Gossip and Closets
Dateline: 08/15/97
One of my favorite Newsgroups is called alt.showbiz.gossip. ASG, as we like to call it, doesn't have a FAQ, it has an Anti-FAQ. As noted in the Anti-FAQ, ASG isn't the place to fawn over celebs, but rather to discuss and speculate, in great detail, about their sex and otherwise "private" lives.
It was at ASG where I discovered one of my new favorite magazines, Movieline, aka "The ASG Bible." Unfortunately, Movieline isn't located anywhere on the Net, so folks are required to post what they've read in this glorious magazine thusly:
Girls' Town
Isn't the longtime female lover of one of the most famous women in America just dying to blow open the closet door on her house-hold name, terribly tasteful companion? Although this pair is well known and accepted among the platinum-card lesbian crowd, the lover of the grand personage is said to be growing angrier and angrier that her partner won't fess up to the world the way other high-profile gays and lesbians have. We say it's just a matter of time before the crises reaches a head, and close friends of the couple wonder whether the union can stand the steam. Stay tuned.
This snippet has set off a spate of speculation that extends from the obvious (Jodie Foster) to the wistful [sic] thinking (Elizabeth Taylor).
Now, Movieline always has items like this, sometimes so vague they could be anybody, but often right on the money to the extent that one has to wonder whether they've found a crystal ball somewhere.
If this one gets picked up by the more traditional gossip columnists (is there such a thing?) I expect it to take off much like the Liz Smith item of mid-May, where she reported that a TV "icon" was considering following in Ellen's footsteps.
Ted Casablanca (who is an out gay man) of E!, provides an excellent overview of that item, starting with Liz' (who has been rumored to be a lesbian) original item.
Liz' item never came to fruition. No additional major star and/or "TV Icon" has come out since Ellen.
So, the question is whether this Movieline item will lead to the same endless speculation with no resolution, or whether something will come of it.
What's most fun in all these speculations are the conversations that go something like this:
Outter: I'm sure Tom Cruise is gay!
Inner: No way! He's too cute and sexy!
Uhuh. Okay. Gay men can't be cute and sexy. I'll make a note of it.
Outter: Oh come on! Why do you think they're adopting children?
Inner: Perhaps they can't have children? Perhaps they want to help kids who won't otherwise have a shot at a decent life?
Score one for Inner
Outter: But everybody knows he's gay!
Inner: Show me some proof
Now how does one prove something like that?
We all knew Rock Hudson was gay, but until he said something, there was nary a public word.
We all know that Lily Tomlin is a lesbian. Heck, she's publicly acknowledged her relationship with Jane Wagner. But in subtle ways. And only at Gay/Lesbian events. So somehow that doesn't count.
Was it any surprise when Elton John came out? I mean really!
Some of us think Rosie O'Donnell is a lesbian. Some people claim to know. The Globe, a wonderfully trashy magazine claims to know - and they've published pictures of Rosie with a woman friend. Unfortunately since women friends tend to be affectionate, there's a question as to whether those pictures prove anything. Other people have named Rosie's ex, uh, alleged ex - a dancer on Broadway. But many believe that since Rosie herself hasn't said anything, she's not a lesbian.
What's annoying to me is the heterosexist bias. Everybody is assumed to be heterosexual until it is proven otherwise. And to most people that proof must be in the form of an affirmative statement, "I am gay."
Does anybody really need Richard Simmons to say, "I am gay" to believe that he's not straight?
And why did so many people snicker when Kate Jackson and Andrew Stevens married? Each other!
Did we really need Melissa Etheridge to confirm what we all already knew?
And let's not forget Ellen....
Then there are those rumors that pass through the night, quite likely true, but nobody "important" enough for a lot of attention to be paid. People like Loretta Swit, Sharon Gless, Helen Hunt, Meg Foster, Sally Kellerman. And the men such as John Travolta and Barry Manilow.
So often there is an underlying assumptions in the defense of the suggestions that a favorite celeb might be gay or lesbian that there is something wrong with it. Real life playing hint: There's not.
There's also the people whom you know are disputing a rumor because of their undying crush on the rumoree. "John Travolta just can't be gay! He can't!" Right, because if he's gay he wouldn't want to date you. Uh, and he's going to date you if he's straight?
I have a similar problem. I've heard for years that Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews are a couple. Personally, I find that very selfish of each of them. They have each other, leaving neither of them for me!
I don't claim to know who is gay and who is not. There are people I'm sure are gay - just as there are many speculations which cause even me to say, "Woah! No way!" (Just the other day somebody asked me whether I had heard that Tom Selleck is gay).
I think what I'm going to do is fashion a new trend. Unless somebody proves to me that they are straight, I'm going to assume they're not.
Hmmmm, anybody seen Warren Beatty with a woman lately?
In pride,
Deborah
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