Today reader Jason sent in the following note along with some pictures:

I don't know why I never really noticed this before, but the statuary at Columbus Circle and Central Park West is really gay. There's two seriously built guys who seem to be having a spat, but from where I stand, they're both extremely hot!

Ok, Jason, let's see what we're dealing with here.

Damn, this guy's hot.

Correct that...from this view he smokin' hot! (Those eyes!)

This guy's not too shabby either!

Interesting equation here: quiet + reserved + intellectual = smokin' hot!

Thanks for the submission, Jason. We agree that whether these guys are fighting or not, they are both seriously gay and smokin' hot, which is always a good combination! Readers: we find it hard to believe that there aren't a lot more hot gay statues out there waiting to be discovered. Do you really want your city to be left out when the winner is declared in November? Obviously, there's plenty of time, so we look forward to seeing some hot pix.

The Hot Gay Statue Contest Roundup:

Today reader Will wrote with the following update:

I was just in New Orleans and got some more photos for your Hottest
Gay Statues contest. They're from the Mardi Gras World museum
(http://www.mardigrasworld.com/).

Laissez les bons temps rouler! Let's see what New Orleans has to offer:

This matador is pretty flamboyant and has a nice package, but is he gay?

Oh yeah, totally gay.

Smokin' hot too.

Apparently this place is filled with gay statues. And hot nips aside, what's under that towel!?

Thanks again, Will! With two submissions, you are clearly in line for some sort of medal. Everyone else, keep 'em coming. We've seen some hot statues, but know that there's a lot more out there.

The Hot Gay Statue Contest Roundup:

Today reader Scott LaPierre sends in this from Georgia, as in the former Soviet Socialist Republic. Scott writes:

i don't know exactly what's supposed to be going on in this mural/statue, but there seems to be a lot of innuendo here...it's in Gori, Georgia (the town is the birthplace of Stalin).

Let's check it out:

Hold on Scott, we think there's a lot more than innuendo going on here! More like, "check out this gay-pride march from 1978 that was dipped in bronze and slapped into a corner!" And how about these two "sailors" on the left? In short, this is totally gay and smokin' hot. (It looks like the USSR may not have lost the Cold War after all!)

Thanks for the submission, Scott! Seriously, it's nice to see some smokin' hot gay statuary in the best Tom of Finland proletariat tradition. That said, this must be filed primarily under inspiration, as the contest is technically limited to the United States. Where, btw, we suspect there's a lot more hot gay statuary that we should be proud to call our own. Cities across the United States: why not show us what you have?

The Hot Gay Statue Contest Roundup:

Last week our newest correspondent The Blind Architect filed this report:

You may be interested in this statue of George Washington I saw last week in Seattle. No musculature, but he does have a big sword. I have been watching the HBO John Adams series, and George Washington (played by David Morse) is portrayed as a great historical figure, so I am inspired to root for his inclusion in your contest.

Ok, TBA, let's check it out!

Hmmm. We see what you're saying about the sword, but this could be a lot gayer, actually.

The Blind Architect followed up with this:

There are some sculptures of George Washington that are hotter than the one from Seattle. Check out the father of our country below. Not exactly a six-pack, but admirable pecs and biceps, wouldn't you say? And what's that he's holding? And OMG...what's up with all of the swords?

We agree. From the neck down, this George is not only gay, but actually kinda hot! (?) (And how about those feet!) Still, we're not exactly in love with his face, which gives us the sense that he partied a bit too much for his own good a few decades ago.

We look forward to hearing more from The Blind Architect. In the meantime, we have our own obviously-gay-but-not exactly-hot George to add to the mix, this one from the Pittsburgh International Airport, where we recently had the pleasure of spending a few minutes.

"My name is George Washington. My truth is that I am a gay American."

We're proud of him for finally admitting it!

Although it's safe to say that none of these statues are going to win any awards, we are nonetheless inspired by the growing recognition that the father of our country was clearly gay if not exactly hot. Are we missing any hot Georges out there? And what about Abraham Lincoln, the gayest greatest president of all time? We encourage everyone to keep your eyes open.

The Hot Gay Statue Contest Roundup:

Although this is not an official submission, we felt it was imperative to share a comment from reader GenghisKuhn in response to Seth Tisue's entry from Philadelphia (shown below).

Genghis writes:

What makes this even funnier is that it looks like the J-Man might be involved, reminiscent of this hilarious piece of art (I tried to find a larger one, but YOU try google image searching “jesus+gay”):

Thanks, Genghis! We apologize to readers already familiar with this image, but it was new to us and we thought it would also be useful to remind everyone -- despite the whole church-state-separation thing -- not to overlook hilarious hot gay religious statuary! Many places of worship can be considered quasi-public to the extent you can go in and look around for free; we have to believe a treasure trove of hot gay statuary exists within these holy confines! (That said, we want to see it.)

Today we received this missive from The London Eye:

Dear Gay Recluse: Here are a few more London statues... Even though we're not eligible for awards, we want the United States to know that our statues are HERE, our statues are QUEER, and our statues are IN YOUR FACE.

Hmm. We understand that The London Eye (who we have reason to believe is a closeted football fan, by which we don't mean "soccer") is trying to taunt us with this schoolyard language, but we nevertheless remain quite sensitive to the issue! (And as we all know, The London Eye is not one to deliver empty threats.) Let's ponder the evidence. (Our language -- in case it wasn't obvious -- in itals.)

1. FDR and Churchill on Old Bond Street.

While cruising for anonymous sex, FDR inadvertently picks up Winston Churchill. (They're both relieved that Stalin isn't around, since he tends to play a little too rough.)
NUDE - No
GAY - Yes
HOT - No

Excellent analysis, London Eye! Also, because this statue is not very hot, we are not particularly disturbed by its "tiny size."

2. "Homage to Leonardo" in Belgrave Square.

This image looks hot on paper, but creepy in three dimensions.
NUDE - Yes
GAY - Yes
HOT - No

Yikes. Creepy is right. We're not sure which is less hot: having eight arms and legs or that haircut!? We wouldn't want to run into this guy in a dark alley, that's for sure.

3. "Eros" in Piccadilly Circus

Description: What could be more "erotic" than the hot little twink himself? (Actually, this statue was intended to represent Eros' twin Anteros, the personification of unrequited love. But that's even hotter, for some reason.)
NUDE - Yes (except for that strategically placed bit of robe)
GAY - Yes
HOT - Yes

Whoa! Nice work, London Eye! Needless to say, we're convinced. This statue is definitely one of the gayest and most smokin' hot we've seen to date. Like you said, it's a good thing London isn't eligible to win! You guys are truly in a different league.

Or are they? We've seen some pretty hot entries from the United States, and like to think that we've barely scratched the surface. Readers: help us prove The London Eye wrong! (We would also like to hear from our neighbors to the north and south, obviously.) Will we always be doomed to lag behind Europe in this most important measure of national identity and well-being? Stay tuned for more.

Today we present a submission from Seth Tisue, who sends in an entry from the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.

Let's check it out, shall we?

Hot or not...? Are you kidding!!? This is seriously gay and smokin' hot. Nicely done, Philadelphia! You have not been tentative in your first entry on the boards.

Thanks for the submission, Seth. We like this pic because it raises many questions that extend beyond the implicit gayness and hotness of the sculpture. In short: we consider it for a second and immediately want to know more.

We encourage everyone to check out Seth's cool web site here (http://tisue.net), but be forewarned: the first page features a photograph of one of Louise Bourgeois' awesomely creepy (and ginormous) spider sculptures, which is guaranteed to give you nightmares for weeks!

For those in other cities, we await your submissions. There's still plenty o' time in the contest -- it's longer than the Democratic primaries (LOL!!!) -- to scour your local venues for the best in hot gay statuary.

For those of you who haven't heard of it, Los Angeles is kind of like New York City except it's in California, and instead of subways you have to drive everywhere! Crazy, right? But that said, like New York City, there are LOTS of gay men there, so we were very pleased to receive our first official entry from L.A. resident Will who writes:

I am attaching photos from a recent trip to the Getty Villa in Los Angeles. The statues are in a quasi-public place since it is free to get into the Getty Villa museum, you just have to make a reservation for timed tickets to visit (see http://www.getty.edu/visit/). Hope you enjoy them.

Let’s check out 'em out:

Uhh, yeah. We'd say that pretty much qualifies.

Here we have (in duplicate) a traditional shot of a pitcher and a catcher. (H-O-T!)

What more can we say? Gay. Naked. Smokin' hot. It's official: Los Angeles is now in serious contention.

Nicely done, Will! You should seriously be a hero to the millions of gay men who live in Los Angeles, who unlike those in so many other cities in the United States have yet to submit a single hot gay statue. (That said, it's not too late!)

Finally, Will asked us to post the following, and given his smokin' hot submission, how could we refuse?

I also wanted to share a video I made with some friends and posted on YouTube this week. It would be excellent if you shared it with your readers. Even though it relates to immigration, there is a gay angle since it was written, directed, and performed by gay men. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-30BZtpvaTY)

We enjoyed this. It has a 1980s goofball-comedy quality to it that's very charming, even as it makes a good point about how archaic our immigration system is.

Let's face it: when it comes to gay rights hot gay statues, Europe is miles ahead of the United States. Reader Anthony Goriainoff, a journalist and photographer based in Madrid, writes:

"Madrid these days is really into its art and it takes itself very seriously. Wherever you read in the Spanish media, the fact that Madrid has three major museums within walking distance of each other is a source of pride. Art is big business in general. That goes double for Spain, for many a bargain when compared to other capitals such as Paris or New York...The Prado boulevard has been peppered beautifully with Igor Mitoraj's sculptures. Neoclassical, postmodern, certainly sensual and at the same time, cold, given their metallic nature."

Let's check out some of the pix Tony submitted:

Cold? More like smokin' hot.

We wish this photograph was bigger, but -- whatev, that's why we present it in triplicate -- in any case, it's still seriously gay and smokin' hot.

That's what we're talking about! Let's face it: Madrid is light years ahead of most if not all cities in the United States. As usual, we're kind of embarrassed.

Nicely done, Tony -- thanks for submission! (Even though we're kind of depressed as we consider the bleak landscape in the U.S.) Does anyone know of any public installations in the United States that are even close to this gay (and this smokin' hot)? If so, we want to hear about it!

For Tony's blog, click here.
For more of Tony's cool pix, click here.

Today we received this submission from Ed, a reader in Murray Hill who writes:

Today we are extremely honored to present another hot-gay-statue submission, this one a joint effort from Jeff Weinstein/Out There and John Perreault/Artopia. Jeff writes:

On the topic of hot gay statues, one of our readers -- David from Queens -- writes with an important observation/challenge:

Great contest, Gay Recluse. But it would be virtually impossible for our splendid nation to top the statue of Hercules and Cacus (attached) in Florence. I took pictures of this myself many years ago, but they're all in storage in Alabama, so for now I'm sending you the Wikipedia version. (BTN--Better Than Nothing!) I'll keep looking! David

Hercules and Caucus (courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Commissioned in the 1520s by Pope Clement VII (of the Medicis), this statue was made by Florentine artist Baccio Bandinelli. (PS. It took him ten years but was totally worth every second!) We encourage our American readers to take note: this statue is seriously gay and -- from where we sit -- smokin' hot. As our once-great nation heads into decline, can we at least preserve our dignity in this critical indicator of national well-being? We'd like to tell David that he's wrong -- that the United States can "win the gold" -- but we're not feeling too confident at the moment. Are there more hot gay statues in the United States? We're counting on you to help us find out.

The Hot Gay Statue Contest Roundup:

• Rules and Guidelines
• Dan Savage Endorsement
• Washington Heights (New York City)
• Washington, DC
• The London Eye Clarifies an Important Issue
  

We are extremely pleased to announce that we've already received our first hot-gay-statue submission, from Andrew of 801a.info, who tells us: "This is in Washington D.C., directly across from the White House. The pictures could be taken to look more salacious, I guarantee."

Really? We're not so sure! Given the setting, we think these pix are very salacious, indeed. It's not hard to imagine presidents and senior-level staffers hungrily peering (with binoculars, behind curtains) at the statuary in question, just before planning their next attack against the gays. But let's not digress, here are the pix:

There's definitely instruction happening here: we're just not so sure it's "military."

Let's make it official: These gay statues are hot. DC is now in the running.

Thanks for kicking things off on a perfect note, Andrew. We look forward to posting more submissions throughout the election season. Clearly there are gay statues out there, but the question remains: which city has the hottest ones?

For rules and guidelines on The Hot Gay Statue Contest, click here.