Let’s cut the shit here. Yeah, [I’m gay].
I have a very hard time saying that. And don’t get this wrong. I don’t want anyone to be ashamed of who they are—especially when you think younger people. I always hate using that term and that’s part of why I’ve always been sympathetic, or empathetic, to people who don’t want to be called this anymore. I hate that word. But I don’t like the other word—homosexual.
But gay? F— that! Why the f— do I gotta tell people I’m gay for? I’m not f—ing gay. I’m f—in’ Todd Glass. I gotta go up to people and tell ’em I’m gay?
I know it sounds so cliche, but it’s so much the f—in’ truth. I cannot listen to stories about kids killing themselves any longer and not think, “When are you going to have a little blood on your shirt for not being honest about who you are?”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
—Comedian Todd Glass, on how gay-teen suicides were a major reason for his recent coming out, on Mark Maron‘s radio show, WTF.
Wesley Horace
literally the last person i would have thought was gay. but good for him on coming out!
macdee
Who the hell is this guy??
vince
Todd Glass is a well known, very funny comedian. I’ve caught his show a couple of
times and he is crazy funny. I never thought he was gay, but I did think he
was sexy. I’m glad to see a gay man come out who’s actually going to
surprise people. We need more non-stereotypical gays to come out.
jeff4justice
Good for him for coming out.
Last Comic Standing Comedian Myq Kaplan Likes LGBTs So Much He Dates One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DSOGRCfRUo
Jack E. Jett
Wow…this guy use to have a lot of homophobic jokes in his act, yet I never thought
he might be gay…or whatever term he is comfortable with.
vince
Comedian/Actor/TV Host/UFC commentator, Joe Rogan will be next. He tries way to hard to be manly.
Jason
And hot too!
CMObrero
He should get mad if somebody tells him he’s tall. Or thin, fat. White. Short-haired.
WTF, trouble with labels is people discriminate because of them, but they are necessary to understand the world that surrounds us. That doesn’t mean they are totally bad or the best of the world. They are tools and should be taught to use properly.
Crystal
I think he’s gorgeous!
Joetx
@CMObrero: +1
It sounds to me that Mr. Glass has some internal homophobia issues.
Chad
@Joetx: If you listen to the whole podcast it is clear that there is no internal homophobia at all, as can be implied by just hearing that quote out of context. I can’t recommend listening to this podcast enough. Mr. Glass comes across as very articulate on a lot of issues, and it is clear that he has put a lot of thought into his coming-out (or at least his professional coming-out, he has been out to a circle of friends a long time and has been in a relationship for 15 years). This episode of the podcast covers a lot of emotional ground, but it is a fantastic starting point for discussion between LGBTQ people and their friends, IMHO.
Drew
Who is he? Why should we even care what this guy who is clearly ashamed of his sexuality has to say?
Isaac C
By coming out, he implies that he was closeted to begin with throughout his career. I simply cannot respect his decision to come out because of guilt over teen suicides.
He is a coward.
Jake the libertarian
@Isaac C: Oh fuck you bitch.
@Drew: Listen to the podcast. He’s not ashamed.
Welcome out Todd!
Isaac C
@Jake the libertarian: LOL
Esculapio Mitiríades Torquedama de la Cueva
Didn’t expect this guy to be gay. The TV specials I’ve seen of his always had jokes about relationships with women, plus, if I remember correctly, more than one joke about gay men that made it very clear he wasn’t part of the team.
Guess he’s learning to accept himself, so good for him.
Lee
My hat’s off to Mr. Glass for how heart felt he was with his “coming out”. I myself understand first hand of what he means. Everything that Mr. Glass did or felt, I did and felt the same way. Even to the point of getting myself drunk, just to have an excuse of why I didn’t sleep with a girl I met from a bar. It wasn’t until about 3 years ago (I’m now 34), that I had conjured up the courage to come out. I’ve grown up in a very religious household (Dad’s a Preacher/Mom, since she was 17, have been a DIE HARD born again Christian). I was ashamed of being gay or as I thought back then, different/a freak! I’ve had to “cover my tracks” through the years, simply because I was afraid of what others might think. Do you know how hard it is, to push your true self aside; lying to yourself over and over again… to the point that you become physically ill?! It f***ing sucks people! It even came to a point, a couple of times, that I thought that it maybe best to commit suicide! Thinking that would make everything better with God and/or make it all better with family/friends! Thank God, with time and making friends with some great people (gay AND straight), I slowly started to understand and accept that my sexuality is just a part of me. It doesn’t rule nor defy me! It pisses me off to hear people saying stupid sh** like, “You chose to be gay” or “You will grow out of it”! Yep… that’s it!! I just woke up one day; chose to add more pressure, stress and problems to my life!… BITE ME!! Don’t get me wrong though. There are some “Gays” out there who have chosen the lifestyle because they think it’s the “IT” thing to do. I have met some through out my life and I find them to be pathetic! We as a society are so easily able and willing to point fingers, judge and pass sentence without “putting ourselves in that person’s shoes”. We are also so quick to twist words around, turning them into weapons of pain and hate. In the long run, unfortunately, it’s just a “human reflex” of hiding something about ourselves that we maybe a shamed of. Believe me when I say that, it’s not easy living with yourself when you constantly have to ask yourself, “Am I a freak?” “Will my parents/friends still love me?” So, in closing, I beg YOU ALL who read my comment… STOP, THINK, REFLECT over your own life before casting the first stone. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS.
Marc
I love Todd Glass!!! He’s sooo funny! Glad to hear he’s one of “us.” Welcome to the party Todd.
brian Heir
good for him.
newcityspot
I don’t know if this is true since I’m not a professional comedian, but it seems like in the stand up part of the comedy profession, gay men are not easily accepted by male heterosexual standup comedians.
I prefer the use of homosexual. Does anybody else? I like it better than gay. Because gay seems to come with all kinds of associations which some are accurate to my personality profile, but I prefer homosexual because it just simplifies it to only defining my sexual orientation.
Mike UK
I see the usual fuckwits have commented.
Not everyone is able to come out in a blaze of glory, I didn’t come out until I was 34, I knew exactly what I was, I was gay but it took me a long time to admit it even though I’d been having gay sex since I was 14 and denied it time and time again when asked.
Moving to a new city and a new job where no one gave a rats arse whether you were gay, straight or batted for both teams gave me the courage to come out to family and friends. Only one person had a problem and that was someone I’d considered my best friend, haven’t spoken for 15 years and I don’t intend to start anytime soon.
So before you start spouting the usual bollocks about him being a coward etc think yourself lucky that you had the nerve to come out when you did and big fucking whoopy dooo!
Isaac C
@Mike UK: Those of us who were brave and honest with ourselves and those around us from the very beginning never HAD to come out. Maybe that’s something you should think about, hmmm? And pour me a glass of that w(h)ine while you think about it, hon.
Mike UK
@Isaac C: well bully for you! I’m sure your halo is shining extra brightly today!
Pocket Otter
@newcityspot: I am absolutely in the same boat as you, pal. Never liked the word “gay” because it implied I possessed a distinctive political point-of-view, specifically that I’m a die-hard liberal who wants to share my lifestyle with the world, that I have “pride” in the fact that I sleep with other men, and that I simply LOVE showtunes. Like you, I don’t identify as gay, but simply as a homosexual man (mo for short). It’s a direct, to-the-point label that lets someone know everything they need to without making assumptions about me that aren’t true.
Cheers to you.
divkid
just to reiterate what others have said, well worth a listen. i’m so impressed, i’ve downloaded it.
never heard of the guy before; and you-tubing a couple of his apearances yielded standard chat show fare of the meh variety (some het posturing looks a teensy bit embarrassing now!)
however, THIS guy on the podcast was fucking amazing; witty, painfully honest and raw, and burning with righteous anger; and really as close to the true spirit of the sainted bill hicks, which is, face it, for any comic, the only place he needs to be at.
maybe we’ve got *are* bill hicks now — not that he ought to feel he has to represent; but he could do. and effectively. he’s almost got the makings of a manifesto there and it made me think about a few issues differently.
if nothing else it’s a different voice, one we were lacking. and i even get were he’s coming from vis a vis labels etc.
———–
as to the dumbassery of throwing slurs like “coward” around, arguing from your own case (i’m so brave i “came out” in the uterus) to the general one, it is so beside the point. theres too many variables, multiple factors …but i know, nuance is a bit clashy-clashy with your ‘little pink book” of ideological purity.
we’re all cowards. just about different things. i had a cousin who entered a burning house to try to save a stranger’s child — which makes him ipso facto a brave man. and he died for his effort.
we only found out later that he was hiding his homosexuality (perhaps in deference of his mothers religious sensibilities). was *he* a coward? well, perhaps yes, perhaps no. but who the fuck is fit to judge? we need us more “human”, not more fucking puritans!
Caliban
Add another voice to those saying it’s worth listening to the podcast. I actually think Todd Glass probably DOES have some lingering shame issues, but the interview is honest and powerful and it captures a man at a very important crossroads in his life. He talks a lot how he felt/what he thought at certain points in his life and it’s a powerful statement about the toxic effects of homophobia in our society. In my personal opinion he worried to much about what other people think or might say behind his back, but you know what? It’s not my life. It’s his life and he’s had to live it, not me.
I also think some of the thought and emotions he talks about are more common than we admit, that out of fear of showing self-doubt that might be exploited by homophobes many gay people gloss over issues that be better dealt with and discussed. In not saying there IS any reason to feel shame or doubt about being gay, just that it’s hardly surprising that gay people living in an often virulently homophobic society sometimes have their moments of doubt and shame and it’s better talked about than buried.
Before I listened to the podcast I couldn’t have picked this guy out of a line-up, but after hearing I have enormous respect for him. FWIW, I came out to my parents at 17 and have never really been “in” as an adult, not that it makes me any “better” or braver than other people whose lives took a different path.
Esculapio Mitiríades Torquemada de la Cueva
@Isaac C: Sanctimonious and holier-than-thou. Is there any end to your charms?
stoopid louie
@divkid: The “sainted” Bill Hicks? Sorry, but in all due respect to you and Mr. Hicks, he was a decent comedian who, once he became ill, grew into a bitter, toxic explosion of fury and righteous indignation who stopped even TRYING to be funny and simply began lecturing his audience about what horrible people we were. When anyone does that, I have a tendency to tune out.
Jonathan Nathan
I occasionally had suspicions about Todd. His material seemed to indicate a deep level of discomfort with who he was. Still, this was the last thing I expected to read today.
@Isaac C, let me get this straight. You’re actually insulting and making fun of gay people for being in the closet, in a society that can literally be lethal for gay people. Fuck you in the eyesocket, you miserable piece of shit.
Jonathan Nathan
I occasionally had suspicions about Todd. His material seemed to indicate a deep level of discomfort with who he was. Still, this was the last thing I expected to read today.
@Isaac C, let me get this straight. You’re actually insulting and making fun of gay people for being in the closet, in a society that can literally be lethal for gay people. Fuck you in the eyesocket, you miserable piece of shit.
@stoopid louie, I totally agree. I feel so alone most of the time as a comedy fan.
Isaac C
@Jonathan Nathan: I’m not really insulting anyone, but I have a problem with Todd’s justification for coming out and his reluctance to do so all this time. Do I think all closeted people are cowards? No, but in his case, there was no excuse for him not to come out. He played up a heterosexual image mainly for his career and audience. And now you expect that he should just be patted on the back for being a good man for coming out when he was deceiving people all this time on purpose? What does that say about his character and values? And what does it say about yours and the others’ who are supporting him?
Mike UK
@Isaac C: you really do talk complete bollocks!!!
Jonathan Nathan
@ Isaac C: It says it’s fuckin hard out there. I guess you had it easy. I’m guessing you’re white and at least upper middle-class, because you sound like a rich guy telling poor people to get a job.
GOD (gay old dude)
@Isaac C: It says to me that he had the values of a survivor. Glad that your world (wherever that may be) welcomed you with open arms, but for the rest of us, it’s the real world we have to face, and it ain’t always pretty when you’re like us. Sometimes one has to do whatever one has to do in order to see the sun come up tomorrow. Where I grew up, I’d’ve been dead by age 12 if I’d made known my secret. I appreciate your perspective, but you need to take Mr. Glass’s story in perspective as well before you label him a coward.
Isaac C
@Mike UK: @Jonathan Nathan: Nonsense. Neither of you even addressed my post.
Isaac C
@GOD (gay old dude): What did he “survive?” What trials has he gone through? Standing back and watching gay teens kill themselves or be otherwise assaulted and abandoned, all the while capitalizing off of a heterosexual facade in his adult life for the sake of his career? The horror of it!
Mike UK
regardless of why he came out, regardless of the reason stated or any other reason for that matter doesn’t make him a coward!
just because your flame was burning very bright and you didn’t have to come out doesn’t make you any more the braver than it makes those guys and girls who come out later in their life cowards, not everyone is as fortunate as you.
divkid
@Isaac C: at most, all it tells us is that he was ashamed and feared rejection. does that make him weak — yes; does that make him a coward — thats entirely your call (use your power wisely, oh great sage).
i’d say it makes him all too human.
but, why do you feel the need, indeed relish the opportunity, to further victimise gay people (who are not actively seeking your destruction) for being weak in the face of, or succumbing to, the pressures of this sick, punishing society which has fucked with our minds and souls in the first instance?
finally, he knows he was wrong, that living that way is ultimately psychologically damaging and soul destroying for the individual and the community at large. it seems to me he’s making amends. he’s embarking on a a post-shame existence. that’s why it’s a good news story. of course, you are free to differ and i respect your right to be wrong.
Isaac C
@Mike UK: It has NOTHING to do with “flames.” The difference is I never denied myself, even though I could have. HE did to save his own self-loathing ass. That requires effort – effort to disguise and conceal for his own benefit. It is treacherous. If you don’t understand the difference then I can’t help you.
He is a cisgendered white male. He is young enough to have grown up in a more pro-gay environment than his predecessors. He grew up in Philadelphia and, more importantly, is based in Los Angeles – LaLaLand, the gay entertainment and cultural mecca. And you and others mean to say that his life is apparently so horrible that he had to be closeted his whole life?
Horse poo! A big, stinking pile of horse poo!
Isaac C
@divkid: “He knows he was wrong” but he only says that after reaping all the privileges of his heterosexual image. That’s bullshit! It wasn’t so wrong when he was making jokes about his “girlfriend” to his hetero audiences, now was it? Nope! But now that he’s made a name for himself, it’s OK to come out? Really?
That is a coward. Don’t give me this “gay victim” bs. He was better off in the closet. As far as I’m concerned, he is still in it and always will be. The End.
Mike UK
@Isaac C: you really do talk out of your arse! The End, literally!
StudioTodd
@Isaac C: You are such an insufferable self-important jerkoff.
Todd Glass started his career in 1980–an era in which there wasn’t much in the way of gay tolerance. In fact, discrimination and hatred of gay people was practically the national pastime. Extreme right-wing conservative politics mixed with born-again evangelical fervor was in it’s ascendancy. The burgeoning AIDS epidemic only added fuel to an already brightly burning fire (you can say that his generation had it easier than previous generations, but that’s true for every generation…still doesn’t mean it wasn’t a hostile environment).
At that time, he was only beginning to realize his orientation. He hadn’t yet accepted it. That may be a hard concept for you to grasp–since obviously you’ve farted rainbows from the day you were born–but it’s a phase most gay people go through. I grew up in the same era, and I wasn’t comfortable coming out to even my own family until I was in my mid-30s–and they were as liberal as they could be. We were taught by our peers and the culture that being gay was shameful and best left unsaid. That sort of background takes a lot of deprogramming to overcome.
He works in the entertainment industry, which–despite your
naiveignorant assessment–has traditionally been extremely discriminatory against gay people. If you were an out gay person, you didn’t work. The End.And in the 80s it was especially true. Why do you think so many actors hid their sexuality back then? It was essential, if they wanted to continue to work. In your worldview, that would make very one of them a coward…but to the people living in the so-called “celluloid closet”, it was simply pragmatic.
So as a man who grew up without gay role models and working in an industry which was hostile towards gay people, he knew he had to keep his sexuality to himself if he wanted to work. That’s just the way it was back then. There are plenty of examples of entertainers who were “outed” and never worked again.
So what would you have him do? Simply out himself and damn the consequences? The first celebrity comic to do that (Ellen) was crucified in the industry and went years with no career to speak of…there’s your supportive gay-affirming entertainment industry. It’s only been very recently that acknowledging being gay is no longer certain career suicide.
If you had actually listened to the interview–rather than smugly looking down your nose at the man–you would have heard him say that he does not see himself as a role model. He never painted himself as a “gay victim.” You are putting words in his mouth and simply jumping to conclusions based on your own personal biases and issues.
He understands his shortcomings and continues to struggle. He is self-aware enough to know that he has a long way to go. But at least he’s taken the first steps, when clearly he didn’t have to…he could have stayed in the closet and the public would have been none the wiser, yet he didn’t. He saw the need to be honest about who he is and he stepped up.
And you can’t give him credit for that? All you can do is sneer and denigrate and look down on him because he didn’t follow your arbitrary timeline for his coming out process?
If all gay people were like you, I would agree with you–he’d have been better off staying in the closet. Fortunately we are not.
The End.
Issac C
Cool story, bro.
Right Is Right
Funny, I don’t recall any of this “traitor” talk when Rosie O’Cowbell came out . . . or Ellen Degeneres . . . or Neil Patrick Harris . . . or anyone else who led a closeted life in order to get their careers going. Something tells me it’s Todd Glass’ reluctance to “act gay” that’s earning him all of this criticism from the gays.
Thought I'd Seen It All
@Issac C: You really are the biggest asshole on Queerty. By far.
dani
@Issac C: you are so pathetic
Isaac C
@Thought I’d Seen It All: @dani: Those are terrible things to write.
Thought I'd Seen It All
@Isaac C: They’re even worse things to be.
Isaac C
@Thought I’d Seen It All: Yes. So how do you cope?
Just...WOW
Iscaac C is either the worst kind of troll or has serious issues of his own to work out. I suggest we stop feeding him.