Sergio Lara of Spain is Crowned Mr. Gay Europe 2009: Video
Sergio Lara of Barcelona took home the Mr. Gay Europe 2009 crown in Oslo, Norway Saturday night, according to organizers:
"This is the second year in a row that Spain wins the title of Mr. Gay Europe.Sergio is 26 years old, he is a psychology graduate, and he also has a music middle degree...Belgium, Estonia, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain and Switzerland came to the semi-final, and Spain, Iceland and Ireland met again in the super final. At the end of the night Spain was standing alone as the new Mr. Gay Europe – the second time in the five years long Mr. Gay Europe history. Netherland’s Jeffrey Zevenbergen (27) won the People’s Choice award with 15.7 percent of all the votes. The televote received 9329 genuine votes. Estonia’s Madis Räästas won the Challenge at the Tusenfryd Viking village, and Russia’s David Baramija won Nr. 1 Talent competition. Sergio Lara did not only win the Mr. Gay Europe title, he also grabbed the Mr. Gay Swim Wear 2009 title."
Watch a clip of Mr. Spain getting his crown, a clip of the swimsuit competition, and a clip of the entrants with the Mayor of Oslo, AFTER THE JUMP...
Check out what Russian contestant David Baramija did to win the talent competition (you won't see Carrie Prejean doing this!):
Watch a clip of Mr. Spain getting his crown, a clip of the swimsuit competition, a clip of the entrants with the Mayor of Oslo, and another shot of Russian Jesus, AFTER THE JUMP...
Swimsuit competition:
2009 Delegates and the mayor of Oslo:
Another shot of Russian Jesus David Baramija:
Posted Aug. 23,2009 at 1:48 PM EST by Andy Towle in News, Norway, Pageants, Sergio Lara, Spain | Permalink
Wow. Another pageant. Just what we need.
Although, I am impressed by the Jesus' goat-fir leggings.
I appreciate anyone who can help the Christian Right get their panties in a knot.
Posted by: @Daniel_Baylis | Aug 23, 2009 3:37:58 PM
Mocking Jesus, yeah, that's REALLY smart. No wonder some Christians hate us. Just because many of them are not respectful of us DOES NOT mean that we can't be respectful to them.
Posted by: B | Aug 23, 2009 4:13:48 PM
Oh please B
xtians have never been respectful of anyone for the past 2,000 yrs
- xtians running around the roman empire beating pagan priests and priestesesas well as jewish rabbis in the streets while burning down their temples and synagauges
- xtians killing whole tribes in europe who would not convert
- xtians killing jews throughout europe for millenia
- xtians killing each other over differences of interpretation
- xtians massacering the native americans because being over here automaticaly made it impossible for them to be desecndants of adam and eve
etc
cry a river for the poor xtians somewhere else
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Aug 23, 2009 4:21:08 PM
"Everything's Coming Up Roses"?
Posted by: Kile Ozier | Aug 23, 2009 4:43:32 PM
JimmyB, you left out that whole slavery/xtian connection.
Jes sayin'.
Posted by: Derek Washington | Aug 23, 2009 5:25:10 PM
Wow, that was really gay.
The Russian would fit in perfectly at Folsom Street Fair. Maybe on the Trannyshack stage. I'd love to have seen video of him.
Posted by: Paul R | Aug 23, 2009 5:46:49 PM
Jimmyboyo, you missed the point of my message. Are you saying we should hate every Christian? If so, that shows how disconnected you are to the world around you. If you hate all Christians, then you must also hate all Muslims who are killing people around the world for their hatred of other religions. Because just as there are extremist Christians, there are extremist Muslims.
Posted by: B | Aug 23, 2009 6:45:24 PM
True, Derek, but Muslims have been African slave traders long before Christians got in on the act, and still are today (whereas various Christian groups have been working for a hundred years fighting the slave trade). Not to let ANYBODY off the hook, just to be fair.//////Otherwise, these pageants are silly.
Posted by: JT | Aug 23, 2009 7:09:53 PM
B : I agree with you. But actually, I wouldn't doubt these types of pageants might be quick to mock all other religions too if those religions had imagery as definitive and instantly-recognizable as Christ-with-the-cross. How are you going to portray Muhammed? We don't have an image of him. And a guy trying to look like Buddha just won't look sexy.
Posted by: JT | Aug 23, 2009 7:15:46 PM
I do understand Jimmyboyo's point too, though. If there have been bad things done in your group's history (even if it can be debated that the good outweighed the bad) then you shouldn't be so quick to be offended at mockery.
Posted by: JT | Aug 23, 2009 7:20:55 PM
@JT: I think you mean Budai, Buddha was supposedly a very handsome man.
Sorry I'm feeling a bit pedantic. :p
Posted by: namesRhard | Aug 23, 2009 7:54:03 PM
That's a good point, Namesrhard. I'm forgetting my history here. (But, still....who'd recognize it ..? The Hindu Deities might be better).
Posted by: JT | Aug 23, 2009 8:40:53 PM
"Mocking Jesus, yeah, that's REALLY smart. No wonder some Christians hate us."
Yeah, no wonder. If only the Russian Jesus in the hugely influential Mr. Gay Europe pageant had left the fishnets, leather panties, cross, and fake blood at home those fundamentalists would pet our well-behaved heads and think we deserve human rights.
Posted by: Ernie | Aug 23, 2009 8:43:48 PM
Just as Jesus of Nazareth was definitely not the blonde and blue eyed man we see in European Christian icons, the historical Prince Siddhartha (Buddha) was not the overweight, lazy looking man we've come to associate him with.
That particular image came about when the religion became dominant in the Far East. As few artisans in China or Japan had ever been to India, they simply made it up based on some obscure - and possibly misread - secondhand sources. They also "recycled" images of pre-existing Taoist and Shinto gods, incorporating those chracteristics into depictions of the Buddha.
Contemporary accounts of Siddhartha's apearance suggest he was an extraordinarily handsome and fit man. As a member of the Indian nobility, he certainly would've been trained as a warrior and had plenty of opportunities for sexual mischief. Remember, he didn't become a pacifist and ascetic until he was 29. And while Jesus supposedly lived a life completely free from sin, if you believe the narrative of the Bible, it is clear that the Buddha made no such claim.
Posted by: John | Aug 23, 2009 10:16:31 PM
"no wonder some Christians hate us"
The Christians hate us because it tells them to in their Bible and they need no other reason.
And it's not the extremist Christians that have caused me pain and grief. It's the ones living down the street, whom I grew up with and depended upon.
So I say let them mock Christianity. Bridges have to exist before they can be burnt.
Posted by: Pend | Aug 23, 2009 10:29:26 PM
Not ALL Christians hate us and to say that they do is a lie. There are MANY very open and welcoming churches in cities all across this country that welcome us just the way we are. However, as long as you keep your head buried in the sand and refuse to acknowledge that they all don't hate you, you will continue thinking they all hate you which only encourages those who do hate us.
Posted by: B | Aug 23, 2009 10:37:48 PM
B : I agree with you, but I also know it's ones own personal experiences with any group that makes us come to our own conclusions. Whether it's a race, religion, or those of a certain sexuality. Pend probably did have bad experiences with Christians (or maybe they were just "Christians").
Posted by: JT | Aug 23, 2009 11:01:02 PM
Thanks, John. Yes, that's interesting stuff.
Posted by: JT | Aug 23, 2009 11:03:44 PM
derek
yeah, i forgot to mention that part
The muslims swept into north africa and down the west coast setting up the slave trade that xtians were more than happy to pull their ships up to and get involved with
That brings up something I have never been able to wrap my crazy mind around.
The 2 biggest religions amongst AA's are islam and xtianity the 2 religions that enslaved large parts of northern Africa. It just blows my mind because if I was AA I would so not follow either of the 2 religions that enslaved my ancestors.
----------------------
B
But the "good xtian folk" are culpable in the crimes as well by being enabelers. The mere existence of muslims and xtians who don't do the massacering gives credence to their respective myths. By putting on a supposed civilized face to barbarism they give breathing room for all the sh@t
Believing Jews do the same for their crazies. The supposed sane and civilized religious Jews give breathing room to their crazy religious brothers who throw stones at cars driven on the sabath, patrol Jerusalem as morality police beating unescorted Jewish women, threw those molotav cocktails at fellow Jewish Police because our gay Jewish brothers wnated to have a pride parade in jerusalem etc
suppsoed cicilized Budhists give cover for all of the crimes comited by the Dali Lamas and monks in Tibet against the serfs. Rapoing young boys, excessivly taxing the serfs etc....The chinese built the water treatment plants, schools, and clinics in tibet that the monks to this day still protest and want torn down because an educated populace won't follow them like the feudal lords they were in the past
The supposed sane and civilized members of any crazy religion are enabelers of the crimes of the less savory members of their cults.
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Aug 23, 2009 11:41:38 PM
Jimmy
The Chinese occupation of Tibet is complicated. It is true that the Dalai Lama wasn't just some kindly monk the "mean" Chinese threw out. He was the absolute monarch of a feudal kingdom that had slavery and had other archaic elements to it. On the other hand, it is equally true that the Chinese are nearly Borg like in their drive to assimilate neighboring cultures and turn them into good little drones.
Just ask the Vietnamese about that. Or the Mongols. Or the Koreans. Or the Bai in Yunnan Province. They'll give you an earful.
Legally, the Tibetans have the stronger case. China's claims on Tibet are based on an 18th century treaty that made the kingdom a feudal vassal of the Chinese Empire. The PRC - as the natural "successor state" to the empire - should have control over Tibet. So goes the Chinese chorus.
Unfortunately for Beijing, that's not how feudalism works. Loyalty is directed to your liege rather than any particular country. The Dalai Lamas never pledged allegiance to "China" (the state), they pledged allegiance to the "Chinese Emperor" (the person). When the last emperor abdicated in 1911, the treaty was invalidated by default.
What concerns me are the "Tibetan" protestors around the world. I don't think they're particularly helpful. And I use scare quotes because any genuine protestors are almost always outnumbered by self-righteous white people who know nothing about the complexities of the situation and treat the protests like the "white guilt" prozac pill of the month. Such activities tend to have an air of forced desperation to them.
Posted by: John | Aug 24, 2009 2:06:35 AM
Actually, the more facinating part of all of this is how most of the finalists look basically the same. Is this the genesis of the term clone in the gay community. I know this was in Europe, but I also know that there is a tremendous amount of diversity there. Yet winners of these competitions always kind of look identical.
It makes these things kind of boring.
Posted by: Lee Adama | Aug 24, 2009 10:07:02 AM
"Not ALL Christians hate us and to say that they do is a lie."
You are correct. Not all Christians hate us, including, presumably, those Christians who are gay. Some of the most important advocates for marriage equality in my home state were openly Christian, and we are wrong and do ourselves a disfavor when we dismiss all Christians as bigots. BUT the fundamentalists--of all religions--who do hate us don't hate us because some obscure gay pageant contestant is dressing up in leather panties and waving a cross around. They hate us because they think we and the way we fuck is an abomination. If the dubious theatrics of a Mr. Gay Europe contestant is enough to convince a Christian to hate us then they hated us already. So when you say, "No wonder some Christians hate us" you're, in effect, saying that you believe that taking offense at the antics of a pageant contestant is a justifiable excuse for hating gay people. It isn't.
Posted by: Ernie | Aug 24, 2009 11:28:42 AM
A sash? Really? Fergawdsakes..
Posted by: Rick | Aug 24, 2009 12:30:05 PM
First of all, Christians were trading slaves, owning and selling, raping and killing them LONG BEFORE Islam was even born (600ad), and used their word of GOD as their reason. So get your history straight.
Secondly, There is no such thing as an 'innocent' christian when it comes to bigotry. You are either a part of christianity or not. You would be burned at the stake for practicing your own warm fuzzy version of christianity by those who invented it 2000 years ago. So get off your bloody high-horses. Your "Not Me, I'm just a victim by asociation" is sickening. And Enabling.
Religion, and Christianity particularly, is a genocidal movement, historically and presently. The word "Religion" is Roman for Re-Legion (To Increase the numbers of your depleting Army...)
Get it?
Those christians who think it's okay to have Fundamentalists share their religion are in denial and need mental health counseling. But "Onward Christian Soldiers..." Right?
You are guilty of Murder if you are associated with the murderers and do nothing.
Wake up and smell the Kafka.
Drop your bibles and step away from the religion!
Posted by: roger ramjet | Aug 24, 2009 2:17:29 PM
Just a bit more on the "Russian" contenstant. He's actually Georgian or Abkhazian, though he lives in Vladimir now. (Baramija or Baramia sounds much more like a Georgian name than Russian)
According to Russian descriptions, he came out dressed as an angel with the cross, shining (somehow) blue light, then gradually lost the angelic features to reveal his inner devil. So it's about as anti-Christian as something like True Blood is.
Oh, and he's a landscape architect, and his hobby is raising orchids. So he would definitely fit in at Folsom! LOL
Posted by: Kevinvt | Aug 24, 2009 5:42:11 PM