South African Delegation Announces Bid To Host Mr. Gay World 2012, German Politician Says Gays Have No Right To Adopt Children, Gay Men Chorus Of Los Angeles Performance Condemns Anti-Gay Hate, Levi Johnston Is Sunny, Jensen Button Is Scruffy And Wet

Buried in a Guardian article about the continuing climate of anti-gay hate that envelops Africa, is news that on December 12th, a group of influential South Africans bid for the 2012 Mr. Gay World final, the newspaper, underlining the obvious, writing “At a time when non-heterosexual lifestyles are under intense fire in African countries, a successful bid by South Africa would give the pageant a political spin it has never enjoyed before.” The current Mr. Gay World is Charl van den Berg, who happens to be a white South African, and Coenie Kukkuk, a Pretoria attorney who is the director of the South African bid to host Mr. Gay World 2012 says "The event is not a modeling competition. Charl is a gay role model who gives courage to gays all over Africa and shows them their lives are about more than repression, torture, HIV and prison sentences. That message will be enhanced if we can elect the 2012 Mr. Gay World on African soil, where the vast majority of governments are anti-gay and are currently hardening their repressive laws.'' The 2012 host country will be announced at the 2011 finals March 13th in the Philippines.

Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats, told the German-language daily Berliner Zeitung Monday that gay couples have no right to have children, according to The Local he said “This has to be accepted, even if it’s difficult for those affected. I don’t think children wish to be raised by homosexual couples.” He added that the issue is not one of gay rights, but the rights of the children, saying “It’s not about whether the adults want to live as a happy family. There’s no right to have a child.” Germany introduced registered partnerships for same sex couples in 2001; however that law stops short of affording them full legal rights similar to those given to married opposite sex couples. Gays can legally adopt the children of their partner, but cannot, as a couple, adopt an unrelated child.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles performed a somber musical tribute Saturday evening in Glendale honoring gay men and women who have recently committed suicide after being bullied, reports the Glendale News-Press. Chorus members placed a single red rose on a lone white stool to mark those men and women who were harassed for being gay and later took their own lives. The gesture resonated with those in attendance, including 19 year old Glendale High School graduate Vaheh Gabri, who said “It shows a sense of support. It shows a sense of pride and acknowledgement. It’s really a big necessity, especially in Glendale.”

Wasilla, Alaska mayoral candidate Levi Johnston has a new girlfriend, reports the Daily News, and she is Sunny ... Oglesby, the couple together for two months.

A scruffy, sexy, shaggy-haired Jenson Button, the Formula One driver, pre-City of Rockingham Triathlon in Perth, Australia Sunday, soon after seen in the water wearing a skintight wetsuit.