Celebrity Friday: Elio Di Rupo, openly gay Belgium PM

Elio Di Rupo is the new Prime Minister of Belgium. He is also the first openly gay male head of a national government. There has already been an openly lesbian head of a country, Johanna Sigurdardottir, the elected prime minister of Iceland.

Di Rupo is 60 years old and has been the openly gay head of his political party for years. He is becoming the consensus head of a government after a political standoff between the two main political parties in Belgium has lasted over 500 days.

The Daily Telegraph reports:

In 1999, he took the party's helm, winning consecutive seats as member of parliament, senator, European MP, deputy premier, head of the southern government of Wallonia and mayor of the city of Mons. 

Like Iceland's Johanna Sigurdardottir, Mr Di Rupo, a quiet if forceful politician, is as discreet about his sexuality as is the country at large. 

According to a just-released book of interviews, he came out a little by chance in the mid-1990s after being wrongly accused of abuse during the scandal caused by Belgian serial child killer Marc Dutroux. 

He is quoted as saying: "'This is totally false,' I said as a crowd of journalists milled around. One of them said: 'People say you're homosexual?' I turned around and said 'Yes. So what?' I'll never forget that instant. After my reply everything went silent. It was a sincere reply, the truth.'" 

A tactically clever politician, Mr Di Rupo has been hailed for his skill in striking coalition deals that kept his party in office in a string of governments. He also successfully steered it through a series of devastating corruption scandals.

Congratulations to Mr. Di Rupo!

A Map of Penis Size (In Europe)

There have been numerous maps published online showing geographical distributions of penis size. Previously there was one that compared average penis size in various countries all around the world and another one which compared the average penis size of the Top 20 cities in the United States.

Today comes word of a map depicting penis size throughout Europe. Looks like might be fun to vacation in Hungary or France!

French National Assembly Rejects Marriage Equality 293-222

Bizarre news from France where the National Assembly has rejected a bill to enact marriage equality by a vote of 293-222. President Nicholas Sarkozy's party, the UMP which controls the body, opposed the measure proposed by the Socialists.

From Agence France Press:

"We are against homophobia but we do not want to alter the image and function of marriage in the collective subconscious," said UMP lawmaker Michel Diefenbacher.

Opposition Socialist party lawmaker Patrick Bloche had called the bill a measure to end a form of discrimination and "pass to a new stage in equality of rights."

Several of France's fellow European Union member states, including Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, have legalised homosexual marriage.

Wow. "The collective subconscious" image and function of marriage is what heterosexual supremacists are using to defend their discriminatory position. Doesn't that sound eerily like a defense of segregation? After all, that was about the collective subconscious of what it means to be "white" (and "American") in this country.

Eye Candy: Harijs Broza

Harijs Broza is a Latvian born fitness model who is 28-year-old, 6'0 and 180 pounds. He writes that he usually has around 5% body fat for most shoots. These pictures above were taken by photographer Tom Cullis. And this week he is our Eye Candy model. Hawt, right?