Spain: Public gay sex lauded artistically, maligned in reality

Leave it to the irreverent Spaniards to go both agog over a racy artistic exhibition called the "Ten Gay Commandments" featuring digitally manipulated photographs depicting men engaging in public sex in saunas and bathrooms (above) while others go apoplectic over men engaging in the real deal in a public park in the conservative province of La Rioja (below).

Agogness: Today, the leading Spanish newspaper El Pais profiled artists Roberto González Fernández and David Trullo (known as RGF+DDT) and their stylized, sometimes sacrilegious imagery, which is showing at the Madrid art gallery Rita Castellote.

The article is mostly favorable and supportive. They also take notice of the fact that the artists do not want to have their art categorized as "gay" (how post-gay of them!).

Apoplectic spazz out: In contrast, the conservative north-eastern province of La Rioja has been rocked to the core by the real thing. The leading local newspaper called (unsurprisingly) La Rioja, has been salivating over photographs they captured of two men "frolicking" in a public park.

The article states, in a very "Dateline NBC" kind of way, that the locals are sick and tired of the public spectacle.

Still, Francisco Pérez Diego, leader of the local LGBT rights advocacy organization GYLDA, has undertaken a campaign to stop sensationalistic media representation of local gay communities and called La Rioja to stop sinking to the lowest common denominator, particularly because they ran the "exposé" on what would have been Spain's gay pride day.

So, from New York, we salute GYLDA and hope that La Rioja will listen to the complaints and stop representing the local LGBT community in the worst possible way.