New York Magazine profiles Anderson Cooper.
On the gay issue:
There has been a lot of chatter on the Internet about the fact that Cooper may or may not be gay, and Village Voice columnist Michael Musto has taken pleasure in quoting the gay magazine Metrosource, which has referred to Cooper as “the openly gay news anchor.†It has been assumed in certain circles in New York partly because he lives what looks to some to be a gay social life. He’s often seen at parties with Barry Diller, and he’s friends with the lead singer from the outré gay rock band the Scissor Sisters. And then there was the tempest in a teapot regarding a slightly heated interview last fall with Jerry Falwell about gay marriage. Some Cooper-obsessed bloggers insist that the anchor outed himself on the air, taking the gay side of the debate and saying, “We pay taxes.†They claim CNN originally posted a transcript with the “we†and then later changed it to “You pay taxes.†Cooper has maintained all along that he said “you.â€
When I bring up the sexuality issue with Cooper, he says, “You know, 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.â€
I have just said my peace about this on my blog.
I am (putting it mildly) VERY disappointed in Cooper.
That’s the gayest answer I’ve ever heard. Richard Simmons could gave a straighter answer than that.
But .. I thought that ‘out was in’! And David Ehrenstein, your fabulous Ehrensteinland is closed for the day – at least to this reader from across the Pacific Ocean.
No it’s not. L.A. just had a major power outage.
Yep, that just about screams “Yep, I’m gay!…but still terrified to admit it.” Agree with what David said on his site – if he could put up with hurricanes, he could admit it and his personal life is personal? Like if he was married with kids, that wouldn’t ever be made public at some point? PLEASE!
while it is true that the answer “I just don’t talk about my personal life” is disingenuous – he DOES talk about it, he jsut won’t talk about his sexual/romantic aspects of his personal life. But this doesn’t bother me. He clearly doesn’t want his sexual preference to be a STORY. I think that is valid. Other folks in the limelight, actors, writers, etc., may make a different choice, and feel their visibility is a big help to ‘our cause” – him talking about being gay would be “FIRST OPENLY GAY ANCHORPERSON” – hey, we might like that story, but he has decided he doen’t want to be the star of that story. I don’t require each and every gay person to live their lives, professionally and personally, as an open book for public and prolonged discussion – those who choose to do it, great, support them; but also understand that that route isn’t the only acceptable one.
Why does mentioning the fact of his sexual orientation (you get a “preference” when you’re bi, BTW) constitute being “a STORY”? That’s what I don’t get.
him talking about being gay would be “FIRST OPENLY GAY ANCHORPERSON†– hey, we might like that story, but he has decided he doen’t want to be the star of that story.
And he doesn’t have to be. Acknowledging that that you’re gay is a very simple matter. or should be. Unless you “have issues” — as is clearly the case with Coop.
He’s not afraid of fire or flood or famine, or rats eating corpses on the streets of New Orleans. BUT HE’S AFRAID OF SAYING THAT HE’S GAY!
Ah, Gaydom’s maoist tendencies gurgle forth.
Without trying to put words in Coop(er)s mouth, i have to disagree with “Ehrens”. I think he believes it to be *inappropriate* that he professionally come out and say he is gay, or not.
He has neither said he is straight or gay — and that’s a world away from claiming to be straight. It’s not like the man is hiding his lifestyle, he’s merely not making it a theme of his career.
One’s career is like any creation. It has direction and function of (hopefully, mostly) our making, and some choose certain directions, while others do not. As incomprehensible as this might be to us, not all of us want to be remembered as the Gay Guy/Reporter/Painter/Author/Politician when history examines and records our careers.
I’m not one of these people. But, i have an ethical problem denouncing those who are, especially when they have taken pains not to lie about it. That’s a difference worth weighing.
rob@egoz.org
“He has neither said he is straight or gay — and that’s a world away from claiming to be straight. “
It’s like being “slightly pregnant.”
Well shut my mouth and call me Mao, but in the words of Rita Mae Brown, “I’ve heard all your excuses and they’re all shit.”
Well, the Judge of the Universe has spoken. We now have two choices as to our collective response:
1) “Gosh, you’re right, David. Thank you for telling us the only way to think.”
2) “How’s it feel to have your mouth shut, Mao? What’s that? It’s a feeling you’ve never had before?”
As a lurker, I vote for #2.
I wish the man could report the news and leave his bedroom habits in the bedroom. I mean, I assume he’s gay because he hasn’t said he isn’t (and I assume a straight man would say he’s straight, so smack me now) but I think a person should be allowed to do his or her job without the nation wondering about his/her sex life. Who cares who he sleeps with, he’s a freaking news anchor.
I particularly enjoy it when the male of the species shows some emotional depth. The fact that he cried and everyone immediately screamed “Gay!” does rather piss me off, even if he is gay. It was and continues to be a tragedy. Bless him for being human enough to let it affect him, regardless of his orientation.
You voted for #2 because you ARE #2.
“I wish the man could report the news and leave his bedroom habits in the bedroom.”
Do you regard your emotional life as mere “bedroom habits”?
“I mean, I assume he’s gay because he hasn’t said he isn’t (and I assume a straight man would say he’s straight, so smack me now)”
Consider yourself duly smacked.
“The fact that he cried and everyone immediately screamed “Gay!†does rather piss me off, even if he is gay.”
Well he IS gay. This isn’t some weird obscure fact, youknow. Hell, it never is.
As I point out in my book in the deeply closeted 1950’s I found out that Rock Hudson was gay before I found out that I was!
” It was and continues to be a tragedy. Bless him for being human enough to let it affect him, regardless of his orientation. “
The adjoining tragedy is that he considers himself to be only half human. To Coop, that which makes him human must be denied.
And apprently quite a few posters in here feel that way too.
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I find David E. unbearably strident (which is a lot coming from me), but I’m with him.
“Not becoming the story” is nonsense. His caginess over this matter obvious to everyone is not only a story, it’s a bigger story than being openly gay would be–after one initial revelation there would be little to add. And he’s written extensively about his family life, so the lie isn’t even plausible on its face.
We need openly gay people in visible positions, and Cooper is a mulatto passing for white. He enjoys the support of the gay community (in fact, I’d argue that it’s largely responsible for how high his star has risen) and he refuses to make the “political” act of acknowledging that he’s one of us.
I don’t have the patience for these games anymore. If we can’t demand better of someone who risks neither unemployment nor poverty nor estrangement from his family from being out, there’s no hope for us at all.
Like Mike, I have often wondered what the downside to Cooper’s coming out would be. I see the upside fairly clearly in that people would most likely actually STOP talking about the issue since the question would be answered. All Cooper would need to do to ensure his privacy would be to not date Tom Cruise. I seriously doubt that a journalist of his credentials would even be labeled “the gay anchor,” especially if neither he nor CNN made an issue of it.
I wonder if, secretly, he likes the ambiguity and having people talk about him. After all, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right? The more people talking about him, even if only to speculate on his sexuality, the more people that will tune in to CNN to see him rake politicians over the coals on the Katrina mess.
I just hope that he’s more open in his private life. I hope that he’s not single because he’s terrified to be seen in public with another man. I hope he’s been able to tell his mother, who shouldn’t be shocked at anything he could come up with to say, and I hope that he’s happy in whatever kind of life he’s made for himself.
Cooper is, by all accounts, quite happy in his *personal* life, and is by no means without romantic interests.
And, he has never lied about his sexuality, that i can find anywhere in my search.
rob@egoz.org
Here’s Steve Koval of the “Washington Blade” on Coop
Highly successful creative professionals such as Anderson Cooper, Kevin Spacey, Jodie Foster, et al. were not put on this earth to appease the dilettantish preoccupations of frustrated disaffected YENTAS.
The savvy know and understand that everyone has their own path in life to follow and are not compelled to snipe when it differs from theirs.
You forgot the Harumpf !
Kevin Scacey is an excellent example of this issue, while Jody Foster has chosen this particular professional-path for decidely different reasons but with the same effect. Exhuming the topic from such a well documented career does not so much eliminate a deadly current threatening to derail or kill future ambitions, but is more an exclaimation that this topic is personal, perhaps profoundly so.
Like Anderson Cooper, there are no questions about Kevin Spacey or Jodi Foster. They have been seen and heard within our community. Indeed, they have all been extremely active, some to heroic levels. To those who are looking for just such a hero, they are in plain sight.
We know how deeply personal a relationship can be, containing a secret garden of a sacred magnitude, when its good. I can only imagine how hard sharing that space, that relationship, can be in the worldpress. It not only cheapens it, in a very base way, but i can also imagine it can sometimes destroy it. Those types of relationships are rare. Personally, looking back over the years, i can scarcely find one that might have survived such a daily/weekly exposure, a pressure both massive and just as crude.
They have, by no measure, lied in their professional careers. Nor have they been negligently absent in our community. What they have done is draw a border between their public careers and their personal lives.
There is something to be learned from that statement.
rob@egoz.org
They have in every way lied, Rob. particularly Spacey on 60 Minutes. What’s with this “We know how deeply personal a relationship can be, containing a secret garden of a sacred magnitude, when its good.” business? Who on earth are you blathering about?
“Daryl” is a lot more honest when he says
“Highly successful creative professionals such as Anderson Cooper, Kevin Spacey, Jodie Foster, et al. were not put on this earth to appease the dilettantish preoccupations of frustrated disaffected YENTAS.”
In other words the only thing to be respected is money and the ability to acquire it. As being honest about one’s sexuality (ie. “openly gay”) would in his view risk a loss of financial clout (though the career of the closeted Foster is hanging by a thread of cheapjack thrillers these days) we’re supposed to “respect” their rank dishonesty as a superior state of being.
Rob, I have to say that “Gaydom’s Maoist tendencies gurgle forth” is one of the most sublime lins I have seen in a long time!
“Oh, Diogenes!
Find a man who’s honest!
Oh, Diogenes!
Wrap him up for me
Oh, Diogenes!
Find a man who’s stolid-solid
Hook that fish if he’s in the sea
Hunt him! Trail him!
Catch him! Nail him!
If he is free
Have you got your stick?
Have you got your lantern?
Can you do the trick
And produce him, please!
Catch that fellow!
Ring that bell,
Oh,
Oh!
Oh, Diogenes!”
I don’t think Cooper is afraid of saying he’s gay. I think he just doesn’t see the need to say he’s gay anymore than, say … Stone Phillips needs to say he’s straight. Playing to the media’s (and society’s) hetero-sexist double standard about what constitutes news isn’t going to make it go away.
I think Ehren’s (et al.) implication that gay public figures should proclaim themselves with a label (for the gay public good) while it’s okay for straight people live under vague assumption is much more harmful – subversively – to gay equality in the long run.
And preferring a scenario where someone comes out and says the words “I’m gay” to a scenario where someone lives his life privately, without saying anything about being gay, straight, or bi, is the kind of thinking that allows homophobes to get away with an “us vs. them” mentality: it emphasizes that society views gay people differently than straight people, rather than working toward minimizing the (already very few) differences between us.
“I don’t think Cooper is afraid of saying he’s gay. I think he just doesn’t see the need to say he’s gay anymore than, say … Stone Phillips needs to say he’s straight.”
But Stone Phillips doesn’t need to say he’s straight. No straight person does. And if you don’t say you’re gay, guess what? You default to straight.
“I think Ehren’s (et al.) implication that gay public figures should proclaim themselves with a label.”
First of all it’s Ehrenstein — no ” ‘s(et al.)” about it. (And how in hell did THAT get started?)
What is it about “straight” that doesn’t make it a label? Please explain. 25 words or less. This WILL be on the Final.
“And preferring a scenario where someone comes out and says the words “I’m gay†to a scenario where someone lives his life privately, without saying anything about being gay, straight, or bi, is the kind of thinking that allows homophobes to get away with an “us vs. them†mentality: it emphasizes that society views gay people differently than straight people”
But that’s the truth, Binky. Society DOES view gay people diffeently than straight. That’s why you want to stay in the closet. Others however (like our host and his charming boyfriend) aren’t putting up with that sort of crap. They’re standing on their own two (four) feet and looking life right in the eye.
“rather than working toward minimizing the (already very few) differences between us.”
Actually there are a ton of differences — all of them brought about by the socio-political bottom line of homophobia and its evil twin internalized homophobia.
OK, I have to interject here, David. Nick (Zionide.org) is not closeted. He’s written articles on gay issues for magazines.
(end of interjection)
And if you don’t say you’re gay, guess what? You default to straight.
No, you don’t.
Well Nick’s post indicated otherwise, IMO.
Yes you do, Randy. The Heterosexual Dictatorship (Christopher Isherwood’s term — look it up) always operates on the assumption that everyone is straight. Gayness is something to be “admitted” as if it were a crime.
And until the Supremes overturned the sodomy laws, it WAS a crime.
Yes you do, Randy. The Heterosexual Dictatorship (Christopher Isherwood’s term — look it up) always operates on the assumption that everyone is straight.
So, people are assuming that Cooper is straight, now that he has issued his not-denials?
What do you mean by “not denials”?
As things stand now with Cooper the old saw “You can’t unring a bell” comes to mind. But the status quo will continue to insist that it’s his “right to maintain his privacy” (ie. lie) until the Dinsey Cows come home.
But Stone Phillips doesn’t need to say he’s straight. No straight person does. And if you don’t say you’re gay, guess what? You default to straight.
Not true. Effeminate straight men often need to label their heterosexuality, while effeminate gay men certainly don’t default to straight in our society.
Gayness is something to be “admitted†as if it were a crime.
And until the Supremes overturned the sodomy laws, it WAS a crime.
Since when does being gay legally equate to sodomy? That’s the kind of thinking that allows the Jerry Falwells of the world to minimize us to nothing more than a supposedly-abnormal sexual act. Sodomy is clearly not an exclusively gay activity, and though it’s definitely something I enjoy, you can be gay without engaging in sodomy; believe me – I’ve dated those guys before! ;)
But that’s the truth, Binky. Society DOES view gay people diffeently than straight.
Condescension aside, I don’t disagree with that. But society shouldn’t view gay people differently, of course. And as long as you advocate that gay public figures act differently than straight public figures when it comes to their sexuality, we will be treated differently. You’re encouraging society to view gay people differently by propogating the myth that gay people need to act differently.
What is it about “straight†that doesn’t make it a label?
I never said “straight” wasn’t a label. The clausal emphasis in the original sentence, Binky, is on you expecting gay people to proclaim their sexuality while straight people are not expected to. Whether or not straight people need to, or whether or not straight is assumed, is immaterial. It’s not the gay label that’s unfair – it’s your need for it to be explicitly named that is.
Despite my (probably unnecessary) verbosity, all I’m really saying is that I think being gay should be a non-issue in our society, no more demonized than being left-handed or short or paraplegic. It should just be. Is it like that? Of course not – not yet and probably not for a very long time. But treating non-heterosexuality like something that must be publicly defined, rather than just another human characteristic, encourages society to continue to make it an issue.
Well Nick’s post indicated otherwise, IMO.
Geez … speaking of ignorant assumptions. Nick’s post didn’t say or imply a damn thing about himself or his life, only his opinion about public figures’ lives.
And thank you, Tin Man. For the record, I’ve never been in the closet. I started kissing boys during puberty, as soon as I began having any sexual feelings at all.
And here I’m going to end this thread, because it’s gone on long enough.