Please don't feed the trolls!
Common knowledge? I hadn't the slightest inkling either Latifah or Anderson Cooper was gay until I started reading gay blogs.
Minor clarification, Irvington High School is in Irvington the town immediately next to Newark.
I don't know. I suspect that when someone's a celebrity their privacy ends up being compromised to the point that it becomes a control issue.
I can't say I blame her. And I don't think it's important she come out. It would be nice. But not necessary. There are others out and there will be more.
While often lumped together Newark and Irvington are in fact separate municipalities
She was great in the opening of SNL, and you could tell she was having a good time.
@ poof Agree.
As long as a celebrity is not working against gays/lesbians, I say let them come out in their own way and time. Sure it would be great if they were up front and honest but, everyone needs to move at their own speed.
Oh leave her alone.... she isn't obligated to tell anyone at all... ever.
I honestly do not understand why we have to make a big deal out of this. So what if she dosen't come out. She has every right to keep this to herself. I could care less who she goes to bed with. Why is this even mentioned?
I have more respect for someone who refuses to discuss their personal life (as Queen Latifah does now and Clay Aiken previously did) than someone who vehemently denies that they're gay and even goes so far as to have a "beard" (such as a certain Latin crossover pop star).
it's her life, it's her business and it's her right. and to paraphrase a classic billie holiday song...
ain't nobody's business if she do.
If it's not a big deal, if it doesn't matter whether she is or is not, why not just say it?
I'm always astonished by the aggressive protection of someone else's closet by those who profess to not really care.
For me, I don't care whether she says it or not. Not sure it is widely known, though. I had neighbors who thought I was daft when I kept telling them about Gayken.
The thing is, the longer she keeps quiet, the longer people will ask. If she says it, there will be the initial kerfuffle, then everyone moves on. There are other options besides announcing it on the cover of People. Do it on election day so it goes on the record but the media won't even mention it.
So THAT's who was there at SNL.
I really am a hermit. I had no idea.
I agree with a lot of the posters, it doesn't matter for several reasons:
1) It is hard enough to have any shred of a personal life in hollywood. The public thinks that since someone is in the limelight professionally, their entire life is an open book that everyone has a right to read. That's like me walking into Bill Gates home in the middle of the night, handing him my laptop and saying "here, fix this". I'm sick of hollywood couples parading their families and relationships in front of us like it's just another soap opera for us to wash. I have a lot of respect for people like Latifah who want to keep something, anything for themselves. Cher said in an interview that we haven't seen her real hair in over a decade. Even when it's black, it's a wig. She wants to keep that for her private life. I see nothing wrong with that.
2) Latifah is very pro-gay. If she was dipping in our dating pool and then trying to close the entire rec center at the same time, that would be an issue. Closet, self-hating homos are a parasite on our community, feeding off of, and attacking it at the same time. Latifah is helpful.
3) She's not trying to fool us. She's just not giving up the goods. There's no beard, no "chase me and find out" game being played here. She's not some hollywood party girl demanding everyone's attention for everything else in her life and then saying "oopsie, no no" about that. She's not parading her girlfriends in front of us and then acting shocked when we ask "who is this?" She just said it's off limits. That's entirely fair.
4) The more you yank on that door, the more locks she's going to put on it. Nobody's going to be forced out. Look at our Out celebrities... Lance waited until Nsync was defunct to come out, Clay Aiken was almost forgotten when he Came Out. The more you bug Latifah about it, the longer it's going to take. And if she's not gay, then you're just annoying the hell out of someone who wants to be on our side. How is that at all helpful?
Sorry but shouldn't we leave this sort of thing to Perez Hilton?
I do think that it's her business as to when, how, and how much she wants to address her sexuality in public. But I also think that it must be awfully tiring, hanging on to that closet doorknob.
She's a Dyke.
He unwillingness to acknowledge that fact in this day and age renders her superfluous. There are plenty of out LBGT people, famous and un. We don't need her.
Who cares? It's her business. Enjoy her for the great talent she is and leave it at that.
@ Mark: " As long as a celebrity is not working against gays/lesbians, I say let them come out in their own way and time..."
If they don't come out then they are working against us. This only feeds the notion that being gay is shameful.
And, this assumption of shame feeds into disgusting and hurtful things like "The Gay Virginity Auction”
I think when a public figure says "I won't go there" so forcefully, then that's the only place people want to go.
Also, young people looking for role models aren't likely to understand the complexities of balancing "public vs. private" lives for celebs -- all they see is shame and denial.
Anderson Cooper is GAY????
One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that Latifah is a woman of color. The communities of color are less tolerant of gay and lesbian lifestyles. There are several prominent Caucasian males and females who have come out of the closet. Can you think of a Black gay male actor or singer who is out? Or lesbian? African-American gay men are not well accepted by our race because of our ties to religion and our history. For A-A lesbians, there's a bit more receptiveness but not much...they are still referred to as "bulldykes" by many older A-A's. Queen is strong enough to endure the backlash she might receive from the Black community but she's also strong enough to remain true to herself out of principle. I applaud her as a woman of strength and talent and I respect her right to keep her personal life to herself.
While it is true that we should not be pestering people to come out (unless they are actively anti-gay) never mind the Queen and Ms. Cooper, how about Lavar Burton. How come no one has ever pestered him? He could be their pretty love child.
Who the fuck cares if she is or is not gay. Why must every gay public figure give us the details. We certainly don't give a flying fig about the heteroes. Leave the queen a lone and let her do what she wants when she wants. Indeed!
Joe, I love you like you're my regular guy, so it pains me not to share your view on this. We have an unruly expectation that celebrities have a duty to come out for the benefit of the community at large, though they face the same risks we do, to personal safety, career, and family. They and they alone should be allowed to make that decision just as you and I have made ours. Force of any kind has no value here. It takes organs of brass and nerves of steel. But to have "other" people doing all the coming out just doesn't work. It's an issue for every single one of us to handle in our own, self-determined way. Supposedly the day will come to pass that coming out won't have the consequences it has now. But then, it won't have the same results either, and for those who have not made the choice, we'll never know what coming out could have provided when it was a dicey thing to do. That is our task and our journey, our covenant with Love. Joe, I still love you though we disagree. I always will. You are in my heart.
Keith, I'm balck and I've been dealing with this shit for all 61 of my years.
Does the name James Baldwin ring a bell?
How about Bayard Rustin?
How about Langston Hughes?
The list goes on and on and on. That Dana Owens doesn't want to be on it is fine with me!
zelda1, saying your gay isn't providing anyone with "details."
Trying to SPIN her, Joe? I.e., as SPIN did to Carrie Brownstein and to Bob Mould. Yes, Bob is 100x happier today than in 1992, and 1000x more than in 1982, but the process isn't necessarily transferrable to Latifah. I'm both glad and surprised to see I'm in the majority here. (Would this be any different if she were a fella?) Is Bruce Vilanch your source re: Luther Vandross? Where's David Ehrenstein on that?
I know it is none of my business but Anderson really should just come out. It would be so good for him and us and me. He would be so happy to feel the freedom. His career would be just fine, his mom would be just fine. I think it's so belaboured to pull a Clay Aiken, Lance Bass, just let it out and BE YOURSELF, without regret.
who cares...
I'm in the "come out" camp. Saying stuff like "that's a private matter" or "i don't discuss my personal life" is the same as saying there's something shameful or wrong with even just mentioning the simple fact. No one's saying we need to have a complete record of celeb X's sex life, and no one's asking them to be on the stump for gay causes 24/7. Look how rarely it comes up on Ellen's show. She doesn't need to discuss lesbianism every episode...but at least she's said so, and life goes on. Better, I think, for the fact.
Her call, if and when she's ready.
From above: "Can you think of a Black gay male actor or singer who is out? Or lesbian?"
Definitely not enough, but sure I can think of some: Sylvester, RuPaul, Deep Dic, Johnny Dangerous, Darryl Stephens, Doug Spearman, Little Richard, Scandelle, Me'Shell N'deg' Ocello, Nona Hendryx, Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, Joan Armatrading, Toshi Reagon, Mz Fontaine, Miss Money... I'm sure more will come to me later.
My how we have grown! It wasn't too long ago that "we" were clammoring for Jody Foster to come out. Even more recently the "big" to do over Tom Cruise and his supposed gayness.
I agree and always have, that ANYONE's right to come out or not, is their business, and their business only!
If a gay person is in a position to affect the life, liberty or pursuit of happiness of another person, then all bets are off! They need to be outed and taken to task for what they do.
"Cher said in an interview that we haven't seen her real hair in over a decade. Even when it's black, it's a wig. She wants to keep that for her private life."
Now we know what's under those mops of hers -- alpecia totalis -- singed wisps on a bald dome!
re The Queen of L: "The liberation of homosexuals can only be the work of homosexuals themselves" Kurt Hiller, 1922.
a) That is why real gays and lesbians must come out -- if we do not do the work then who the fuck will?
b) Maybe she is not lesbian? Perhaps she identifies as a non-binary, sexually fluid person of alternative gender and sex floating in her own personal miasma of post-labels and nonhegemonic transgressions? Hmm???
It isn't ANYONE'S business, including gay bloggers'. WTF is wrong with you?
We know it anyway. Who cares? Keep it to yourself honey. But we know anyway.
I had no Idea that Clay Aiken was er, gay when he kept it to himself. You could have knocked me over with a box of birds. Lol!
We have enough people who are unafraid Queen. You stay in that closet girl.
Must be a lonely place.
She's under no obligation to come out and it doesn't matter to me one way or the other but it would be the honest thing to do and might help some young African American Lesbian's coming out easier.
Stop being a dick dwerk. She acually could be bi or something. 
I'm torn because on one level I understand that a person-of-color who is gay/queer/same-gender-loving-or-whatever does not have it the same way a white gay person has it. I *def.* understand that. And you all should as well.
*However*, Latifah isn't some poor bulldyke living in a low-income neighborhood trying to survive; she has the bubble of money to cushion her even if the 'black community' (because black people are this one entity to white people and we all have this one voice- either Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton... or 50 Cent) turned against her.
So it's not like she couldn't. but again, the idea of 'coming out' is a definite thing for white people. For black people, its not so much as a 'coming out' as it is a 'nunyadamnbusiness' or a 'do you really have to ask?'. Again, its not that those 'options' cannot be damaging or limiting, but the idea that people have to come out isn't as fair when 'we' do not have the exact same options as you all (read: whitefolk) do. The 'gay community' is still a largely white conception that isn't as inviting or understanding to minorities unless we are big black dick/litte asian/or hot latin lover fetishes.
So a part of me is like, no she doesn't have to 'come out' for you.
But another part is like, WHY are we even asking as when was the last time you have ever seen Queen Latifah with a man! C'mon! Like a comedian once said, some people don't have to say it...
They walk into a room and its as obvious as day.
saywhat -- I don't think Joe or others here were asking for Queen L to come out so she could perform for whites -- what a bizarre thing to say. I also know many out and proud gay and lesbian gay men and women -- are they in self-denial? Self-loathing? what is their deal?
When men go to jail for sucking cock and some men fight for the right to be sexually free and pay the price, it is sometimes infuriating when others hide behind cultural or theoretical bullshit and pretend that their cock sucking is "not gay" -- actually it isn't. It's closet cowardice. Take your PC shit and shove it, saywhat.
make that: many out and proud black gay and lesbian
It isn't hiding, dipshit. It simply isn't anyone's business, despite the minority of insecure gays that feel they must make a public declaration of their private lives. I just don't get it. I feel so much better when I resist the herd mentality that one must come out. Go fuck yourselves.
I didn't say perform for whites, I said that the idea she has to come-out as if to support your idea of how or what a 'gay woman' is suppose to be is insane being that she is a women-of-color and to throw the exact same criticism toward her like you would Jodi Foster or Anderson Cooper isn't as fair. if Queen came out, so what? Do you think she'd get a Logo special or something?
However, if instead of picking pieces that pised you off, I also said that since she is a rich woman of color, her influence would be nice for queer women of color I admitted that.
And I never said it wasn't 'gay'. What I said was that its not fair to look at queer POC to connect to some omniscient all-inclusive 'gay community' when there isn't exactly one (for us). It is sometimes hard for gay black people to 'connect' to 'gay rights' because gay rights (the issues of mostly white/and or middle class people) do not include the issues that pertain to people of color, even queer people of color.
I'm not trying to throw PC shit your way, just be aware of the differences is all. Life isn't so easy where you can look at shit in a linear way of thinking. 'She not Out yet Bad Dyke! bad!' If Queen came out, cool, but again its not like she needs to.
There have been many women of color who were queer that never called up People magazine and Came Out.
Octavia Butler
Tracy Chapman
Angela Davis (until recently)
All queer. It wasn't a secret if you knew them. But they did not go about it in the same way that a white celebrity may have.
She's not hiding anything. She's saying that her personal life is not going to be a subject of discussion. And it's easy to see why she would want to protect that, with everyone panting for her to reveal the tiniest detail. Leave her alone for fuck's sake. She doesn't owe you anything.
Suzie,
Joan Armatrading is a very private person. She has never come out.
Meh. People come out when they're ready. I don't judge them on it unless they're also working or speaking out against gay rights.
Hey its her business what she is. But I would love it if some football player would just come out.
we all choose our "public self" everyday
she deserves to choose her own as well
I just don't get it.
Dan
You really don't get it, do you. Have you missed the entire gay liberation movement of the past 40 years? Have all the lives of all the gay men and lesbians who came before you (many of whom died) meant nothing to you but a cheap fuck you? Whatever fools paradise/closet you are luxuriating in was bought for you by all those proudly out faggots who saw our lived as politic and made it public and used it to create social change. We are still fighting this fight while you sit on the sidelines and cat call. You need to go to a fucking library and learn the history that has allowed you to be so smug and dismissive.
I'd love it if she and all the other closet cases in Hollyweird and everywhere came out.
However, we can't criticize anyone for choosing not to come out until we have a complete non-homophobic, equitable society.
It's the bigots we should be attacking not each other.
Bitch pleeeze.
The ultimate cowardice. I won't spend a dime to support her till she grows a pair....And this from someone who bought the "Deborah Gaines" bs album.
Has anyone actually just asked her?
I would assume from all this talk that someone has but I don't know who.
Maybe a girl likes to be asked...
On other fronts: Is it my imagination or
-- wait a minute: cat insists on being petted -- there...
Is it my imagination or does outing celebrities not cause the intense disagreement that outing someone like Mark Buse does? If that's the case, why would that be?
Yes, I'd say we got a pulse going here but nothing compared to outing right-wing assholes.
Chuck,
While I agree she hasn't been giving interviews about it or anything, she sounded pretty gay and out to me from some of the things I've heard her say when performing. I suppose it's possible I misunderstood, but pretty unlikely. If so, my apologies go out to her.
Dana Owens/ Deborah Gaines...same thing. See how insignificant she is to me already...
Wasn't Deborah Gaines Donna Summer?
Getting my divas confused.
Dan said:"It isn't hiding, dipshit. It simply isn't anyone's business,"
I agree with you on this point, However you totally fuck it up:
"despite the minority of insecure gays that feel they must make a public declaration of their private lives."
There is nothing insecure about telling the truth. I didn't make some public declaration, and I'm out. There was no press conference, no tapping a fork on a glass at a party.
The Rainbow is real, moron. For as many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans people there are -- there are that many different ways to Come Out.
You really don't get it. Coming Out helps the world see gay people as people, not some stereotype, not some boogie monster. Coming Out challenges bigots on their bullshit. Sure you think gay people are disgusting, but how about when the gay person is your own son? Is your son disgusting? It takes the abstract and makes it personal. And the personal is always political. Ellen and Neal Patrick Harris are both out of the closet and have both managed to make it a non-issue. Both have successful careers, and that would NOT have been possible if it weren't for Elton John, Greg Louganis, The Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, and all the other gay celebs and real people who paved the way.
One day there will be no more coming out. One day we will live in a world where people don't automatically assume everyone is straight. Where it's no big deal to be gay. There won't be pride parades, or they'll morph into something else entirely. There will be fewer gay bars, and fewer gay ghettos. Saying you're gay will be like saying you're left-handed, an interesting tidbit, but nothing more.
Coming Out is necessary to get us to that world. We will not get there by being invisible and hinding in the shadows.
"I just don't get it. I feel so much better when I resist the herd mentality that one must come out. Go fuck yourselves."
You fancy yourself some counter-counter-culturalist. Really, you're just an outside elitist. You've managed to create a group of justifications for your own closet, and have this delusion that it's really everyone else who's messed up.
The fact that this blog exists, and that people can post here without fear. The fact that you don't have to worry about your IP address being picked up by the gov so they can hunt you down and throw you in jail or execute you is proof that Coming Out is a good thing. The Coming Out of hundreds of thousands of people (especially JOE) made this blog possible, asshole.
The truth, Dan, is you're not some celebrity worried about your privacy being invaded, you're just some sad coward who goes online and attacks other people because you need to convince yourself that you're right, and we're wrong.
have a question for you. Why is it your business???? It's Queen Latifah personal life is nobodybusiness. It's not your place to talk about things that you don't anything about.
Luther Vandross being dead for over three years. If he was gay or not it was his business. You have no prove that Luther Vandross was gay. You just want to get into people business. I can speak for myself only. I love Luther Vandross and his music, there is nothing you or anybody could say, that would chance it.
Why can't people just mind there own business.
14 Visitors Online
Commenting by HaloScan
