Great article (with Bryan Batt in it) about Gay’s coming out in Hollywood.

Yeah, I do think Samantha Ronson is gay, and little Lindsey is gonna break her poor heart.

Dunno if she’s gay, she could be bi, but Samantha Ronsen definitely likes the ladies. So, I think this relationship is real… for the moment.

Jodie Foster was taking steps to be more out, and then she broke up with her girlfriend.

Rock Hudson was another trailblazer, even though he didn’t have a choice. His coming out also involved a revelation that he was dying of a disease people have barely heard about and which was thought of as the Gay Man’s Disease. I don’t even recall him coming out so much as being outted.

I am very happy that Ellen’s relationship is celebrated. I wish Rosie could get the same kind of love, but I suspect she pisses off to many people.

I understand Anderson Cooper and George Clooney’s dilemmas. Anderson just wants to be taken as a serious journalist. To be open would jeopardize that with all the ignorance. The media that helps make him would place a label on him. And George, he has heart throb status. Look what it did to poor Rock Hudson when he came out.

The world that makes them, forces them into the roles they want to see them in. Not everyone is as evolved at the Basketcases. But these celebs decide how they choose to represent it.

Not everyone can be a trail blazer. For every Ellen, you have a Rosie. I adore Rosie. But her coming out doesn’t ge the fan fare that Ellen’s did.

The only pity of this whole thing in my mind is this. Somewhere is a teen, young adolescent boy or girl who is having problems coming to terms with what they were born, gay. They are looking for someone to look up to.

And it is nice that these young women can pick up a magazine and see Ellen and Portia beaming. That article in People was 100% like their articles about hetero celeb marriages. There was nothing exploitive about it.

I do feel People might have headline the Clay cover at “New Dad Clay Aiken” and not emblazoned a large “Yes, I’m Gay.” The headline kinda overshadowed his beautiful little boy. That was exploitive use of font. If were just about his sexual persuasion like Lance Bass, sure, that was Lance’s way of coming out. But Clay was mostly introducing his little boy to the world, and by the way, yes, he is gay.

Just waiting for the annoucement of Queen Latifah, Jodie Foster, and I am gonna say it, Anne Hathaway. (If you doubt me on that do a little research. The Italian boyfriend was a beard)

Most of the rumored gay men in Hollywood stay put. Little by little it has changed. I think Neil Patrick Harris coming out was great. The fact that he excels at playing a Mysognist Player is hilarious.

All in all, I have to say if anyone I know or I read about or watch comes out of the closet, even if it is the last person I could ever imagine was gay (yes even David Cook, whom I am sure is 100% straight) I will continue to buy their books, music, movies. I am a patron of all arts, no matter what sex they sleep with)

I’m not seeing that. The “legit” media backs off because they have to or they become tabloid journalists and have to start digging around in trash cans. The blogosphere, on the other hand, has accepted and spoken about LiLo as a lesbian for several months. It’s been a given on the ‘net for a very long time.

To me, it’s not that they’re saying that it’s a dirty secret, but Entertainment Tonight and that type of show can only take it so far if the celeb doesn’t want to discuss it.

I think celebs have to look at their fan bases. I’m sorry, but Clay Aiken connected early with a very Christian, very naive fan base. Of course, he had more sophisticated fans, too, but a lot of women went for him because he was wholesome. He had to accept that almost before his career began that coming out of the closet might harm him.

Ellen Degeneres had a similar dilemma — she also had the image of wholesome, family entertainment, only she didn’t have the benefit of having what she became to others. She had to become a trailblazer.

Ironically, Portia De Rossi had an easier path because of the woman she would one day marry, but also because she wasn’t “burdened” with fans who needed her to be a girl scout. She also came out while relatively unknown and so it was never front page news for the tabloids.

Lindsay Lohan has already burned all of her bridges as a Disney Princess Role Model, and that gives her more freedom.

Most people assume Anderson Cooper is gay, and he knows that, but he keeps his mouth shut because he also has an army of adoring grandmas who might lose their minds.

Basically, the thing that holds some of these people back are the people who claim to love them. Nice.

At the same time, it does tick me off when the media continues to treat being gay as some horrible shameful secret, and won’t report on the clearly gay personal lives of celebrities. I mean Lindsay Lohan could not be more obvious, but all it takes is her publicist denying that Lohan confirmed her lesbian relationship (didn’t deny the relationship, mind you, just the confirmation) and the media reacts like they made a mistake. For crying out loud - the two make out regularly in public! I would love to see a world where there is no “coming out,” it’s just accepted that LGBT exist and anyone might be. So good for Clay; if his experience is like mine, an enormous weight has been lifted off his shoulders, and the weird part is he wouldn’t have even realized the weight had been there until it was gone.

Switching topics to Bryan Batt’s amazing performance - I agree with all the accolades. What is brilliant about his characterization is that Batt is NOT playing a closeted character - someone living a gay life in private but publicly covering. Sal’s situation is far sadder. From Season One we know that Sal understands his basic nature, but he won’t allow himself to act on it. He isn’t simply covering being gay, he is actively denying it, trying to do everything he can to be the straight man he’s expected to be. We can see the truth, because his essential nature shows through. His co-workers can’t see it (and his wife probably can’t conceive of it, even though she can sense something is wrong), because of the time Sal is living in. In 1960, any overt mention of homosexuality was banned under the Hayes code for movies, so gay people were barely known in the culture. It was only with the release of Advise and Consent and the Children’s Hour that people began to see depictions of “normal” people who could be gay, and both the main gay characters in these films were so ashamed they committed suicide.

I really want to see where Weiner will take the Sal character. I can’t believe he will be happy married to Kitty, but I also don’t see him as a Harvey Milk-type character, openly embracing his sexuality at mid-life. My bet is some sort of accommodation - a divorce from Kitty and a discreet relationship - one of those people whose sexuality only becomes known to most when they die.