There was this misconception that I was not out. I was in ‘Spamalot’ and everyone knew, but I don’t necessarily want to sit at a table with strangers and tell them. When you come out, you do it with people you are comfortable with. I definitely do see the liberation and understand the rationalization of people wanting me to be out. On the other hand, I wouldn’t say that coming out has made me happier because that implies I was not happy before and I was.
—Clay Aiken, who’s in the middle of his Tried and True Tour, takes the Jonathan Knight approach to celebrity’s coming out: just because he didn’t announce it doesn’t mean he was in the closet. Uh huh. [via]
ewe
Some people don’t have closets to come out of. If you are yourself in discussions with people you don’t know then sharing who you are in conversations does not necessarily mean you are stepping out of some secretive closet either. When are gay people going to acknowledge that the closet is not a mindset for many gay people just as it is not an issue for straight people? I know it exists for many people because our culture is oppressive but some gay people just do not have this dilemma. We should be celebrating those people and triumphantly holding them up as examples.
DanB
@ewe: Yeah, I know that I didn’t think I was closeted, either. I just surrounded myself with people who knew me, both gay and straight, in work and personal life, and made sure to avoid any situations where things might get complicated if personal questions were asked. But I was totally out, right?
Greg
Jonathan Knight followed in Clay’s footsteps, not the other way around. Clay Aiken has said he was out to his friends and people he worked with for years before making it public to the masses. Just because he didn’t announce it on the cover of People doesn’t mean he wasn’t out.
corinne
There are complex issues for family and jobs associated with coming out and it is important it be done on an individual’s timeline. In Clay’s case though, he is a UNICEF ambassador. Before he became a father, he was sent to places like Afghanistan, Uganda and Somalia. Being openly gay in those places can be a death sentence. But he did his job willingly…something some macho types would not even consider. Since fatherhood, he’s not taking those chances so coming out publicly must have been a relief and an opportunity to advocate for the gay community as one of them. I wish him well. He deserves it. Talented guy with a social conscience. Wish there were more people like him.
Brandon
I can’t even imagine how difficult it was for Clay going from an unknown college student to a household name in a matter of months! Then to have millions of women after him when he was gay had to be hard for him. I say let’s give the guy a break and let him live his life. He certainly deserves the respect every gay person in this world deserves. Every person has to handle it in their own way and in their own time. Good luck to you Clay!
Pat
I wish this man all the good luck and success in the world! He, and every gay person (in OR out of their respective closets) deserve it.
Mike
Anyone who was a friend or business associate of Clay knew he was gay. He lived his life and was comfortable. I am glad that Jonathan Knight is following Clay’s lead.
It is sad that so many people insisted that Clay make a public statement about his sexuality. I mean, how many straight guys have to announce that they are straight.
Lets give the guy a break!
ewe
@DanB: No Dan. You are totally wrong. And your attempt at sarcasm regarding this serious topic and very real situation sucks too.
ewe
Just because society assumes everyone is heterosexual does not mean one is in the closet.
DanB
@ewe: I am sorry that an accurate interpretation of your comment has upset you.
rusty
What I can’t understand are the bitter feelings from some gay people and the media about all this. It creates an environment unfriendly to gays, an environment where it’s better to keep things to yourself. The bitterness and jokes about Clay Aiken do nothing for gay people but create negativity toward all glbt.
When will the gay media will open up their eyes and see this? When will the gay media start calling out some of the so-called comedians for making jokes about any gay person including Clay Aiken? A joke made about Clay is a joke about all gays, is that so difficult to understand? I come from a very straight community where gay people have to leave to be accepted. The gay jokes, nasty comments and innuendo–including those about Clay, are no help to any of those people. If other gays cannot accept someone like Clay Aiken, then why would straight people?
Marcus
I agree to a point.
The problem is, there is a difference between being OUT and being OUT to people you are “comfortable” with.
While I think it might be a bit unnecessary to dismiss that person as a closet case, they can’t come out to say you weren’t in…which Sean Hayes, Jonathan Knight, Rosie and now Clay (years after the fact) are attempting to do.
You don’t have to do a People Magazine cover to publicly come out as gay if you’re a celebrity. Stop saying that.
If Jonathan Knight was as out as he claimed to be, there would be no story of Tiffany “outing,” him and she wouldn’t have gotten such horrible tweets, messages etc from people saying she did.
Carole H
Why can’t everyone just be? What does it matter if one is gay or straight? Why should anyone have to come out? If I don’t have to come out and say “I’m straight”, why the hell should anyone have to come out and say “I’m gay”. It’s no one’s business.
As far as I am concerned, the worst one for all the gossip is none other than Perez Hilton. He is a legend in his own mind and is the worst for trying to “out” people. I personally feel he is a detriment to the whole GLBT community.
Stanford
Who cares? I’m not a fan of Clay’s but as always, it is no one’s business to tell anyone else when to come out. Live your life, let other’s live theirs. I find that people who force their views and rules on others to be narrow and ignorant.
ProfessorVP
Clay Aiken coming out as gay is like Jupiter coming out as a planet. Having said that… whenever there was a microphone and camera in front of him, and the question came up, he didn’t directly say no, but what he said was that his courtly Southern manners confused people into thinking he was gay, that he didn’t let it bother him, and people can think what they want. Did he have the right to be closeted? Sure, of course. Did he have the right to come out on his own terms? Certainly. Should he say he was always out? Like Judge Judy says, don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
Greg
@ProfessorVP:
But he was out to everyone it mattered to in his life. Why should he have to tell all the strangers he will never know or want to date? It should only matter to those he might have a relationship with, romantically or sexually, the rest of us don’t matter.
Marcus
@Greg: “Why should he have to tell all the strangers he will never know or want to date?”
I don’t understand. Why should he not?
It’s a very simple fact about himself.
Yes, he doesn’t owe anyone an answer to anything, but if he’s out as he says he is (was), then it’s essentially a moot question.
Greg
@Marcus: I don’t understand. Why should he not?
Because it isn’t their business and doesn’t affect their lives. I don’t care whether my butcher is gay, all I care is to get the right cut of meat, same with a singer. Sing well and I’m entertained.
Marcus
@Greg:
There is a difference between your butcher and Clay Aiken, or Sean Hayes or even Rosie O’Donnell.
What wrong by having that very simple fact about someone?
When someone tells me they’re gay, I see no difference in them telling me that or that they’re single, married, or going to Notre Dame. People I’ve only met once or twice have informed me that they were having twins or they have a boyfriend named Henry. It didn’t effect my life knowing that information.
Just a simple fact about someone. No biggie.
ewe
@DanB: I am not upset Dan. Feel free to stay in that self righteous bubble for as long as you want.
ewe
@Marcus: Being homosexual is not a issue for some people. It never was. End of story. It might still remain a struggle because of outside influence but this topic is about how Clay Aiken felt about himself, not anyone other than him. He says he was out before he was well known. Who the fuck is anyone here or anywhere to tell him that what he says and feels isn’t true?
ewe
@Marcus: i hit your reply in error.
justiceontherocks
Being “out” is like being pregnant: you are or you aren’t. It was his choice. But if he thinks he was “out” he’s reinventing history. If he thinks he fooled anyone he’s kidding himself. I’m happy as long as I never have to listen to him sing.
rodca
Everyones coming out is personal and I would never criticize anyone (celebs included). The important thing is that he has added one more out and proud voice. Having said that, I don’t understand why Clay felt he needed to make this statement (unless there is more to the statement than we are reading here). I remember the Rolling Stone interview with him (the one with him on the cover) and he very explicitly said he wasn’t gay. I couldn’t find the article online but did find a reference on http://www.clayaikenforum.com/early.html:
“Aiken has been the subject of gay jokes by Conan O’Brien, Kathy Griffin, and Mad TV, among others. While a few communities among his internet fan sites speculate about his sexual orientation, many do not. In an interview with Rolling Stone in June 2003 Aiken stated that he is not gay.”
So he, at one time, was in the closet. At this point I wonder why it matters to him, strange…
Shannon1981
I was a Claymate. I followed everything Clay Aiken for the longest time. Of course I, being gay, recognized it. I have excellent gaydar. I assure you it was not common knowledge among his largely female Idol fanbase though, and the fandom imploded after that People article. Furthermore, on more than one occasion, as @RODCA said re: Rolling Stone, he flat out denied it. So yeah, there was most certainly a closet here, make no mistake.
Because society assumes that everyone is hetero unless otherwise stated, coming out IS necessary IMHO. Even if you are in that proverbial “glass closet” saying it is important or people will assume you are hiding. That being said, that is up to each individual. But this “I was never in” business is a complete lie in this case.
ProfessorVP
@Greg: Those who “mattered” to him were the people in the viewing audience, CD and concert ticket buyers. That is why he was so coy. Once it appeared the chance of a really big career ended, and there was little or nothing to lose, sure, then it’s easy to come out. Just like the pro athletes who come out after retirement. Think money doesn’t matter? Name one big name, name above the title, bankable movie star who’s gay. Easy. Name one who’s out. Impossible.
scott ny'er
Oh man, why is he even being talked about? While I was a fan, he doesn’t make contemporary music and thus his music sucks and he’s not popular. Nor relevant to people other than his hard core fans.
Anne
Well, like him/his music or not, he’s relevant enough to have people talking about him all over the place.
ProfessorVP
The point, Scott, isn’t his music or now unpopular status. It’s bigger than that. It is the game people play in the fields of entertainment and politics when they think they can get ahead. Because the game is still be played- being closeted or coy because that can be more profitable- it keeps the status quo, and that’s not right.
Greg
@ProfessorVP:
Those who mattered to him were his friends, family and co-workers. The audience always comes last as it should. You priorities are screwed up if you think otherwise.
@Shannon1981
He only denied it once in his first interview after Idol in the Rolling Stone. You are not/never were a fan or you would know that and not lie about it.
Greg
@ProfessorVP:
Clay isn’t newly unpopular. He has always had haters as any star will. The more haters they have the bigger the star.
ProfessorVP
Greg, a friend of mine ushered at a Clay concert years and years back, and it was a dud, the venue just partially filled with pre-teen and teen girls and their mothers and grandmothers. I believe that these were the last remaining folks who thought Clay was attractive and, in their fantasies, marriage material, not gay. I know it’s silly, but that’s how it works. Once that base was sufficiently whittled down, there was no point postponing the coming out. But if Clay had managed to achieve, say, a Kelly Clarkson Idol career, he never would have come out. I don’t buy the bit about haters… it doesn’t make sense, except for shock jocks and ancient acts like Andrew Dice Clay and Don Rickles. Success and money come from more people loving you than hating you. And that’s the reality of not coming out.
Cam
Ok, he needs to stop this, this is the same B.S. that people like Rosie O’Donell, Sean Hayes, etc… all use.
Yes, of COURSE we know you all were out to your friends. That wasn’t the point. What was the point is that the gays who figured out you were gay saw your efforts to hide your orientation in shame from the greater public.
I will give Aiken far more credit than Rosie O’Donell however, he never pretended to be in love with somebody the way she did with Tom Cruise, he just was silent on the issue which is far less dishonest than Rosie, and he has been quite an advocate for gays since coming out.
jay
I am asking this honestly:
What makes you think he was hiding “in shame”? He says he accepted himself, he was out to those close to him, and there can be a legitimate argument that strangers didn’t NEED to know. I don’t recall any outright dissing of the gay community, and only one recorded interview early on where he outright denied being gay. He matured into himself after that, from what I have read. As Cam says, he didn’t pretend date, didn’t beard. So, again, I do ask in all honesty where does it look like he was ashamed once he recognized he was gay?
Beyond all that, though, yes, he seems to advocate very well and articulately. It just seems like there’s always a timeframe/action script that must be followed to be accepted. Tough road enough without the expectations that apparently must be met.
Decent discussion, by the way.
Greg
@ProfessorVP:
Oh yes the “friend of mine” lie versus the “my mom said” lie and the “I read somewhere” lies. Sorry buddy, you are a liar because even years and years back he was selling out arenas. Nice try though. Hater. LOL.
ProfessorVP
Greg, you are either very, very young or a case of arrested development, evidenced by your raw emotions and rudeness towards strangers on the web, and the use of the word hater, which means anyone who doesn’t see things your way. Your lack of experience also is evident when you think the audience comes last as a priority. No, kiddo, it comes first in entertainment, almost always a nearly impossible nut to crack, that requires single-mindedness. The expression “I was out to those who matter in my life,” or somesuch was not invented by Clay. It has been around, as well as others like, “If I were gay, I would hope I would have the courage to say so,” (Ed Koch), “If I were gay, I would say it loud and proud,” (Condi Rice’s lover), and a host of other deflective tactics. Suggestion for you: less crankiness, more reading, less writing.
My friend did work a Christmas show of Clay’s, and I don’t know about other venues, but in this particular one, attendance was sparse. Could he have sold out in another region of the nation? Sure. Do I care if you believe me, because you are terribly important? Not a chance.
Bobby
My take is he used to be partially in the closet, but it was a glass closet. He’s not some hypocrite who demonizes gays while being gay, so what’s the big deal? It’s over….
Greg
@ProfessorVP:
The audience must come last. This is his life we’re talking about. I dare you to name the venue and the date of that long ago Christmas concert. These things are on record and I will call you a liar right now.
trevor
This waste of flesh is such a has been why are we even talking about him.
He denied being gay to Rolling Stone when he was so clearly a swishy queen.
Clay…here’s a clue. Your 16 minutes were up 18 minutes ago.
You were an also ran on American Idol.
Shut up.
justiceontherocks
@Greg: let’s try this another way. The post was not about a singer’s popularity or talent. It’s about his disingenuous behavior (I’m not gay followed by I’m not talking followed by I’m gay) and his odd claim that he was always out when clearly he was not.
Coming out to the public is a recent phenomenon mostly practiced by celebrities well past their prime (Lance Bass, Ricky Martin and Mr. Aiken) or who are about to be outed by the media. There’s a reason the over the hill celebrities wait – money.
Don’t call people haters and liars because they point out things you wish wwere not true.
Greg
@ trevor, you have unresolved anger issues toward a guy you know nothing about.
@ justiceontherocks, Lance Bass may be past news but Clay and Ricky are not.
justiceontherocks
@Greg: Aiken and Martin are well past their primes. That’s not to be insulting, it’s just true. If you disagree show us some facts and figures to the contrary.
Greg
No need to pull out any figures, Celebrity and relevance is measured by interest and attention. The ones past due are the ones that get no response, positive or negative. Clay and Ricky have careers with current recordings, new music and tours, both recently and coming up. Clay’s 22 city tour starts in a week. His next live performance is on Broadway on Monday night for Broadway Cares.
Lance Bass is ummm…. irrelevant.
justiceontherocks
@Greg: it must be nice to go through life without ever bothering to face facts. Hope that works out for you.
rodca
@Greg
Wasn’t Clay just dropped by his label this week?
I have to agree with @ProfessorVP his Joyful Noise concert in Oakland, CA had plenty of empty seats! Further, it appears the whole tour was having problems filling seats
Joyful Noise Tour 2005
http://theclayboard.yuku.com/topic/7613/Concert-Sales-amp-Statistics-JNT05-Era?page=1
Greg
Perez Hilton said he was dropped last week. Clay said he was not dropped yesterday. He would know.
Jaroslaw
For the record even empty seats/full seats are not a guarantee. Various symphonies around town here have a few key people giving away tickets just a day or two prior to ensure a full house. I have gotten quite a few of these, since I definitely couldn’t afford the list price nor would I go as much even if I could afford it, but “free” puts a completely different spin on it!
Shannon1981
@Greg I most certainly was a fan. I have been an avid Idol fan for years. You don’t know me, or anything about me or who I am a fan of. Don’t pretend you do. He said he wasn’t gay in RS. He was coy about it on countless occasions. There was a closet here. There is no defending his attempt to re write history. As an out and proud gay person, yeah, I take issue with celebs flat out lying about it. Saying nothing=fine. Lying/backtracking/deceiving their public= not ok in my book.
ProfessorVP
@rodca: That is the show I was referring to, Oakland CA.
Shannon, I couldn’t have said it better, and you made an excellent point. Saying nothing is quite different from being dodgy, manipulative, deceptive.
Greg, I am not saying the audience SHOULD come first. I am saying ambitious entertainers feel that way. OTHER PEOPLE. Read carefully: other people, people who are NOT ME. It is why when Elton John and John Furnish pose with the baby they bought, they look right into the camera, not at the baby. It is why Marie Osmond doesn’t let a little thing like her son committing suicide make her take a few days off work. It is why performers toil so hard, engage publicists, scrounge around for photo ops and interviews, for their careers, which is their priority if they want to make it in a cutthroat business with horrible odds of success. Now that Clay’s career has long been in eclipse, yeah, now he can think of friends, family, and honesty.
And I’ll add this: if you are a teenager, as I suspect- you should simmer down and just explore more, read more, and discover more, live more, and write less, not just here, but in general.
Shannon1981
@ProfessorVP: Thank you. and Greg is either a) a teenager or b)one of the few Idol tard Claymates Mr. Aiken has left. And I will never stop taking issue with manipulative people, be they celebs or otherwise, especially on this issue. Sure, its nobody’s business, but why couldn’t he just say that?
I’ll also add this, Greg: Fans like you who defend mindlessly and call anyone who disagrees and doesn’t worship the ground their idol walks on liars and haters are the very reason so many American Idol contestants fade. People generally don’t want to be associated with an artist who seems to be a magnet for lunatics. I know, as right now, I am trying to educate many in the fandom of another Idol about that kind of behavior. It only makes the fans look like fools and the idol look like (s)he, for whatever reason, attracts nutjobs. So your ranting on this board or any other is doing Clay and what is left of his career no favors. Get a clue. The man lied about his sexuality and is lying again to cover up the fact that he lied. It is right in front of your face and still you continue to defend his actions.
David Ehrenstein
@rusty: ”
A joke made about Clay is a joke about all gays, is that so difficult to understand?”
Extremely difficult to understand. Clay Aiken does not represent all gay people. Neither does Larry Kramer or Stephen Sondheim of Jesse Tyler Ferguson or Bryan Safi or you and the trick you brought home with you last night.
Clay Aiken is a singer and actor– and therefore open to public scutiny just like everyone else, gay or staright. What he does or doesn’t do with his life will be discussed (positively and negatively) by parties boht gay and straight. And really that’s about it.
jay
“I’ll also add this, Greg: Fans like you who defend mindlessly and call anyone who disagrees and doesn’t worship the ground their idol walks on liars and haters are the very reason so many American Idol contestants fade. People generally don’t want to be associated with an artist who seems to be a magnet for lunatics. I know, as right now, I am trying to educate many in the fandom of another Idol about that kind of behavior. It only makes the fans look like fools and the idol look like (s)he, for whatever reason, attracts nutjobs.”
Interesting thought process. How does “educating many in the fandom of another idol (I am assuming Lambert, as he’s the latest hot ticket, no?) about that kind of behavior” differentiate from those “educating” in support of someone on a scale of nutjobbery? Kind of sounds like a pot/kettle thing. Ironic, really. I would think if it was nutjobby to do it in support it would be nutjobby to spend effort in “educating” against it as well. Just enjoy who you wish. I find it stranger to be concerned with someone else’s level of interest in a performer than just your own.
Eh, not really my thing; just found it at odds with coherency.
I can kind of understand what Aiken is saying; it has become an almost required step in a public figure’s life to say so to the public. Not all feel that way, feel that those that circulate within their life on a regular basis, day to day, or they work with, know, whereas why do they have to announce it to those they don’t. Your buying public is not a close held member of your life. If you are producing artwork and sell it en masse do you need to include a letter with it stating,by the way, I, the artist am gay? No. You do not. Does it preclude you from announcing it? Again, no. It’s up to the individual.
I don’t see where the man has done any damage or disparaged the gay community but I understand why some would; it’s how anyone’s own approach to their own lives/being out. It’s virtually impossible not to connect the two. But it doesn’t make it right or wrong either way.
I hold my scorn for those that make the laws, try to impede progress, deny equality, support abuse, both physical and emotional, continue to advocate for division, derision, and dissension, and for those that actively try to damage. A singer/actor/public figure that hasn’t done so? Not so much.
Way too much….
JoeyO'H
If he wasn’t in the closet than why did he need (and be paid for) a magazine cover announcing “I’m Gay!”?
This article is just one way for Chucky to gain more mileage out of his own coming out party. He does nothing for the gay community. He’s one of those self serving queens where we’re supposed to care about him.
His career is sinking faster than the Titanic. Funny how he told Rolling Stone way back that he was straight, now he’s rewriting his own story. I wonder what the Claymates think of him now? Loser!
Shannon1981
@jay: I just think it makes the fans look bad when they needlessly run around the internet defending their Idol. I tell them so, in a rational way, especially the straight female fans who are suddenly authorities on everything gay because they happen to like a gay American Idol contestant. If the Lambert posts over run by Glamberts on this very site are any indication, what I am saying is true. It’s a turn off. Let these people soar or sink on their own merit. They don’t need their fans to defend them. JMHO.
ewe
@David Ehrenstein: HI David. (Wink)
ProfessorVP
All this is making me remember a Baba Wawa interview with Ricky Martin at the time when he was a major star. Prior to that, he had a ton of publicity linking him with women, and in particular, an actress named Rebecca de Alba. Anyway, Baba asked him outright, was he gay, which was a pretty hot potato for ABC then. Ricky replied that he wouldn’t reply, let people think what they want. And then Baba came up with this gem: “I see, let straight people think you’re straight, and gay people think you’re gay.” But here’s what she didn’t say, compeletely pretending she didn’t know what the issue was: What if the vast majority- straight people- think you’re gay? That was Ricky’s dilemma, as well as Clay’s, and a whole host of showbiz aspirants. The pressure Clay felt to be misleading is perfectly understandable, and that he succombed to it doesn’t make him a bad person. But yeah, don’t say you were always out, when you are caught on film and in print suggesting otherwise.
whatevah
Huh! I think people are misreading or misinterpreting what he said. I think he is saying he was living his life out to family, friends, business associates and within the gay community on Broadway at the time he came out to the public on the People cover. He was out to the industry in 2006 as that’s when Rosie and Ripa had the fight about her not wanting his hand over her mouth as homophobic. I don’t see anywhere in those sentences that says he was never in. I heard him on OutQ talking about he was not out when he was on Idol and he discussed his journey quite openly. The guy has been publically out two years, when is this BS going to stop. It does a disservice to the gay community and makes coming out less attractive to keep this harsh, judgmental attitude going because people don’t come out when you think they should or say the right things when they do.
whatevah
Huh! I think people are misreading or misinterpreting what he said. I think he is saying he was living his life out to family, friends, business associates and within the gay community on Broadway at the time he came out to the public on the People cover. He was out to the industry in 2006 as that’s when Rosie and Ripa had the fight about her not wanting his hand over her mouth as homophobic. I don’t see anywhere in those sentences that says he was never in. I heard him on OutQ talking about he was not out when he was on Idol and he discussed his journey quite openly. The guy has been publicly out two years, when is this BS going to stop. It does a disservice to the gay community and makes coming out less attractive to keep this harsh, judgmental attitude going because people don’t come out when you think they should or say the right things when they do.
ProfessorVP
Eeech… I swore I wasn’t going to post anymore on this thread, but…
You don’t get it, whatevah. The particular issue about Clay was that he denied reality… he was, in fact, in, when he had his best shot at a career. He didn’t come out until the parade had passed by. But he won’t admit that and says something untrue. Why the big deal? Just today I read all over the place: Zac Efron “caught” (quotation marks mine) making out with new date in club. No, kids, he wasn’t caught. It is the same tired, lame set-up that we’re used to. Years from now, when Zac’s rocket has come down to earth and his big earning days are over, yeah, then he will feel comfortable coming out.
What I am saying is, yeah, every public figure has the right to come out when he wants, on his own terms, it is a very personal decision. But I and other people have the right to be judgmental, because this kind of deceptive and disingenous behavior keeps the whole damn stupid homophobic system going, and going, and going, with no end in sight. There’s no difference between the situation now, as going back in a friggin time machine when Liberace would discuss his ideal woman, swinging bachelor Rock Hudson gets married, Merv Griffin shacks up with Eva Gabor. I am just saying, sheesh, enough is enough already. Somebody needs to grow a pair when they are on top of his game, and pave the way.
GeriHew
Maybe Clay was “in the closet” or maybe he just didn’t consider himself gay in 2003 when he told Rolling Stone magazine he wasn’t gay – because he didn’t feel gay at that time – wasn’t sure whatever?
Predictably we see boring, unimaginative people commenting here in terms of everyone’s either straight or gay and this is fixed for life for everyone and everyone knows what their sexuality identity is from and early age – it can’t possibly change etc, etc.
Well sorry, life and people aren’t always as simple as that. It took me quite a long time to really realize and accept that I’m pretty much bisexual – so not really straight or gay – or both whatever?
I’m so fucking tired of this gay vs straight which team are you on stupid bullshit.
ProfessorVP
@GeriHew: If you think you’re bisexual, well, nobody can say you lack imagination.
drewa24
MEOW! Look, bottom line, Clay never had the courage, nor the fortitude to accept who he was, a scared, self-loathing gay(debatable) man. He is properly insulated financially now, has his manufactured “family”, can openly cruise restrooms and truckstops, & well afford any rentboy he desires, all in an effort to shore up his delusional, geritric memories about his coming out. Now that his carrer is over, not that he ever had one, don’t ya think, Clay, that maybe you could have helped someone who felt alone in this whole process, someone who did not recevie all the rewards that you did? When you are given the oppurtunity to stand up as a proud GAY individual, someone likely to have some small influence over the damaged and the conflicted, you should take it? Too little, too late… hopefully you’ll just be another stain, another memory of when the tide turned.
Jaroslaw
Is it possible Rolling Stone caught him by surprise in 2003 with the question? Considering how many negative images our society has about Gays, how we are all raised; that would be at least somewhat understandable. And then once the lie is uttered, it is difficult indeed to retract. But it seems reasonable to conclude that he could have figured out how to fix it in much less than 6 years….But I totally agree with Cam #33 stop with the BS “I was out to my friends.” That is not being brave at all.
GeriHew
@ProfessorVP: Oh sorry, did I offend you or something?
Beth
You cannot COME OUT, if you’re never in.
If you lie to yourself and to others , then you are in a closet.
If you are who you are.. you’re already out.
NomNomNom
And Clay’s career is still going strong. He has done a lot for our cause by taking on the activist mantle. If his detractors only had some foresight. Shame on them.