# Now that Ricky is out, what celebrities "everybody knows" are gay remain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272 "2010-03-29T23:36:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/301 "2011-10-16T23:01:37Z")
Just about every public figure, entertainers, politicians, etc., is or has been rumored to be gay. At this point I just ignore it unless the person comes out themselves. The only person I felt strongly was gay, and then shortly after she did come out as a lesbian, was Rosie O’Donnell. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/302 "2011-10-16T23:03:40Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Surprising practically no one, Zachary Quinto (of the “Star Trek” reboot and _Heroes_) [has come out.](http://www.eonline.com/news/marc_malkin/heroes_star_zachary_quinto_comes_out/269727?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories) I’m surprised (not really, it’s more of ‘oh really’ kind of thing). What gave him away? What tipped you off that he had to be queer? I guess everyone has better gaydar than I do, or you are all getting the updates from Homo HQs that they refuse to send me. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/303 "2011-10-16T23:10:00Z")
I’m sure I read about his being gay in _Entertainment Weekly years_ ago. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/304 "2011-10-17T00:20:39Z")
I, for one, had no idea Zachary Quinto was gay. Then again, I pay little attention to this kind of thing. Heck, I didn’t give John Barrowman much thought, and he’s hugely famous as a gay guy. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/305 "2011-10-17T04:25:36Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > I’m sure I read about his being gay in _Entertainment Weekly years_ ago. Yeah, he mentioned it in some interview way back when and every time it’s come up since he fell back on “I don’t talk about my personal life.” ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/306 "2011-10-17T09:46:18Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Yeah, he mentioned it in some interview way back when and every time it’s come up since he fell back on “I don’t talk about my personal life.” Nor does Anderson Cooper. Unless he’s releasing an autobiography. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/307 "2011-10-17T13:45:16Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Same difference - if you’re secure in your sexuality you don’t need to be afraid. Yeah, if you’re secure in your sexuality you become Superman-like invulnerable with no possible reason for fear in any way. [Or](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_LGBT_people#Contemporary) [not](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard). ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/308 "2011-10-17T13:48:28Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Yeah, if you’re secure in your sexuality you become Superman-like invulnerable with no possible reason for fear in any way. > > [Or](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_LGBT_people#Contemporary) [not](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard). That doesn’t really apply to celebrities though. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/309 "2011-10-17T15:10:05Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > That doesn’t really apply to celebrities though. Celebrities are stalked and assaulted, even killed. As far as I know, it’s never happened specifically due to coming out, but it’s not impossible. Also, until fairly recently, being openly gay would heavily limit what roles you could get. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/310 "2011-10-17T16:03:41Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > Celebrities are stalked and assaulted, even killed. As far as I know, it’s never happened specifically due to coming out, but it’s not impossible. I doubt many celebrities make personal choices based on how hypothetical stalkers might react. > [@](#): > > Also, until fairly recently, being openly gay would heavily limit what roles you could get. But not currently, which is what I believe is **Illuminatiprimus** ’s point. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/311 "2011-10-17T16:10:16Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Yeah, if you’re secure in your sexuality you become Superman-like invulnerable with no possible reason for fear in any way. > > [Or](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_LGBT_people#Contemporary) [not](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard). I don’t think that’s a big risk for well-known actors. The real risk - still - is getting typecast as a gay actor who can only do gay roles and there goes your career. I’m impressed Quinto feels secure being out this early on. He must have a locked-in Star Trek contract. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/312 "2011-10-17T19:56:52Z")
I’m kinda surprised there were folks out here that didn’t know Quinto was gay. I just always thought he was out! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/313 "2011-10-17T20:45:39Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Nor does Anderson Cooper. Unless he’s releasing an autobiography. I actually started to pit him last week but decided it was too lame. It pisses me off he does _continual_ segments on anti-gay bullying but won’t come out himself (sending the message, intentionally or not, “Even if you make $25 million per year and are respected in your field it’s too hard to be openly gay”), and while that is his decision to make it pisses me off that he hides behind “I don’t discuss my personal life”. Ways he doesn’t discuss his personal life include writing a bestselling memoir about his childhood and his brother’s suicide, interviewing his mother on the show, filming segments of his daytime talk show in his house while cuddling in bed and then swimming with his hag Kathy Griffin and constantly talking about singers/movies/books he likes and bitchily giggling and dissing over celebrities and pop-culture he doesn’t like. (Oh, and fuck Griffin too, who has a “No AC $3 Bill gay jokes” policy but had no problem joking about the gayness of Clay Aiken [a guy who was a basket case prior to coming out] or Ricky Martin or teenaged and virginal David Archuleta [who she’s called both gay and ‘half retarded’ _after_ he gave her a very polite interview] and other “don’t discuss my private life” pre-gays.) And then last week on one of his “bullying’s bad, mkay” shows he lets a [bullied effeminate kid sing Lady Gaga’s Born this Way](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_QIFgEA4D0) on his show. I so wanted to scream at the TV- I understand how a kid getting his spotlight moment might think this is a good chance to shine, but didn’t Anderson or the kid’s parents or the tech crew or any of the grown-ups in the room not think a slow motion “Nooooooooooooooooo!!!” on this one? Whatever the kid has been through til now just got a “x 12” when he goes back and is the “little queer who sang Lady Gaga to his boyfriend Anderson Cooper”. Unless you’re sending him back to school with a bodyguard or at least a taser then you just fucked him (or, more properly, let him fuck himself) for ratings. And the real pity: this poor bullied-to-hell-and-back adolescent has more guts than Cooper. If AC doesn’t want to grow a pair of balls then surely he can borrow one from Jane Lynch (who for whatever the hell reason was on the show) who came out at the height of her career when she was under no compulsion to do so. One thing I really admire about Zachary Quinto was that he has the STAR TREK franchise so he’s an in demand actor plus he’s been the focus of gay rumors for years but was not in any real danger of being outed, but he willingly came out. but the reason he did was admirable. He said it’s because of James Rodemeyer, the kid who made an _It Gets Better_ video who killed himself- Quinto has also made one but basically couldn’t live with the feeling of cowardice he got from not living openly. (I wonder if his agent tried to get him to take lessons from Cooper, who seems to have no problem with it.) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/314 "2011-10-17T20:54:17Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I actually started to pit him last week but decided it was too lame. It pisses me off he does _continual_ segments on anti-gay bullying but won’t come out himself (sending the message, intentionally or not, “Even if you make $25 million per year and are respected in your field it’s too hard to be openly gay”), and while that is his decision to make it pisses me off that he hides behind “I don’t discuss my personal life”. I’m sure this was covered earlier in the thread, but Cooper used to be out, didn’t he? Not just mentioned it in an interview once, but I remember him being out out. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/315 "2011-10-17T21:14:18Z")
I tend to think AC is thinking, “Look. I’m gay. You know I’m gay. _Everybody_ knows I’m gay. I giggle like a little girl! But I think the best thing I can do is just be gay and not comment on it. What is there to _say_ about it?” Not rejecting what you’re saying, of course, **Sampiro**. You have a different and no less valid take on it than we do. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/316 "2011-10-17T21:32:55Z")
As a man with virtually NO “Gaydar” whatsoever, and as someone who has only watched Anderson Cooper a very few times on random segments of “60 Minutes”, is there any chance that he is NOT gay and just a very private person? I read Sampiro’s examples of AC talking about his “private life” but maybe he talks about some parts of it while not feeling comfortable discussing the romantic aspects of it. Growing up uber rich (his Mom is a heiress or something, right?) maybe he learned not to share too much about himself, so as to not be taken advantage of? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/317 "2011-10-17T21:57:27Z")
NO. Anderson Cooper IS a private person, but he’s never been married, never seen with a ‘girlfriend’, doesn’t parade around with arm candy. He HAS been seen in famous gay bars (not making a spectacle of himself) by regular people who noted his presence - NBD. Yes, IMO, he is as gay as an Umberto spring frock. You are as gaydar-less as my grandma! ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/318 "2011-10-17T22:52:55Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > NO. Anderson Cooper IS a private person, but he’s never been married, never seen with a ‘girlfriend’, doesn’t parade around with arm candy… For some reason I thought he had a celebrity girlfriend for a while, but I must be thinking of somebody else, maybe the kid who created “Family Guy” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/319 "2011-10-17T23:03:09Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > For some reason I thought he had a celebrity girlfriend for a while, but I must be thinking of somebody else, maybe the kid who created “Family Guy” Seth MacFarlane (though at 38 he’s not a kid, but he is very yummy), who reports to be straight though the Charlie Sheen Roast he hosted must have had about 590 gay jokes about him. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272/320 "2011-10-17T23:29:46Z")
Maybe it’s his love of show-tunes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-ricky-is-out-what-celebrities-everybody-knows-are-gay-remain/534272.md?page=17)