all his recent involvement in reconstruction efforts, we wonder if Brad Pitt will be the grand marshal.

Southern Decadence Returns To New Orleans [365 Gay]
Southern Decadence [Official Site #1]
Southern Decadence [Official Site #2]

Moscow Pride did not happen this year after the city banned it on grounds of security back in May, but also "ethics." Today a Moscow court decided that the city was not acting illegally in doing so.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told a Moscow radio station on Tuesday, "Such functions may be acceptable in European countries, more ‘advanced‘ in such matters than Russia ... I believe this parade is impermissible in our country, above all, on moral and ethical grounds."

It's always nice when one man's morals infringe on another's freedoms.

Moscow Court Upholds Gay Pride Ban [365 Gay]

We wrote about ex-gay Christian activist James Hartline for the first time earlier this year, when he made the public proclamation that Starbucks was so gay he was afraid to go inside for fear of getting a boner.

Now San Diego Pride is causing another stir in his loins, and he is none too happy about it:

Christian activist James Hartline, a former homosexual who has been transformed by his relationship with Jesus Christ, offers a unique perspective of the parade. Because of his "insider's knowledge," Hartline spoke passionately to the City Council about the dark side of the parade. He detailed segments of the event that feature graphic pornography, nudity, sadomasochism, and other activities too offensive to describe in print.

We can practically see his forehead sweating. It's okay James, you can get out the leather you've been hiding in your closet just for this one little day.

City Council Ignores Conservative Christians' Pleas, Honors 'Gay Pride' Festival [Agape Press via Pam's House Blend]

We're starting to think that the European Union's much-touted Charter of Fundamental Human Rights is a bunch of unenforceable bunk after what happened in Latvia's capital city over the weekend. First Poland elects a couple of twin fascists that are openly disdainful of gay rights, and now police in Riga, Latvia allow neo-Nazis to trap a group of gay activists inside a church on Saturday and do nothing to get them safely out.

The gay group, who was recently barred from holding a Pride parade by Riga's mayor, were having an LGBT rights prayer service (that's a new one for us) when the church was surrounded by neo-Nazis. Rather than disperse, the fascist group grew larger and the gays inside were forced to exit through the protesting mob, dodging bags of poo and having insults screamed in their faces.

The President of Latvia has denounced the incident as "unacceptable," but those words mean little when skinheads are so blatantly allowed to rule the streets. We will wait and see if the EU issues any sanctioned before pronouncing them utterly gutless and ineffectual.

Mob Attacks Gays As Police Look On [365 Gay]

We were happy and surprised to hear that this year's Pride celebration in São Paulo, Brazil was possibly the largest gay event in the world, with over 2.5 million people in attendance. Looking at these photos we believe it.

But we also think that it could possibly be the highest concentration of sexy shirtless gay men as well. We have amassed some photo evidence courtesy of our friends at Made In Brazil, which you can see after the jump.

Next year we may have to take a trip South, heat be damned, even if we risk being crushed by thousands of tanned pectorals.

[Read On ...]