Mr Gay Europe is a male competition for gayEuropeans about important LGBTQIA+ themes. Every year a new Mr. Gay Europe will be crowned, who will be an ambassador for the LGBTQIA+ community. It was founded by its former President, Morten Rudå and its current President, Tore Aasheim; and was hosted for the first time in 2005.
In 2005, the competition was held in Oslo, Norway and the winner was Alexander van Kempen from the Netherlands. The following year, Amsterdam was the host city.
In 2006 at Amsterdam, Nandor Gyongyosi of Hungary won the title.
Mr Gay Europe Contest 2007 was held in Budapest, August 5, as part of Pride Island Europa, Central and Eastern Europe's largest new International GLBTQ celebration. The winner was Germany's Jackson Netto.
In 2008, again in Budapest, the competition was won by Spain's Antonio Pedro Almijez.[1][2]
In 2009, the competition was held in Oslo and won by Spain's Sergio Lara.[3] In 2010, the competition was supposed to be in Geneva, Switzerland, but was cancelled. In 2011 the competition was in Braşov, Romania. The 2010/2011 winner was Giulio Spatola, from Palermo (Italy).[4]
In 2012, the competition was held in Rome, Italy and won by Miguel Ortiz from Spain.
In 2013, the event was held in Prague and Robbie O'Bara of Ireland won Mr Gay Europe 2013.[5] Robbie is originally from Canada of Canadian/Japanese descent and has returned to that country to start practising as a medical doctor.
In 2014, the competition was held in Austria (14 of June, Bregenz). For the first time in MGE history, the contest took the delegates on a journey through the hosting country. The finale took place in the Bregenzer Festspielhaus. Mr Gay Europe 2014 title goes home to Scandinavia with Jack Johansson of Sweden.[6] The judging panel included Tore Aasheim, the president of Mr. Gay Europe, and Coenie Kukkuk, the Director Africa & Middle East of Mr. Gay World.[7]
In 2015, the competition was cancelled but was rescheduled to be held in Sweden and Norway 29. July to 7. August 2016, starting in Stockholm with the Pride Parade, before journeying west to Trondheim and Oslo. Belgium’s Raf Van Puymbroeck took home the title of Mr Gay Europe 2016.
In 2017, the competition was held in Stockholm, Sweden and won by Matt Rood from England.
In 2018, the competition was held in Warsaw and Poznan in Poland, and was won by Enrique Doleschy from Germany.
^"Gay Men Of Europe Embrace A New Queen". Sydney MX (Australia). July 7, 2008. Spain's Antonio Pedro Almijez is crowned the winner of Mr Gay Europe 2008 at the event's final in Budapest, Hungary. The contest pitted 20 gay men against each other in a bid to be crowned the most attractive gay man on the continent.
^Steve Rothaus (July 3, 2008). "Amid petrol bomb attacks, 400 police committed to gay beauty pageant in Budapest". Gay South Florida. While gay activists in Budapest are complaining that the police are not protecting gay businesses in the city, the organisers of Mr Gay Europe have announced they will have "400 policemen and women to protect them during the final." Two gay venues have been attacked with petrol bombs in the last week... Organisers said: "The police will protect the Mr Gay Europe final with a 400 man strong force." The militant protesters have put up a web page with names and addresses of all gay venues in Budapest and already two bars have been attacked with fire bombs.
^John McGurk (November 2, 2008). "Waiter served up Mr Gay title". Sunday Life. Waiter James Smallman was crowned at the annual Mr Gay Ireland competition in Dublin last weekend... James will join the Mr Gay Ireland winner, Dublin-based martial arts coach Max Krzyzanowski (37) to compete in the Mr Gay Europe and Mr Gay World contests in Oslo and Vancouver next year.