So Adam Lambert announced he was gay in Rolling Stone magazine.
I am shocked. Honestly, first George Michael, and now this.
Sorry.
Okay, it wouldn’t be fair to judge his sexual orientation on the fact that he wears eyeliner and slightly androgynous clothing. I mean one can look through the whole glam rock scene of the 1970’s and hair metal bands of 1980’s and find some very straight guys. Even the pictures of him kissing another guy could just have been him experimenting. But the addition of the rumors of a boyfriend probably set gaydars far into Kinsey 6 territory.
And it’s very much a non-story, something even Mr. Lambert admits. What story is, and probably should be about is the closet itself. We seem closer to an age where celebrities coming out receive the responses of a) “Well, duh.” b) “Well, that makes sense.” or c) “Well, I did not know that.” All these responses followed by little else, except the celebrity probably becoming (slightly) more active in the gay rights movements.
Obviously the closet still exists for those who are not big names, but for public figures, does the closet really exist?
Well, it all depends on who you are.
Most people agree that those in the public eye have control on who knows their sexual orientation, as in many cases revealing their sexual orientation can damage their relationships with their family or can cause problems where they work. I’ll use myself as an example, especially because since I’m going to be talking about other people. I came out senior year of high school to my friends. (It was easy since my school had more kids in theatre than on the sports team). I continued to be into college, even my very Catholic private college. My family is a different story since outside my brother and cousins within my generation, my relatives range from moderate Christians who wouldn’t really care to Born-Again Christians. I’m pretty much out everywhere else, perhaps not explicitly out all the time, but one could very easily make an educated guess. (Especially skinny guys that are my height or taller.)
The complex web of people’s relationships gets an extra dimension when they are thrust into the public eye, something that seems to simplify the situation, but really just adds another layer. A gay celebrity is either in the closet, has his/her sexual orientation be an open secret for those in the entertainment business, or is just plain old out. However, if they are out, they will be out to everyone and their mother.
For an example, let’s look at Neil Patrick Harris, which is nice because he’s easy on the eyes. Formerly the star of Doogie Howser, he’s now Barney on How I Met Your Mother. He was also in the Harold and Kumar movies. (See him riding a unicorn on your right.)
After Doogie Howser, Neil wasn’t exactly laying low, he just moved from the television screen to the stage. He returned to silver screen with parts in Undercover Brother and Starship Troopers. It wasn’t until 2006 that rumors of him being gay (being ‘caught’ with fellow actor David Burkta) started to arise. He came out to People magazine towards the end of the year. He says in the interview:
“The public eye has always been kind to me, and until recently I have been able to live a pretty normal life. Now it seems there is speculation and interest in my private life and relationships. So, rather than ignore those who choose to publish their opinions without actually talking to me, I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love.”
The following years have been kind to him, or at least they haven’t changed the direction of his career. I mean, he landed this year’s Tony’s! OK, that might be a bad example. Perhaps some are afraid that be outed will hurt their career, but even those before Harris have been doing fine. And, if things keep going the way they are, outing probably a non-issue amongst their fans.
However, I can understand Harris’ point in the quote above. It’s no so much that he was outed, but the fact that he did not have control over public perception of himself. He didn’t get to deny or confirm the rumors, it just happened. In this case, luckily, everything has turned out alright.
Some other public figure are more complicated. Let’s take one person who has all but confirmed it himself, but still someone that can be definitely labeled one or the other. I am talking about Anderson Cooper. Cooper, who might want to keep away from Kathy Griffin if he still wants to stay in the closet. Their are rumors of the white-haired newscaster having a boyfriend, but no one can really know for sure until he says anything.
There are those who wish he would confirm the gay rumors, as they feel that he’d be a great advocate for gay rights, as someone who a is popular figure in the media who is intelligent and would be able to articulate issues to an audience. (He’s also ridiculously handsome, but I digress.) His reasoning for safely guarding his private life, as explained to New York magazine, is thus:
“I understand why people might be interested. But I just don’t talk about my personal life. It’s a decision I made a long time ago, before I ever even knew anyone would be interested in my personal life. The whole thing about being a reporter is that you’re supposed to be an observer and to be able to adapt with any group you’re in, and I don’t want to do anything that threatens that.”
Which to me seems to make as much sense as the reason Keith Olbermann doesn’t vote. (As in, it’s about objectivity if you squint your eyes a bit.)
Cooper, though a journalist, gets off pretty easy compared to a certain group of people: politicians. With politicians, the scandals of everyday life are always bigger or have an added twist. One prominent person to discuss is Representative Barney Frank.
Rep. Frank came out in 1987. And not much really happened. The self-described ‘left-handed gay Jew’ does represent Massachusetts. It was the scandal 3 years later with a male prostitute, that caught people’s attention. He got off with a reprimand, probably due to the fact that the situation is not as exciting as it sounds, especially in the day and age of Spitzer-gate.
However, there was an attempt to censure Frank by– former Senator Larry Craig. Yes, Mr. Wide-Stance himself. (Such drama and tangled we weave!) Now, many politicians in this position tend to claim their heterosexuality, but many gay people, and usually a lot of straight people, tend not to believe it. These stories usually have the added twist, as these politicians, are often Republican the party of family values, and typically opposed to gay rights.
This hypocrisy leads many to think that the “Frank Rule” applys. The rule is that those who use their power to oppose the advancement LBGT while at the same time enjoy the safety and the protection of the closet, deserve to be outed. Frank himself explained his personal view on Bill Maher:
I think there’s a right to privacy. But the right to privacy should not be a right to hypocrisy. And people who want to demonize other people shouldn’t then be able to go home and close the door and do it themselves.
I’m not sure, I myself would go as far to out someone and potentially damage their relationships and their jobs, however, I’m not sure I would be all that upset and I probably would participate in some schadenfreude.
All this brings us to a point where it needs to be understood why the closet exists in the first place, and what it has become. The idea of the closet began as an unspoken social contract between LBGTQ people and everybody else that was: as long as LBGTQ didn’t let anybody know they were gay, lesbian, queer, etc. and kept all things behind closed doors, nobody would care. However, times slowly changed, and LBGTQ people stopped caring about what general society, and we’ve reached a point now where the closet isn’t necessary for everyone or when people decided to come out of the closet, there is a community very ready to support them. Now, some people see it as a tool that can be used to pressure people who gay rights advocates consider hypocrites.
This post went from celebrities to politicians, but being withing the sight of the public eye it what they all have in common. Ultimately, that what coming out of the closet is about, having all sides of yourself visible. The idea of the closet is slowly evaporating with many not wanting to use it and hypocrites not having the protection of silence from other gay men.
We are slowly approaching a world where being LBGTQ is something that needs to be hidden, and even pretty boys wearing eyeliner can be who they really are. But, for now it still exists and it’s ultimately about control as Lambert explains:
I find it very important to be in control. I feel like everyone has an opinion of me, and I want the chance to say, ‘Well, do you want to hear how I really I feel about this?’
