The faggot furor over Out's controversial cover continues. Genre editor Chris Ciompi laid the smack down against the monthly fag-rag and competing editor Aaron Hicklin, telling married gossip mongers Rush and Malloy:

Your right to privacy is a constitutional right. Maybe Jodie and Anderson would prefer to be known for their work, not their sexuality. The climate of the United States today still would not allow that to occur. With Anderson, many people would perceive his credibility to be undermined.

I think [Out editor] Aaron Hicklin wants to use [Cooper and Foster] to sell magazines. It's politically reprehensible, when he has a list of 50 gay people, to choose two people who are not out.

Sounds like someone's a bit jealous, if you ask us. Sure, both Genre and Out have their draws, but we have to say Out's a bit more... Oh, we won't say it. We're sure you thinking men already know where we're going with that one.

Meanwhile, those curmudgeons over at GLAAD piped in, insisting they do not condone outing people, but Neil Giuliano made sure to add that Cooper and Foster's names have not been smeared, because that would imply that being gay's "a bad thing". And we all know GLAAD loves to support the gays.

For his part, Hicklin defends his placement of Cooper on the cover, telling R&M:

...If you live in New York City, and if you're gay, it's not too long before you spot Anderson Cooper at certain bars or concerts.

In the case of Anderson, we felt that was a bogus argument because he's talked about his life numerous times, he's been the cover subject on lifestyle magazines and men's magazines like Maxim. He's allowed his personal life to be scrutinized with one exception - his sexuality, his relationships.

Hicklin also said that the magazine's legal team advised against putting Clay Aiken on the cover - not because Aiken would sue, but because he looks too much like Jodie Foster. Can't have two lesbians on the cover, now can we?

Imagine the shit storm that would start.

Out-and-out debate over Jodie, Anderson [NYDN]

In her groundbreaking and certainly still relevant book, Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick asserts, “The closet is the defining structure for gay oppression in this century". The closet - out or in - it's always there, hovering like a socially-constructed apparition. Out's May issue wonders if, like an actual apparition, the closet can seen through. That is, can it be made of glass, rather than wood, brick or reinforced steel?

Michael Musto's cover essay, "The Glass Closet", sheds some light on - or, rather, through - this underreported, yet not entirely new, phenomenon:

The glass closet is nothing new in Hollywood. Back in the 1920s and '30s, leading man William Haines was gay in everything except magazine interviews...In the '70s performers like Paul Lynde and post-Liza Peter Allen similarly went as far as seemed possible...And today, the press still gives a free pass to people like Good Morning America weather anchor Sam Champion and CNN presence Anderson Cooper, helping to keep their glass doors shut so they can lead gay social lives while carefully skirting the issue.

Musto concludes with disdain, insisting it's better to be completely out than sorta-kinda out, like Mr. Cooper

Musto may be a bit irked to read, then, that the Coop's number two rank on Out's surely controverial compilation: The 50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America. The homo-journo's squeezed right between David Geffen and Ellen Degeneres. The list also includes the likes of filmmaker Chi Chi LaRue (36), designer Tom Ford (23) and director Bryan Singer (32). A bit of a queer mix, certainly, but by no means an accident. Out EIC Hicklin explains his editorial philosophy:

We expect some flak for daring to create a list like this. But it’s a mark of real progress that the vast majority of men and women who made our Power 50 have attained their positions without feeling the need to hide their sexuality to do so.

We took the task very seriously. We wanted the list to reflect, as accurately as possible, the standing of the people on it.

One can't feel bad for the so called New York Times gay mafia: Richard Berke, Ben Brantley, Frank Bruni, Stuart Elliot, Adam Nagourney, Stefano Tonchi, and Eric Wilson. They all got clumped together in the stinky number 7 slot. You'd better watch out, Out.

Out Ranks the Top 50 Gays; Anderson Is No. 2 [New York]

The Oscars sure were lesbianic, huh? We had Ellen hosting, Jodie scowling, Portia vamping, Melissa singing and winning.

One would think that Hollywood had become one big lesbian meet-and-greet. According to uber-fashionista and known homosexual, Simon Doonan, it has.

And what's more, we should have seen it coming.

CONTINUED »

•A Christian school in California has expelled a 14-year old girl upon learning her parents are gay. I guess we glossed over the part in the Bible where Jesus said “thou shalt not educate the offspring of lesbians.”

•We’re bummed that we didn’t get to see Sandra Bernhard rip on both Barbara “Mrs. Doubtfire” Bush and Condi “Ferragamo” Rice in person.

•Ex-gay camp Love in Action employees are allowed to continue their brainwashing for one more week. But not to worry. Once the place shuts its doors for good, they'll easily find jobs working for the Vatican.

•For the last time: Kenny Chesney IS NOT GAY!. Right...

•“Amnesty International: Cops abuse gays, need to add liaison officers.” But will they be Dangerous Liaisons?

•Stuff you need to schedule your life around this weekend: The bitchy Desperate Housewives (and wet dream Jesse Metcalf) are back this Sunday night and single mom Jodie Foster takes on yet another single mom role in Flightplan.