It’s not for AIDS awareness or marriage equality. The billboard that went up on Monday in Johannesburg was promoting April’s Mr Gay World, a four-day male beauty pageant of sorts, with challenges involving photography, sports, fashion, runway, and swimming (yay! a swimsuit competition!). In a country where homophobia is the norm, the billboard is a huge step. LGBTQNation reports that “the billboard can be viewed [from its] location by tens of thousands of motorists and passersby each day, providing visibility not only for the event itself, but also inviting the affirming notion that ‘gay is okay.’”

Feedback: “I know that homophobia and marriage equality aren’t mutually exclusive,” writes Joe McShea in an email we just received, “but judging from the tone of your post on South Africa you’ve forgotten that South Africa is one of the only ten countries in the world to grant full gay marriage rights to its citizens. The billboard may be a ‘huge step’, but as it stands South Africa is many, many huge steps ahead of the United States in terms of recognizing its GLBT citizens. They don’t need a billboard, they have a constitution that protects them! I love your all’s blog though, keep up the good work.  xJoe”