2011: A Very Good Year?

The festive silly season is upon us.
When newspapers give up on news and that and start padding out their pages with retrospectives, Reviews of The Year/s, and endless Best Of lists.
Funny, it seems to start earlier every year, doesn't it?
The Observer is first out of the mixed metaphors.
"2011", it notes sagely, was, "A good year to be gay."
Further, it's been "extraordinary".
The piece is an interesting overview written by Aaron Hicklin, editor-in-chief of Out magazine.
Though Scottish born-and-bred, Hicklin now abides Stateside and writes accordingly, so it's hard to know quite why The Observer thought this was the most relevant way of looking at the world of gay for its readers.
The Tea Party, Don't Ask Don't Tell, marriage equality in New York, President Obama, Glee, Modern Family, Neil Patrick Harris...
No island is an island, of course, so tidal waves in the US can cause ripples on the shores of the UK, but why didn't the Observer get Aaron or someone to look - specifically - at what has happened over here?
Most oddly of all a sub-editor has condensed his schtick to; "Here, Aaron Hicklin, editor-in-chief of Out magazine, looks forward to the end of gay culture..."
He doesn't - surely the article contests the gay-identity deathwish of right-wing anti-gay, gay commentators like Andrew Sullivan?
Extraordinary.