Anderson Cooper

---

I was pleasantly surprised to hear on TV the other morning that my darling boy Anderson Cooper has come out of the closet.

 

 

Not that this is a surprise, mind you. I think I (and many others) have pretty much always known that Anderson is on our team. I am always delighted when a celebrity comes out of the closet. As I’ve said before: the more the merrier. It makes it that much easier for a teenager in Two Dot, Montana to come to terms with his / her own sexuality.

 

 

 

And I do like the words Anderson chose, for their breezy casualness: “The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud . . . By remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something — something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true.”

 

 

 

Do yourself a favor and go read Anderson’s whole letter on Andrew Sullivan’s blog.

 

 

It addresses, nicely and neatly, the question: Is there ever a good reason to stay in the closet?

 

 

For Anderson, there were two: the desire to have a private life, and the desire – as a journalist – to maintain objectivity. (“I want to report the news, not be the news,” he said.) Not that there’s any question about his objectivity; I find his reporting very balanced. But then, I’m a fan. But his deeper point is worth pondering. If you’re a member of the radical right, what do you think of Rachel Maddow? Smart? Incisive? Nah. She’s that lesbian on MSNBC. See, for a lot of people, you can’t be gay and objective. You’re always advancing the gay agenda.

 

 

(As I'm advancing it now. As in: gay people are part of society. Always have been, always will be.  And, increasingly, we are choosing not to live in celibate seclusion. So go deal with it.)

 

 

As a journalist, Anderson was confident of his own objectivity, but was (understandably) reluctant to give critics any reason to doubt his objectivity. Appearances aren’t everything, but they’re not nothing.

 

 

But sometimes the mere fact that you’ve come out – Here I am! You wanna make something of it? – is a worthwhile and powerful statement.  It goes to prove that “gay,” like “Asian-American” or “Californian,” is just one of many attributes, and it doesn’t define or inform your entire life. He’s not Anderson Cooper the gay journalist; he’s Anderson Cooper the journalist.  (Example: Neil Patrick Harris is super gay. But he plays a womanizer on a stupid CBS sitcom, and people love it. And I love him for doing it.)

 

 

(And here’s another thing: it’s not always safe to be openly gay. Read this excellent piece by Kathy Griffin on the subject. She points out, very neatly, that gay people are subjected to hatred and violence in much of the world – including the United States.  She praises Anderson’s bravery, and rightly so.)

 

 

All things considered, I think Anderson made the right decision. And I like that he did it right after the end of Pride Month. Here’s the message I got from that: Pride doesn’t end on June 30. It’s a yearlong activity.

 

 

Long live Anderson Cooper.

 

 

And his eyes, which (as Anderson tells Pee-Wee Herman at the end of this wonderful video) are a national treasure.

---

 

 

Pride 2012

---

Pride is with us again. (Notice we don’t say “Gay Pride Month” anymore. I’m good with that: pride is pride. If straight people want to march with us because they’re proud of being straight, that’s okay. It’s all about not being ashamed of how you were born.)


I love what’s happening in the celebritysphere. Some months ago, a hate group calling itself “One Million Moms” launched an attack on JCPenney, because they were using Ellen DeGeneres as a spokeswoman. Horrible pervert! they said.  And JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson, Krishna bless him, said:


"We stand squarely behind Ellen as our spokesperson and that's a great thing. Because she shares the same values that we do in our company. Our company was founded 110 years ago on The Golden Rule, which is about treating people fair and square, just like you would like to be treated yourself. And we think Ellen represents the values of our company and the values that we share." 


No kiddin’!


Next time you’re down at your local Social Security Office, ask them for a brochure, or a bookmark. You know who’ll be on it? Patty Duke and George Takei, bless them both. Patty is straight; George is (very publicly) gay, and married to his partner Brad. He’s all over Facebook and Tumblr, and he’s very funny, and no-nonsense.


And have you watched the Tonys lately? And seen Neil Patrick Harris? He rules Broadway, like Patti Lupone used to do.  And Neil is (surprise!) gay. And he is still capable of playing an oily womanizer on “How I Met Your Mother” on CBS every week, and a sweet shy straight supervillain in Joss Whedon’s “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”


We’re out there, people.


It’s June. It’s time for Pride.


We’re among you. We’re your kids and uncles and aunts and even (sometimes) parents. We’re your teachers and bosses and employees. We’re your congressmen and your constituents. There are a lot of us – probably more than you’d think. And, as the social barriers drop, more and more of us are going to stop hiding. Many of us already have.


But it’s taken us a while to get here.


Which is why, every June, we have a little parade or two, to reward ourselves.


And then maybe some disco music.

---

Mazel tov, George and Brad

---

The legendary Lana Turner was fortunate enough to count the handsome Lex Barker, one of the movie Tarzans, among her husbands.  (He was quite a specimen, if you can't quite remember him.)  After their wedding, a reporter asked Miss Turner (only in Hollywood are you still “Miss” immediately after the wedding): “What’s the first thing you’re gonna do on your honeymoon, Lana?” 

And Miss Turner, gloating over her brand-new cutie-pie husband like a glutton over a bucket of fried chicken, said: “I’m just gonna look at him for a while.”

Trust me, I am the last person in the world to believe in Hollywood romance.  I was born just before the whole Eddie Fisher / Debbie Reynolds / Elizabeth Taylor fiasco, and I think there must have been something in the air in those days that conferred immunity to studio publicity.

But I get all mooshy when I see photos like the above.

You’ve got to understand that gay people have never had the opportunity to see nice pictures of our favorite gay stars cavorting down the steps of the Elvis Chapel after getting hitched.  Heaven knows we didn’t even have “favorite gay stars” (although we know very well now who was who and what was what – don’t we, Tab Hunter?).

I am the last person in the world to insist on Rita Moreno’s Law (“Stick to your own kind”).  Gay people can act straight and vice versa.  I am in a paralysis of joy when I watch the oopsy-daisy delicacy of Eric Stonestreet portraying Cam on “Modern Family.”  And Neil Patrick Harris is satisfyingly straight ‘n sleazy on “How I Met Your Mother,” and did an adorable straight ‘n sentimental in the “Dr. Horrible” series.

But it is immensely satisfying to see gay people on the screen, and point at them, and holler: “Comrade!”

So, when I see Neil Patrick Harris arm in arm with his partner David Burtka, and David Hyde Pierce with Brian Hargrove, and Alan Cumming with Grant Shaffer, and Jane Lynch at the Emmys with her new wife Lara Embry, I shed a genuine tear of joy.

I have no illusions that these are perfect relationships.  There ain’t no such animal.  But I rejoice that we get to see those incandescent moments of happiness, those brightly-lit newlywed photo ops, for gay couples too.

Finally we – gay people! possessors of a genetic predisposition for movie appreciation! – get to moon over romantic Hollywood photo spreads and say: “Don’t George Takei and his husband look nice in their white tuxes?”

The above picture, with its double punch of domestic bliss and Star Trek nostalgia, hits me with a double whammy. It's delicious. It's a moment of pure perfect bliss in an ocean of Tea Party insanity.

I'm with Miss Turner. I'm just gonna look at it for a while.

---