How To Get Everyone Hate You in Three Easy Steps:
1. Get drunk off your ass and get yourself kicked out of a bar by hitting a waiter.
2. Use your insidery media job to write about how the Big Bad Mean Waiter was a fag basher and demand justice, leading well-meaning blogs to defend your honor, thinking you know, that you were the victim of homophobia.
3. Have everyone realize that you’re a liar who cries wolf after video surveillance footage shows that you hit first.
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.
Are we pissed off at Blackbook‘s Nick Haramis for crying wolf about his gay beating at a West Village restaurant only to be disproven by video tape? You bet. It’s hard enough for folks who get fag-bashed to get respect without pissant wannabe media darlings using the cry of “homopobia” to justify their own drunken shenanigans.
But Nick’s not the only media darling trading on his gay status to get ahead, while leaving his fellow fags choking on his dust. Meet the rogues gallery of media gays that are making life miserable for the rest of us.
Anderson Cooper
Yes, I know you love Cooper’s dreamy eyes and silver mane, but he is no friend to the gay community. Ostensibly to protect his status as “journalist,” Anderson Cooper refuses to disclose his sexuality. Fine, whatever. We’re of the opinion that nobody is required to be out, even if it’s the responsible thing to do. However, the Coop’s not not telling us he’s gay because he’s hiding it (do we need to run the clip of Anderson Cooper dressed as a leatherman again?), he’s doing it because he likes the attention. He enjoys the media speculation and encourages it time and time again. Had he just mentioned he was gay (say, during the Prop. 8 coverage he did, or any other time when it would easily fall under the practice of full disclosure), everyone would have moved on by now.
What kind of role model is Anderson? Look, Timmy! If you’re a closeted gay aristocrat, you too can get a job on CNN, make cute jokes with Kathy Griffin, walk around the West Village with 25-year-olds and still sanctimoniously refuse to comment on your personal life! Hurray!
Perez Hilton
Your editor has, at length, discussed why Perez Hilton is bad for the gay community, and for the most part, these days we try to ignore our former schoolmate and one-time friend, because he is really and truly a children’s cautionary tale come to life. A wannabe actor who longed to be “the gay Oprah,” Mario Lavandeira transformed himself into a mincing self-hating parody of what he thinks a celebrity is. Lucky for him, we live in an age of unbelievable gullibility. Without ever evidencing any particular talent other than self-promotion, Perez has expanded his media empire into books (that don’t sell) and is now a bona-fide musician with his song “The Clap,” which, from the looks of the video, is about gays and all their sexually transmitted diseases.
There’s nothing wrong with being famous – hell, you should all be famous – but as Mario has said time and time again, “Perez” is a character he plays to be famous and, well, it’s sort of sad and awful to see someone skyrocket to fame by playing into America’s worst stereotypes. Perez Hilton might be out and proud, but Mario, by his own design, is still trapped in the closet.
James Kirchick
Kirchick is an editor at The New Republic and a frequent contributor to The Advocate, where he regularly defends Rick Warren and John McCain before all but calling Sean Penn a homophobe over his measured support of Cuba. Full disclosure: your editor knows James in real life and considers him a great human being, but his journalistic persona as a self-styled gay, Jewish neo-conservative leaves us constantly flummoxed. He’s also always being accused of intellectual dishonesty, skewing the facts to match his arguments and blaming ‘liberal intolerance’ for his dating troubles.
Harvey Levin
Former legal analyst and current TMZ impresario Harvey Levin made his name transforming his gossip site into a mini-media empire. But don’t think success has made him happy. As our sister site Jossip points out, Levin’s staffers say “he’s a “tyrant” and a “bully” who’s “forgotten about the people [who helped make his career].” In the place of the old, likable Harvey? An “angry, nasty person,” we’re told. Media watchdog site, Tabloid Baby named him 2007’s Journalist of the Year saying:
“Who did more damage to entertainment reporting in 2007 than Harvey Levin?… he and his gutter operation… almost single-handedly transformed Hollywood entertainment reporting into a gutter-level street battle fueled by self-hatred, jealousy and anger, with no concern for what once determined greatness, excellence or fame…”
What more do you want?
Nick Denton
Constantly drunk on fame and frequently drunk on liquor, Nick Denton has admittedly shown a fantastic knack for scooping up blogs and wrenching as much money out of them as humanly possible. The history of how Gawker has single-handedly lowered the cultural discourse of the country is well-documented, as is Denton’s justification that “Everyone does it” and that, basically, it’s cool because it’s the new media taking down the old media. But at some point – we hope soon – the new media is going to have to do something besides whine and bitch about the old media, because let’s face it: there really is no old media to kick around anymore. Snark and cynicism has its place, but the Dentonian world is one terrified of standing for anything meaningful, lest it open itself to ridicule. Which is all well and good when you’re 14, but at some point don’t we all have to grow the fuck up?
Who else belongs on this list? Are there any heroes in the media worth mentioning?
TylerOakley
Fullheartedly disagree about Anderson Cooper. He’s a journalist. He’s showing that he’s NOT about his sexuality, it’s about his talent. He’s showing that his private life is private. Although it would be nice to have him openly on our side, not everyone has to be a pawn for the movement. I think it’s way over presumptuous of anyone to say that someone else should be out of the closet. We don’t know their situation, we don’t know their life. Even if they’re highly exposed.
Just my thought.
Versatile
Pot. Kettle. Black.
ChristopherM
@TylerOakley:
That would hold water if he hadn’t demanded complete privacy for his personal life prior to writing a book about his brother’s suicide.
Jonathan
Sorry, Japhy. Nick Haramis’ story never quite added up, and I’m not surprised to see that he’s a lying, hypocritical sack of shit.
Re Cooper: You betcha. His *silence* is deafening. (oh and @TylerOakley: Talent?!! What talent?)
Perez Hilton: Sack of shit.
Jamie Kirchick: He’s a shanda for the Jews and the Gays. Buit that’s what Marty Peretz’ sick, little enterprise is about. Fucking the boys and spreading neo-con hatred across the world.
The other two I couldn’t give a fuck about. I don’t read Gawker. I read Wonkette. I suppose it’s cause I work in this cesspool called DC.
Lala Blorgs
@Versatile:
Seriously, what he said.
Buddy
As I’ve said before (don’t you love recycling!), from my perspective, Cooper is one of those annoying guys who peddles his private life to advance his career (the book, the interviews, the stories about his mother and about his brother who committed suicide), but then demands privacy when it comes to his orientation.
He’s like those stars who trot out their obedient spouse and children for promo time but are “shocked, shocked I tell you” when you report on their tryst with an 18 year old same sex hooker.
Meh.
Ben
I honestly think that divisive publications who try to be provocative like Queerty are really what’s giving us a band name. That is, if you want to be dumb and pretend like one thing can really change the entire perspective.
Shape up guys. Get over yourselves. This web site is trashy now.
hardmannyc
Wow, this is possibly the dumbest post I’ve ever read on Queerty. Fully agreed about Hilton & Kirchik (I suggest he look in the mirror if he wants to know why he can’t get laid).
But Cooper’s being in the closet doesn’t hurt anyone but (presumably) himself. He’s never shown anything but sympathy for gay and AIDS causes, so he’s hardly “covering” by doing a Roy Cohn.
Harry Levin’s an asshole, but his gayness has nothing to do with his being an asshole.
And Denton? Is it because Gawker is in direct competition with Jossip? It’s really tacky to rag on the competition, especially when you’re ragging on them for basically doing the same stuff you do.
Gregoire
I don’t see any reason to hate Anderson Cooper, sorry. His being gay and in/out of the closet is not the only component of his character. Same with Nick Denton and many of these others.
Perez, however, yes. Flames on the sides of my face.
TylerOakley
I don’t see why Queerty is encouraging the hating of people, furthermore, the hating of our own people. Until we stop hating on ourselves, we can’t expect others to stop hating us. It makes us hypocrites.
hardmannyc
Tyler: It’s called snark. It’s a way for bloggers to feel better about themselves, by putting people down. The slimmer the reason, the juicier the dish.
John Smith
Hate is wrong. The Nazis practiced hate. So did the Ku Klux Klan. And here is Queerty saying that it’s ok for gays to hate some people? Very bad. Not acceptable.
HaplessOrphan
Agree with HardManNYC re: trashing of Gawker. Both Gawker and Queerty are my three-times-a-day stops (part of a well-balanced media meal plan?). They offer different content, but much the same viewpoint. The slam against Gawker seems here to be part of a back-and-forth between Denton and Jossip regarding the current “for sale” sign on the latter’s homepage. (Good News: More focus on QUEERTY!!)…
That said, @Ben, I totally disagree that “this website is trashy now.” I think that Queerty does a fantastic job of taking figures from both the hetero and homo communities to task for crimes against gay-manity. Perez and A.Coop are pretty much easy (but not undeserving) targets.
What about Joe Solomonese? I’m still burned about their slow to cover approach to the Anti-Prop H8 protests.
TylerOakley
Joe Solomonese in NO way deserves hate.
dorothy olson
Please tell me why it is so important for gays to out other gays. I don’t get it. So what if Anderson keeps his mouth shut. None of anyones business anyway. Hey, maybe he isn’t proud of being gay. Who knows. Leave the guy alone. Its his business not yours and if he needs to keep quiet to further his career so be it. If you want to be gay – fine, but don’t stuff it down everyone else’s throat if they don’t want to be out. Geesh!
Me
About Andy: Like the guy who wrote that famous (infamous?) ‘Glass Closet’ article in Out said: No straight person ever completely blacks out their love life. They will talk about some innocent details casually or mention something that suggests heterosexuality in passing in interviews, etc. but never blatantly skirt the issue, use off-puttingly cryptic phrasing or flat out say “that is none of your business!”. When you do that you’re pretty much admitting that you’re gay. The privacy argument is REALLY VERY sketchy to me. Also, Gawker reported recently that CNN’s precondition for any publication to interview Andy is that absolutely no personal questions be asked. As written in a Salon piece on the matter, I don’t think reporters should be made to tiptoe around this subject, particularly when, as pointed out in this post, Andy makes no effort whatsoever to cover up his sexuality in his daily and professional life, only in his public life.
kevin
I really don’t care that Cooper’s in the closet. There’s no reason for him to be, but if he wants to remain closeted that’s his business. Of course, it also means that he’s doing nothing to change people’s perceptions of the LGBT community and if anything, he’s reaping the rewards of other people’s sacrifices (namely Ellen, Rosie, etc.) without making any himself. But then, that’s pretty typical of closeted gay white men. For them, it’s pretty hard to let go of that white male hetero privilege that we all know still exists.
Oh, and Perez looks like a marshmallow Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
Oh, and I’d like to nominate “Cojo” for his gay Steppin’ Fetchit routine.
Chris
Kirchick is a troll, or possibly a gnome….no, no a troll.
Wolf
This from the guy who ran with the NKOTB Outting Jordan Knight story.
Watch for stones in that glass house you live in buddy.
Leland Frances
Three cheers for Japhy!!!! As for the Cowardly Cooper Trolls, try this:
“This is Harvey Milk speaking from the camera store on the evening of Friday, November 18. This is to be played only in the event of my death by assassination. I fully realize that a person who stands for what I stand for, an activist, a gay activist, becomes a target or the potential target for somebody who is insecure, terrified, afraid, or very disturbed themselves. Knowing that I could be assassinated at any moment, any time, I feel it’s important that some people know my thoughts. And so the following are my thoughts, my wishes, and my desires, whatever, and I’d like to pass them on and have them played for the appropriate people. …..
…I would hope that five, ten, one hundred, a thousand would rise. I would like to see every gay doctor come out, every gay lawyer, every gay architect come out, stand up and let that world know. That would do more to end prejudice overnight than anybody would imagine. I urge them to do that, urge them to come out. Only that way will we start to achieve our rights.
I ask for the movement to continue, for the movement to grow, because last week I got a phone call from Altoona, Pennsylvania, and my election gave somebody else, one more person, hope. And after all, that’s what this is all about. It’s not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power — it’s about giving those young people out there in the Altoona, Pennsylvanias, hope. You gotta give them hope.”
AND:
“Gay brothers and sisters,…You must come out. Come out…to your parents…I know that it is hard and will hurt them but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth! Come out to your relatives. ..come out to your friends…if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your neighbors…to your fellow workers…to the people who work where you eat and shop…come out only to the people you know, and who know you. … But once and for all, break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake. For their sake. For the sake of [young gay kids].”
getreal
@John Smith: I agree hate is wrong never funny. It is disappointing to see a list of people to hate on a gay website. Even though it is meant to be funny we more than most groups of people know the power of hate speech. Just my opinion.
Gregoire
Anderson Cooper isn’t in the closet. He’s just chosen not to discuss his sexuality. It’s not like he has a wife and kids, but trolls rest-stop bathrooms. We may WANT him to, but I don’t see why that makes him evil. He may feel that a public proclaimation like that would be inappropriate for an objective journalist. Whatever. It’s his choice. I’m not bothered by it.
Geoff
I used to believe that if someone did not want to come out, that was their right. I don’t believe that anymore. If they are a ‘celebrity’ or a public figure I believe they have a duty to be out. For instance how much more impact would a ‘private’ journalist (if there is such a thing), have had on Prop 8 and it’s dominoe effect across the country? Is Anderson responsible for the passage of Prop 8? Of course not. But what an impact he could have had. There are few role models for todays gay youth…hell, gays period…it would be nice to see someone of Anderon’s ilk step up to the plate. It’s hard for people to hate GLBTs when someone they ‘know’ whether it be a hot CNN anchor or a member of their own family, has the courage to live their life with honesty.
sonofmaddy
Mary Cheney anyone?
audiored
Anderson Cooper is a fucking tool and a poor ‘journalist’. So, your theory that he is just an attention whore is probably about right.
Nitesurf
Is Queerty planning on bashing Anderson Cooper every week? Since you think he’s worthless, simply ignore him. But I will say that he’s not obligated to discuss anything he doesn’t want to and that includes his sexuality.
Timmeeeyyy
Ummmm, you do realize that you currently have a post called “8 Conservatives We’d Bang” don’t you? You may want to reconsider the high road.
Gregoire
There are dozens of celebrities already out of the closet and who choose to discuss their personal life. Why is it crucial to the future of gay rights that Anderson do so as well? I’m very wary of this notion that a person’s individual right to privacy is trumped by a public demand to brandish him as a symbol.
dgz
as someone who has friends who work at CNN (i know, you’re not impressed) i can tell you that AC is not in the closet. Diane Sawyer doesn’t talk about her sex life, Coops doesn’t have to either. I, for one, am grateful that we have a gay poster-boy who isn’t completely encapsulated by his sexual identity. I’d be willing to bet that more straighties have become positively disposed to us through him than many other shout-it-from-the-rooftops types. Though i don’t mind them, either 😉
But seriously, queerty, chillax. just ’cause it’s a slow newsday doesn’t mean you have to start a civil war.
Stop! Or My Daddy Will Shoot!
Funny, what I dislike most about this site is that it’s not more like a Gawker blog. The whole hating-on-snark thing is played out. Look, I love you, I think you’re getting better all the time, but please don’t go full-tilt humorless sanctimony. Please don’t be like Denby.
kevin
I think we should also have a “gays in the media we love”.
I nominate Rachel Maddow.
RichardR
@kevin: Rachel for President!
Charles J. Mueller
I don’t believe that Japhy is encouraging anyone to hate anyone in the LGBT community. I did not see that word in print anywhere in what he said. What he has stated about the persons he listed, is fact, and if those facts are damaging to the person he aimed his comments at, then so be it.
We are, after all, judged by our words and actions, not just by the members of our community, but by the heterosexual community as well. In fact, just about everything we say and do, str7 or gay, determines how we are perceived and reacted to by other people and this is especially true when one is in the public eye.
Another commentator on this thread mentioned the fact that str8 people do not go around denying their sexuality and telling other people to “mind their own business” if asked about it. On the contrary, there are many het guys out there who love nothing better than thumping their chests with their fist while proclaiming their masculinity with “Damn straight, I’m straight, buddy, and don’t you ever fucking forget it either.”
Leland Frances’ quote of Harvey Milk’s famous speech sums up the situation for all LGBT people perfectly. When we come out, we give power to ourselves instead of cowering in the closet and giving power to our enemies and tormentors. There is no “protection” in remaining in the closet and nothing at all to be gained by choosing to remain there.
All that does, is feed our own self-loathing and disgust for ourselves. And in so doing, all we do, is give the homophobes and our enemies, both str8 and gay, more ammunition with which to attack us. After all, if we are ashamed of ourselves and what we are, then how can we ask these people to show respect for us, when we can’t even show any respect for ourselves?
If someone is a child-molester, should we give them a pass?
If someone is a thief, should e give them a pass?
If someone is a murderer, should we give them a pass?
And if someone is giving the LGBT community a bad name by their crappy behavior, are we obliged somehow to give them a pass?
You decide for yourselves.
Charles J. Mueller
HeeHee. Looks like I committed the old story about asking someone to do 69 with me. You do me and I’ll owe you one.
str7 should have been Str8. But then, I’m sure you guys figured it out for yourselves. 😉
greg
That complaint against Anderson Cooper is just ridiculous.
Rosie Odonnell did the same sort of thing back when she was glass closeted for years and being dogged by the gay press. You’ve honestly forgotten the “I’m Lebanese” jokes and the rest of it? Michael Musto has said while hosting the Tonys she made a joke during a commercial break about Raquel Welsh being hot then came up to him afterwards and said “see? That was for you. Now maybe you’ll stay out of my personal life.” She gave a personal thank you to Kelly at the emmys like Anderson did to his boyfriend in his book. Everybody who is connected with Rosie or who was involved in trying to out her agree she wasn’t looking for attention for her homosexuality. It just seemed to be a cross between being herself and making fun of her situation, which appears to be what Anderson is doing too. Of course, Rosie is a loud combative person and Anderson isn’t, so look of the results were slightly different. She came out eventually when she decided it was the right time in her career and life, with no sign of it being connected to how much or little attention she was getting from the gay press.
I think this is just a (sorry) excuse for years of gay media and gossip bloggers constantly singling of Cooper to pressure and vilify among all the closeted gays working in TV news. Gay media and gossip bloggers were going hysterical over Anderson long before the playful gay references you’re talking about. The Out cover was back in 2006, and there had already been significant attention in online media. He had only just had his career surge in 2005 and it was still very unclear if the somewhat unconventional ex-Mole host would be one of those flashes in the pan that happen sometimes in news. There were more established gays in news, but they were given a pass like they still are.
Leland, if you are so committed to Milk’s ideas about visibility, why are you always devoting your anger to the gay male who has the highest gay visibility in news due to his own hints and the constant outings? You should be mad at the gay media who always shelters the other gays in news. You should be infuriated at the Advocate story that was supposed to be about exposing how wide spread the closet is in news, stated that the author and everyone else in the media knew for sure about lots of closeted gay newscasters even at the national news level, and then dropped only Anderson’s name which was the one name everybody reading already definitely knew. You should be angry that the gay press like the Village Voice and the Advocate somehow kept turning any story purportedly about out and proud Thomas Roberts into a story actually about Anderson Cooper. You should be mad that Queerty is using space to bitch about Anderson “taunting” them with obvious gayness and forcing them to obsess about him when they could talking a little about all the gays in news who are not presenting themselves as noticeably gay, not getting exposed, and unlike Cooper don’t have a google that informs even dim members of the public about their sexuality.
Yes, Anderson is a glamorous Vanderbilt. Sure, he is attractive and witty. However, advancing our cause means looking a bit beyond that. Visibility means showing everyone that people they didn’t expect or already know are gay. A VARIETY of people, not one immaculately groomed, reality TV loving son of a fashion icon. And glamour and attractiveness does not qualify someone to be a terrific spokesperson.
Nitesurf
Greg, great post.
CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux, Don Lemon and Faux’s Shep Smith. ALL fairly high profile “rumored” gays who get don’t get the constant sniping that Anderson Cooper does from bloggers. Why not go after them for a change?
RR
@Buddy:
I wouldn’t say he demands privacy. He doesn’t complain or act shocked when he gets asked about his sexuality or when other people talk about it. He just chooses not to directly discuss it himself.
Celebrities always do that sort of tug-o-war with the media. They need to let out some publicity friendly information about themselves for the sake of their career, because fandom is about people feeling like they know you and you’re their pretend buddy. The media and the public wants access to everything instead, especially the juicy non-publicity friendly stuff, even though that only means they’ll be turned of the person or sick of them in short order. Professionally and personally it’s in the celebrity’s interest to preserve some mystery for career longevity and their own sanity. Straight celebrities refuse to talk about relationships, pretend to be single when they aren’t, talk about being devoted family people in perfect marriages when they aren’t, lie about pregnancies and do all kind of things to try to escape scrutiny or manipulate their public image.
dgz
@Charles J. Mueller:
once again, Mr. Mueller, you are mistaken:
“I don’t believe that Japhy is encouraging anyone to hate anyone in the LGBT community. I did not see that word in print anywhere in what he said.”
now go back to the queerty front page, and read the title for this post.
and i’m going to try to ignore you comparing closeted individuals to felons. simply ridiculous.
Leland Frances
Attention Retards [with apologize to those who were born intellectually challenged unlike these who CHOOSE to be]:
1. We are talking about his being PUBLICLY out of the closet.
2. He’s a “gay poster boy” my flabby ass! Assuming the fact that industry peers know he’s gay BUT refuses to acknowledge it publicly [while talking/writing about virtually every other fact of his “private life”….can a YouTube video of his next BM be that far away?] only reinforces to them that there IS something SHAMEFUL about it. 32 years after Milk recorded that “will,” Anderson [and, yes, others like him] are still willfully helping perpetuate the “myths… the lies and distortions.”
3. Do you see anything in the rest of the Harvey Milk quotes about the value, the courage of “hinting” that you’re gay? And what constitutes hinting in AC’s case? Giggling like a little girl? Ostensibly putting the fag in fag hag Kathy Griffin?
4. If he already has “the highest gay visibility,” then why doesn’t he simply answer the question, “Yes,” and move on?
5. But, of course, he does neither. NEWSFLASH: Mr. & Mrs. Joe Schmo America do not read the “Village Voice,” nor “The Advocate,” nor “Out,” nor, GASP, Queerty. They see what they want to see despite all the gay ghetto claims that “everyone already knew” that Clay was gay … or Lance Bass … or fill in the blank.
6. Be honest, if Cooper were ugly NO ONE would take the time to spin excuses to defend his cowardice.
Ted
@Leland Frances: Sing it Sister!
Nitesurf
I “defend” Cooper simply because it’s nobody’s business how he lives his life but his OWN and the same goes for so-called “ugly” gays as well.
Charles J. Mueller
@dgz:
I do stand corrected…technically. Mea culpa.
This is a copy and paste of the comment that was in italics. Unfortunately, I do not know how to do italics on this site.
“How To Get Everyone Hate You in Three Easy Steps:”
While I erroneously stated that I did not see that word in print anywhere in what he said, I still don’t believe that Japhy is encouraging anyone to hate anyone in the LGBT community.
Japhy is merely pointing out the hypocrisy that members of our own community are just as prone to, as members of the heterosexual community are and that we should be just as quick, and honest, in pointing them out, as we are in pointing the finger of accusation at straight people who make asshats of themselves.
As to comparing closeted individuals to felons, you obviously missed my point. I was not likening closeted individuals to felons but merely pointing out that we should be no more willing to give a pass to people who do nothing to advance the cause of the LGBT community and who in many case, actually thwart and get in the way of our progress because of their LCR attitudes and lack of self-esteem, than we should be about giving a pass to any other asshat.
They may not be felons from the point of view of the law, but the damage that they often do and inflict on others, is as much crime from a human point of view as the illegal activities of felons. Some good examples.
1) Closeted individuals who will not support the UN Resolution calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality on a world-wide basis.
2) Closeted individuals who will not speak up for their rights and even defend the bigotry and hatred of Fundies and Magical Undies crowd.
3) Closeted individuals who decry gay marriage (civil-rights) by saying “I do not want to get married, so stop shoving it down my thrat” and in so saying, are also denying the rest of their brothers and sisters their fundamental right to marry.
4) Closeted individuals who could care less about the plight of some 40,000 bi-national couples in American who cannot unite with their families because of unfair and discriminatory laws and Immigration Policies.
5) Closeted individuals who suck up to the very people who hate them and would sooner see them dead.
6) Closeted individuals who not only hate themselves for being gay, but also hate all their brothers and sisters who are and never miss an opportunity to take swipe at them.
7) Closeted individuals who do not believe that they are entitled to the same financial benefits and tax treatment that heterosexuals are and are happy to pay more in taxes than their str8 counterparts do in many instances.
I could name many more ways in which I believe closeted individuals hurt the LGBT movement, but I think you get my point.
Other than that, I guess I really don’t have a problem with a closeted individual living next door to my house, any more than I would have a problem with a child-molester living next door to my house.
They both suck!
dgz
@Leland Frances:
simply answer “yes” and move on, huh? because, you know, people would just let it drop there. [/sarcasm]
BobP
Here you go again hating Gays while drooling over neocons or tom cruises pecs. This sickens me. Please stop.
Eminent Victorian
Please don’t stop! This list is perfect. Here I thought Queerty was blind drunk in love with Anderson Cooper–nice to see I was wrong! It is exactly because he tries to have it both ways–allegedly protecting his private life but oh-so-willing to cough up everything else about that life to sell a book.
M Shane
The fact of the matter is that people like Anderson Cooper would lose thier jobs in all likelihood if they came out. He is not a hypocrite and he is willing to pay the price of his own bad faith to have his job. Personally I think that all people have those choices to make if they want to live authentically.
I know like many other people that we could have lived more successful lives had we been willing to fake our sexuality. Disparaging him sounds more like envy than anything. At least he doesn’t pretend to be married, which a lot of people do
M Shane
The media are run by wealthy Corporations and the few people who own the Media. To say that the newscasters etc. have much of any influence on anything is absurdly ignorant.
If the Corporations and the right wing media moguls would hire gay people and let them be open then they would not be ruining it for us.
Me
I believe they (Andy and CNN) are consciously allowing more and more information about his sexuality to trickle into public consciousness through the “back channels” as it were. They don’t want him to make an official announcement because it will destroy the aura of neutrality they’ve been working so hard to create. Despite this, Andy and CNN are very aware that we’re over here aching for him to lend us a helping hand and I believe they’re actually doing something about it, unbeknownst to us. (I would never accuse CNN of being indifferent to social causes such as ours.) I believe there will come a time when EVERYONE who watches his show will know, but they will also realize and appreciate that he has never “flaunted” it or “forced it down their throat” as some straight folks are fond of saying (as bullshit as that is) and respect him all the more for it. And no, I will never believe that he will get fired when and if he comes out or at least it is common knowledge that he is gay.
matt (the other other one)
Harvey Levin is gay? Is there some corroboration on that. He is lower than a snakes balls. What a sleazebag. Are we SURE he is gay?
dgz
@matt (the other other one):
yeah, he is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Levin
http://planethomo.typepad.com/planethomo/2007/03/is_harvey_levin.html
so, those links are terrible, but yeah. he may not be the pinnacle of virtue, but he’s also kindof brilliant — U Chicago Law is killer tough.
Mister C
Well this go to show you that our community has everything mixed in the pot….But Anderson Cooper hasn’t done us no dis-service the rest of them whateva!
LOL
borebox
I hate Anderson Cooper, Is someone going to chastise me for being a hateful gay-I sure hope so. It is called attention and we all crave it. Anderson came from wealth and privilege and the rules he lives under says don’t ask and I won’t tell. Poor Anderson, how will he ever be self actualized when it is clear that that lifestyle is one we don’t talk about.
AMR
Just got off the phone with an employee at the Corner Bistro. He claimed that as he was leaving, Nick Haramis was screaming that he’ll see to it that ALL of them get deported. EXCUSE ME! but how does Nick know who’s legal? I guess Ann Coulter was right again. Another Liberal claiming victim-hood while being the oppressor.
Alex
“We’re of the opinion that nobody is required to be out, even if it’s the responsible thing to do.”
You’re kidding, right? You out him every single chance you get, then whine about how he’s isn’t out enough, is a vanderbilt, likes latino guys, and is generally just the anti-christ for the gay community! Because neither the church nor the government should be in control of other peoples personal lives, but we sure can be.
It’s actually possible to not comment because you do not want to comment, and not for attention seeking and to encourage media speculation. But I suppose the craigslist post ‘article’, the phelps interview, the fact that he goes on holidays are all about that as well, since you felt the need to speculate some more in those instances, they must have been provoked, right? No way that’s just you projecting.
If you like positive, out role models, try not to be such a sanctimonious hypocrite.
Shane
Man, I’d be all over Harvey Levin. I’m just sayin.
greg
@Leland Frances:
“1. We are talking about his being PUBLICLY out of the closet.”
Leland, did you even read the article you are cheering about or did you just notice it was negative and had Anderson Cooper’s name in it who you hate?
Japhy is saying being closeted is just fine and nobody should have to come out. He is saying what Anderson is doing wrong is NOT BEING CLOSETED ENOUGH.
In his opinion it would be OK for Anderson to be totally closeted or totally out, but occupying a middle space makes him a bastard. Never mind that lots of the celebrities who are out now took the same process of years in the glass closet. Thomas Roberts even bearded for years to convince his co-workers he was straight.
If he was one of the many smug gay TV news guys feeling all safe and secure deep in their closets that never get rattled by the gay media or gossip sites, Japhy is saying that would be OK and better than the present situation where he’s pretty clearly gay, indirectly lets people in on it, and any idiot who knows how to work a search engine and types in his name immediately discovers he’s gay if they somehow didn’t figure it out watching him gush comfortably about Real Housewives of Atlanta and American Idol.
“2. He’s a “gay poster boy” my flabby ass! Assuming the fact that industry peers know he’s gay BUT refuses to acknowledge it publicly [while talking/writing about virtually every other fact of his “private life”….can a YouTube video of his next BM be that far away?] only reinforces to them that there IS something SHAMEFUL about it. 32 years after Milk recorded that “will,” Anderson [and, yes, others like him] are still willfully helping perpetuate the “myths… the lies and distortions.” ”
Take a look at the comments on those youtube videos, the gossip sites or celebrity forums. They are full of straight women cooing about how gay and adorable he is every time he happily flames out. A lot of them think he’s already out. They don’t understand the glass closet thing or why it might be bad or exhibiting shame until a gay explains it to them, and they are the first people to suggest he doesn’t look ashamed and probably has some practical reasons for not coming out yet.
Obviously it’s an issue of importance to us whether he announces his orientation, but Milk’s advocacy theory was about having an effect on straights.
Logically it would make practical sense for you to be more angry about the all the closeted gay TV men who are invisible and the gay media and gossip writers who are responsible for that by only concentrating on Anderson. You have a highly emotional hatred against Anderson so I don’t expect you to be logical, but there it is.
“3. Do you see anything in the rest of the Harvey Milk quotes about the value, the courage of “hinting” that you’re gay? And what constitutes hinting in AC’s case? Giggling like a little girl? Ostensibly putting the fag in fag hag Kathy Griffin?”
Milk was talking about gay visibility. That is the end result he is looking for, the reason he is saying it is important to come out. The product from gay visibility in Milk’s view is supposed to be recognition by straights that gay people are people they know and like not perverted horror stories they hear about.
You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that while neither Anderson nor the other guys would be ideal from Milk’s standpoint, Anderson’s existence contributes to visibility but the more deeply closeted guys who are getting away with no attention or criticism do not.
“4. If he already has “the highest gay visibility,” then why doesn’t he simply answer the question, “Yes,” and move on?”
He does have the highest gay visibility of a man in American news whether he wants it or not. I would say he isn’t answering for the same reasons almost all of the out celebrities took years to formally publicly come out, and a lot of them gave fuzzy answers for a long time and guys lied about being bisexual for years even after they admitted they fuck men.
He won’t get left alone after that anyway. He’s getting written and gossiped about all the time because he’s Anderson Cooper, not because he’s a closeted guy in TV news. If it was about being in the closet the other closeted guys would get the same treatment.
Anderson is identifiable and known to be gay to more Americans than any of the actually publicly out gay news men, in no small part because the gay media would rather obsess about him and dish about his rumored sex life than give publicity to the out guys or out any of the other closeted guys. He also represents a positive sort of visibility because straights usually like him, think he’s respectable, and don’t understand or care about the intricacies of degrees of outness anyway. That matters, because when straights look at out assholes or fuck ups it doesn’t inspire them to embrace us more, in fact it reinforces those lies and distortions. Being out in itself isn’t everything.
“5. But, of course, he does neither. NEWSFLASH: Mr. & Mrs. Joe Schmo America do not read the “Village Voice,” nor “The Advocate,” nor “Out,” nor, GASP, Queerty. They see what they want to see despite all the gay ghetto claims that “everyone already knew” that Clay was gay … or Lance Bass … or fill in the blank.”
Straights online with any interest in gossip or the media read gay run gossip and media sites all the time. Those sites (including Gawker, Jossip, Perez Hilton, Jezebel, Defamer, etc) routinely out Anderson. Even his wikapedia page and imdb forum outs him.
The Out list is used all the time to explain he’s gay, and it is considered authoritative enough that I’ve never seen a straight argue with that (not that there’s much argument anyway, usually more of a “damn, I knew he was too clean and well dressed to be straight” or a “well, I guess he IS Gloria Vanderbilt’s son”). Out and the Advocate are online, you don’t have to actually buy the magazines to see what they are saying. Right wing websites have linked to the Out article to explain to readers why Anderson isn’t to be trusted.
The only people who didn’t know Clay was gay was a small number of weird religious fanatical fans clinging to the fact he had denied being gay and the people who didn’t know anything about him because they don’t follow entertainment. Anderson has never given people who might want to believe he’s straight the smallest thing to work with, so it’s really the should be on medication looneys and completely uninterested in gossip and/or news people who don’t know at this point.
“6. Be honest, if Cooper were ugly NO ONE would take the time to spin excuses to defend his cowardice.”
If people didn’t want to fuck him and/or be him so much he would be one of the legion of non-out gay TV news guys who don’t get outed or personally criticized, so there wouldn’t be anything to defend against.
Me
To the last poster and anyone who would suggest that this is of interest to us only because we want to bang him/are envious of him, I’d just like to say that that is not so for many of us. I’ll use myself as an example: I didn’t even like him (sexually) or watch his show before I found out he was gay. But I was always of the opinion that he is a trustworthy, standup guy, as are most people who are familiar with him. We’re not picking on him because he’s just AN anchor who happens to be hot, but because he’s a widely respected anchor from a major news network who happens to be gay. There aren’t very many more people like that.
michael
Nobody has the power to make us look bad and its nobody owes anything to anyone else. Everyone has the right to live their life and make its journey the way they see fit.
If somebody like Perez wants to play a character to make a living then that has nothing to do with me. If Anderson Cooper wants to remain in the closet that his business. I only have the right to decide what I do with my own life and the right to be allowed to do that. So many, and not just gays, act like victims. If everyone would act a certain way, live a certain way, come out of the closet, use their status to promote our cause then we would all be okay. Sorry, happiness lies in your own hands and if you give that
power away then your probably not going to fare very well. So the best thing one can do for their community, their family and friends, for the entire world is to follow their own path and leave others to follow theirs.
At the end of the day all you have is yourself and that is something nobody can ever take away from you.
sonic
if he were to come out i would feel inspired to come out myself. i’ve been going back and forth on this for ages and whenever i’m close i always chicken out at the last second. (in my defense i don’t live in the most tolerant of environments. i’ll live but i know for a fact that it won’t be easy.) having the perceived effect of it being more accepted in the mainstream by way of a high profile figure like this being out would help a lot, i think. it’s like when lots of other people do something, it gives you more courage to do it yourself. except in this case it’s just one person but one whose actions carry a lot of symbolic weight. i hope that when and if he does come out there will be a wave of people just like me coming out all over the country.
lisimoomoo
Anderson Cooper is awesome. That’s all I have to contribute.
Dr. Andy Mauer
i like anderson cooper. he gets my vote.
Lyndon Evans
I agree with all you find fault with except AC.
Look, I’ll be upfront and honest. I didn’t completely come out until a couple of years ago (at age 52) when I started blogging.
The reason I did was if I was going to blog for LGBTs and to the extent I wanted to (and do now) I couldn’t hide behind a phony “handle” and have any credibility in what I write.
Also being an award winning journalist came into play.
Bottomline, I want to be taken seriously for my writing about gay issues and news via commentary, and if me admitting to the world when they ask, yes I am, so be it.
But that’s me.
It’s up to AC and anyone else for that matter to determine when and if.
And if folks are waiting for him to come out in order for them to come out because all of a sudden he’s a role model, um, sorry, this whole role model stuff is for the birds, be it sports, entertainment or “the gay life”.
You’re who you are when you say you are, and only you define yourself, not by following the coat tails of others.
John from England(used to be just John but there are other John's)
@hardmannyc:
Spot on.
Tricia
Can we please leave Anderson Cooper alone? Hasn’t anyone yet considered this– He does news reports in countries where homosexuality is still (sadly) a crime punishiable by death. If he were to come out, this could lead to a dangerous situation in those countries. At the very least, it would make it very difficult for him to do reports there. Let’s cut the man some slack. He’s entitled to have some privacy. It’s his choice as to what parts of his life he makes public.