Year in Review, pt. 1: Esteban Arce keeps his job, the man formerly known as Luke Sissyfag riles NOM's nerves...

I don't think I've ever done one these before. It doesn't mean I can't do one. So there.

January: Mexican television show host Esteban Arce got himself into trouble early this year when a clip of a show he did in December was posted on YouTube and went viral on Twitter earlier this year.  The reason?  Elsie Reyes, a well-known "sexologist" and author of a well known syndicated relationship advice column, had been invited to the show to discuss the topic of 'sexual orientation'.  It all runs pretty smoothly at first until Arce repeatedly demands to know if homosexuality is "normal" or "natural".  When he doesn't get the answers he wants, the interview quickly goes downhill.

The furor elicited by the clip on Twitter was like nothing I'd seen before in Latin America when it comes homophobia in media which, to be sincere, surprised me considering that it was not the first time something like this had been aired on Mexican television.  The clip even had its own hashtag on Twitter promoted by people who were calling for Arce's ouster from the airwaves (#EstebanArceFueraDelAire). And mainstream Mexican media, facing a slow news period in January, ran with the story for days on end.

Arce and his show were suspended for a few days by the Televisa network but was back on the air a month later. Top Mexican newspaper Milenio calls it one of the top 10 TV moments of the year and takes Televisa to task for doing nothing.

February: Valentine's Day brought same-sex kiss-in demonstrations and equal partnership rights rallies in Peru, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. Expect similar demos come February of 2011.

Oh, and there was a big fire two blocks away from my apartment building.

Also in February: Luke Montgomery (formerly known as Luke Sissyfag) and his boyfriend Nate Guidas launched Cause Commandos to raise funds to help survivors of the massive January 12th earthquake that hit Haiti.

Although I haven't specifically written about it, Luke has been in the news again recently as the mind behind the FCKH8 campaign (that's him giving people the finger in the site's webpage).

I've been promoting their 2011 calendar (STR8 AGAINST H8) on my blog this month but this week this particular video drew the ire of homophobic bigots (OH.MY.GOD. I haven't done this many hyperlinks since I began the blog when I naively thought being hyperlink crazy was the way to go!).

Anyway, blooper reel!!

Next up: Latino pop singers come out of the closet, my friend Hiram, soccer players in love and how eating chicken can turn men gay...