So it was just a silly little poll at AfterElton.com, asking the question: Who is the gay/bisexual man of the decade? But it has exploded into a run-off of epic proportions with two geek favorites at the forefront and celebrities lining up to take sides. Vying for the title are Neil Patrick Harris (who among other things was the title character in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) and John Barrowman (aka Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood).

Twitter was the gasoline on the fire for this (seems to be a common occurrence lately) as @ActuallyNPH and @Team_Barrowman shouted out for votes. However, despite Neil having 200,000 followers to John’s 12,000, celebrity Twitter endorsements and legions of fans have brought them neck-and-neck. You can read the details of how things fell out here, but there have been amusing strategies like “vote NPH while the British slumber!” Voting continues until midnight tonight, FYI, so if you want to cast a vote, the poll is in the link above.

Here’s a brief run-down of some of the Twitter-happy forces behind each contender:

Team NPH: Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day, Chris Hardwick, Alyssa Milano, Alyson Hannigan, Jimmy Fallon, Hal Sparks, Perez Hilton

Team Barrowman: Neil Gaiman, Vernon Kay, Tom Price, Paul Cornell, Jonathan Ross, Kevin Smith

Of course, one of the interesting parts of this battle to me is that it might very well turn some new viewers onto Torchwood or Doctor Who (i.e., the Americans who are wondering who this could possibly be giving Doogie Howser a run for his money) – and despite the fact that AfterElton certainly didn’t intend it this way, it has in some part become a run-off between two iconic geek character actors (though along that vein, I should note sadly that George Takai, though still in the poll, doesn’t stand a chance). Meanwhile, the publicity rolls in: Neil Gaiman is musing on the fact that a hash tag (#biggaybattle) he made up ended up in a Wall Street Journal headline.