MSN online's Fashion and Beauty section is featuring a slideshow on "bizarre beauty pageants"...


... "odd pageants for Klingons, armpits, & more"!  OK, I'll bite.  I'm thinking amputees, Bukkake Queens, Palestinians in Navi drag, the cast of Jersey Shore.  You know, bizarre. 

The first slide after the intro?  Worldwide Mr. Gay.

Um, OK.

Like many of you, I consider myself a connoisseur of the bizarre, and I have to say, I just didn't see it.  The photo was of a cute guy (not my type, but whatever) in his underwear.  The text accompanying the slide:

The bar is set pretty high for one to win the Worldwide Mr. Gay competition, this year held in Oslo, Norway. Countries send delegates who have won their national pageants to the international competition. According to the pageant Web site, “The delegate will treat his body as his temple and will be active and outgoing. He will have impeccable grooming standards and has a thorough understanding of what attire is appropriate for each engagement he is to encounter.”

Wow, yeah.  Freakish!

The pageant is held, in part, to bring awareness to gay rights issues. China made headlines when it shut down its first Mr. Gay pageant in January, dashing the hopes of participants vying to move on to the global event. Police said pageant organizers didn’t have the proper licenses, but many felt they were targets of homophobia.

Nah, it wasn't homophobia.  It was bizarrophobia.  Obviously.

And slide #9 features "drag pageants".  Um, hello!  All pageants are drag pageants, bitches. 

Of course, nowhere is there any mention of child beauty pageants.  I mean, those aren't bizarre at all.