Congratulations to Eddie Rabon, crowned Mr. Gay USA in Philadelphia last night. The Mr. Columbia, South Carolina, takes the crown from 2009 winner Adam Boyles. Before the competition got underway, Village Voice columnist and pageant judge Michael Musto, who was joined by A-List: New York‘s Ryan and TJ, explained what he was looking for in a new Mr. Gay: “an intelligent and personable guy who happens to be good-looking, not the other way around. I want someone who can represent all gays by being an individual – someone with spunk, spirit and smarts worthy of our community’s respect. And I will not allow any pandering or sexual favors!”
[photos via]
alan brickman
This contest just reaffirms Homophobes cliches of gays….Does gay mean you can only be swishy??? Seems there were much cuter masc guys in competition than the winner…
Miss Priss
@alan brickman: Well, from YOUR little rant we see you’re a self-hating homophobe. It’s always a little sad to see this kind of cannibalism to the gay ego when even gays denigrate their own.
Matthew
Look, we have everything in our community, our brightest flames, our divas, our jocks, etc. And we are who we are, and just because you might think our community will get looked down on because of it, so what? It’s who we are. We shouldn’t have to change who we are just to make people who already hated us feel more comfortable around us.
John
The 2 guys in the last pic look WAY hotter. Mr. Philly and the friend to the right of Mr. Nashville [who I don’t find hot at all]
tallskin2
@Alan Thickman! Are you in here as well causing trouble???
You really ought to go back home and increase your medication
woha
WTF?! trag·ic as in /?trajik/
Ian
So basically the ‘winner’ is someone who can get past the body fat ratio requirement to get into a circuit party, yet is witty enough to be at the center of catty conversation. This contest to see who is the most f***able & metro hip in the majority of the judges eyes causes complete revulsion on my part.
Nuflux
Actually, John, I think the winner is much cuter and sexier than the two clones you picked. Not all of us share your boring taste…
Jim
Leave Eddie alone – I know him personally and he’s a sweetheart. Very nice, personable guy. Besides, Mr. Gay USA is a stupid event and a meaningless title, it’s just another dumb bar event to draw a crowd and look at cute guys in speedos, so why get worked up about it?
You want to know why there aren’t many gay celebrities? Because gay guys turn on them, condemn them for being effeminate, fat, thin, whatever. Gay men do not support other gay men. They’re like women in this regard – women try to destroy other women all the time. Gay men should take a page from religious conservatives, who band together and support each other and win elections no matter how crazy they are. Until gay men can stand together as one and set aside their differences, nothing will get done and we will always have second class status. Gay people voting Republican is just one manifestation of this insanity.
Well done, Eddie, and enjoy the attention!
Matthew
@Jim: mind you we are only 10% of the population so to say that gay men are to blame for not having more gay celebs is a bit of a stretch. The reason why we don’t have a lot of gay celebrities is because gay is still a taboo subject in Hollywood, if your gay, directors are not going to book you for straight roles(except maybe a few gay men will supersede that like Niel Patrick Harris). It has a lot to do with believability, and if your gay in public life viewers(sometimes) aren’t gonna believe you playing straight. Another reason also is because a lot of Celebs are still in the closet, fearing for themselves and also for their professional career. That’s why a lot of famous celebs tend to come out when they’ve gotten older and more comfortable with themselves and how their career is going.
Rick Gold
This is no more or less vacuous than the rest of American culture.
Devon
I say Chicago was robbed.
j
@Matthew: How sexist. So gay men are like women in that they try to destroy each other? I thought straight men were the uber competitive ones? Can’t we see people as people?
Matthew
@j: Um, in what way am I sexist? You must have replied to the wrong comment because I never said that.
Panera Bread Guy
Clearly, this guy wishes he were Miss Venezuela. That stanz is very close to what you would find a Miss Universe delegate doing. I’m not ripping on the contest. I think it’s great. But, surely they could have picked a winner who was slightly comfortable with being in a “mister” pageant.
alan brickman
a gay who represents the all the community like I said…there are more masc gays out there than divas you know…and quit playing the homophobe card to shut up the truth….
hotone2me
… and the winner is…. WHITE!!!
so tired of the spectrum of homosexuality being continuously white!! Enough and evolve!!! We do come in every lovley shade, and every body shape!!! We are so much more than anything that represented in pop cultures!! Have nothing against the winner or loosers of this pagent or any other.. Just bored with the same lame ass cliche about what “GAY” is supposed to look like.
( lets grow up a bit, shall we?)
nineinchnail
@hotone2me: You are saying we need affirmative action in beauty contests now? Who is it that needs to grow up? I think the winner is quite cute. A muscle Mary is stereotyping. Mr Philiadelphi is the prime example of that.
JoeyB
After seeing that 14-year-old gay boy Graeme speak with such clarity and fortitude about bullying, this sort of pageant and the gay men that appear in it (just like the straight pageants, mind you) are anachronistic, silly and set us back years. How embarrassing for them and for us.
BubbasBack
… And he’s probably single. Cuz no gay man is ever good enough in the eyes of others. That’s why so many are miserable. And the comments here prove that. Well, it’s time to pass the beer! Burp.
nycqueerty
People always have to bitch about something don’t they? You know what..sure, he is boyish (with a little swish), blonde, thin, defined..blah blah. But Eddie is also a VERY intelligent guy who is friendly and welcoming in a very “not typical” kind of way. I’ve known him personally for a couple years now and was taken back when I first met him. He’s is the perfect type of person to win this title, because he isn’t just some bland pretty boy. He’s an advocate for the things he believes, he’s always going things to help the community here in the city. So before you hateful gays decide to bash him based on your own insecurities and masculinity issues, why don’t you look him up and try to find out a little more about the guy.
Unlike so many others, Eddie is a guy worth trying to get to know. (And to the guy who commented on his race. How many guys of color were IN the pageant? How many guys of color tried out for it? I’m with you on being annoyed at the representation of other races in the gay community…however, you’ve got to be present to be counted. It’s sad…but I believe time will open some minds.
We still have quite a long way to go…we expect people to give us equality and treat us like everyone else. Perhaps we should take our own advice…
Ian
@JoeyB: That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking! What with the young man actually replying to correct the spelling of his name, there are no doubt other teen and pre-teen queerlings reading this site, and I’d hate for them to think something like that asinine popularity contest is indicative of what being gay is about.
rob
A beautiful man. Congrats, Eddie!
Matthew
But this is just a sub category in our culture, and we shouldn’t be condemning these guys for this contest. You don’t want to put us in a bubble of political spectatorship and other tedious categories, because that’s not what we are as a whole. Again a teen is not going to come to this site and see this as the only thing “gay” relevant, this is not going to paint the picture of gay life for them. I’m just saying don’t be so quick to judge this as being the cyst in our culture.
soakman
I agree with Matthew. I was at the MGLBTACC conference a few years back, and the motto/theme was alphabet soup: “No matter the letter, we stand together.” This is the mentality we should have.
How can we go around judging our own community and blaming our behaviors and leisure activities on the way people perceive us, yet expect outsiders to stop making personal judgments? There are many many non-glbta people who do less productive and rewarding things with their freetime than body-build, put on pageants, do drag stage performances, and swish through a bar after work.
Stop condemning, and start believing. People do things for a reason, and if Mr. Gay USA allows people in our community to feel good and feel like they have a place where they can be themselves, then it is worthwhile.
soakman
@Ian
Maybe that is what it is being about to some GLBT people. And maybe this is what makes them happy and feel safe. You need to start respecting other people’s viewpoints.
Obviously, someone enjoys these events. Stop being so self-righteous and critical. I think our community has suffered enough condemnation from other places.
Matt (San Diego Mr. Gay)
As a fellow contestant, I can safely say the entire thing was a sham. The five finalists were all locals, knew the judges, had been on shows with the judges, etc. The judges didn’t even get to hear from anyone except for the final five whom they chose based solely on looks/previous connections. There were much more deserving contestants that didn’t even get a chance to speak/compete. It was a despicably shallow competition that did everything opposite of what it claimed to do for our community. I’m writing an editorial as soon as my editor gets back into town.
MarkOfAntares
@alan brickman:
Gays, just like everyone else, are just trying to be ourselves. The fact that you only see the “masculine guys” says you’re more comfortable with men who don’t give any indication of their sexuality…Whether blatant or subtle. My voice is very deep, I don’t particularly care about my hair…But when I point my wrist tends to bend a bit. My bf’s voice is even deeper than mine, he loves rock music and he wears makeup and spend quite a bit of time on his hair.
We all have our things that make us “feminine” and “masculine.” Neither makes us more gay or more straight. We’re just “people.”
Cam
@Jim: said..
“”You want to know why there aren’t many gay celebrities? Because gay guys turn on them, condemn them for being effeminate, fat, thin, whatever. Gay men do not support other gay men.”””
______________
What an idiotic statement. When every single publicist in hollywood and the music industry tells their clients to not come out of the closet…oh yeah, it’s gays fault.
Neil Patrick Harris, a pretty big gay celeb, but remember, he was outed, did gays turn on him? No. I’m so sick of the fact that every time some guy like Reichen gets mocked by somebody in a post here, somebody comes on and says “See, thats why gays (Don’t, Can’t, Won’t, Never)
That said, my one question, Why were two of the judges those people from “The A List”? They are only on TV because of their shallow lives, so to say that the competition wasn’t judged on shallow merits with those two as judges is ridiculous.
Jennifer Q
I think all the FAT n LAZY gays are complaining about the competition. The find it offensive that we don’t have fat people in the contest, but nobody wants to see that. Fat is unhealthy.
Gregoire
I think he’s cute. But he’s from Hell’s Kitchen, not South Carolina.
Christopher G
CONGRATS EDDIE!!!!!!!!!
Gregoire, correction..He lives in HK, but is actually from Columbua, SC……
Matt (San Diego Mr. Gay)
@Christopher G:
The reason he is using his hometown is because he lost in NY and still wanted to find a way into the national competition.
Christopher G
At least Eddie has actually been to Columbia, SC, unlike Mr Fire Island, who admitted to never even making a visit to the island….I mean, really?!
Ian
@Jennifer Q: So is being a b****.
Matt (San Diego Mr. Gay)
@Ian: Ok I cracked up when I read that.
CJ Maciejeski
@Ian: Indeed. Leading cause in receiving bitch slaps, according to a study by Johns Hopkins.
jckfmsincty
Gays are a diversified group. But, did the winner need to look “so gay”?
Alfonzo
It’s a contest. Sometimes the people we want to win, win. That’s life. Just like in life sometimes you win sometimes you don’t.
I think all of them in the photos above (right down to the drag queen) are attractive. I think some of us reach a certain level of maturity when we’re able to look past whether or not someone is a “Muscle Mary” or has a little swoosh in their step.
Sometimes guys look “gay” or they don’t. Sometimes they’re one race, sometimes they’re another.
We also have to understand that it takes quite a bit of self-confidence to get up in front of a room full of gays and welcome their judging (I challenge anyone in here to do that).
I’m not saying I’m in favor of this contest because I’m not really sure that they’re looking to acheive, but if the guys who participate are willing to put themselves out there, I say let them. It’s not causing me to launguish in pain, it actually has little to do with me.
There really is no need to insult them and put them down. Most of us have never met these guys. Having been judged by people who don’t know me, I really don’t think its necessary to put these guys down. If you don’t like the pageant or the winner, ignore it.
If we could have focused this much energy on the last election, maybe we’d be in a better position to stop that stereotyping we seem to hate som much rather than engaging in the stereotypical gay bitchery.
Charlie
@jckfmsincty: What do you mean did he need to look “so gay”?
We see him in a speedo… and in a suit. Most guys look gay in a speedo (I think we invented them) and what’s wrong with the suit? He looks like Johnny Quest grew up and got really hot – what’s the big problem with that?
What would you like to see? A lumberjacking and manure shoveling competition added to the pageant?
KC
Contest aside — I agree that all too often that gay men work against one another. Not certain how to overcome this as humans are pretty damn competitive. I think that the individuality of most of us is far stronger than those on the “outside” realize. I often laugh at the Right’s constant labeling of a “gay community” or “gay agenda” whereas it seems to me we are clearly much less cohesive. Makes sense as sexuality crosses all people, all religions, all economic classes, etc. This contest is simply indicative of what some enjoy others abhor and the posts seem to support that. I have a friend (non-gay woman) who went into the restaurant business with two gay guys in a heavily populated gayborhood — she was shocked to discover how self-centered so many of the gay men were that she dealt with and just how mean so many were to other gay men. I’ve belonged to many wonderful gay organizations/groups that were wonderfully supportive and loving, but I’ve sure seen some nasty behavior expressed by gay men to other gay men (ditto for the lesbians!). Just like the rest of the world I suppose.
Noah (Va beach Mr. Gay)
@Matt (San Diego Mr. Gay):
Even prior to the event, I pondered its validity. Why host a pageant to find a representative? The idea of breaking through stereotypes I find very attractive, and I loved being a part of it. However, there was not much opportunity to present who you were or share your ideas with the judges, and thusly, when given the chance to say something – if you were not very succinct and directly to a point in the questions round (or if you happened to get a ‘bad question’) there was no real chance to portray who you are.
While the contest is not perfect–I think the cause is excellent, and I fully support the growth of the Nobel Beast Foundation. We all have contributions we can make to promote a healthier, happier society- focusing on the future, the question I have is this:
What can be done to add the degree of depth necessary to find the best representative Mr. Gay?