# What celebrities are homosexual, but are often thought not to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927 "2005-03-23T20:00:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/41 "2005-03-24T11:45:46Z")
> [@MidnightRadio](#): > > I’d heard rumors that John Mahoney was gay, but is it a “known” fact? I remember reading it as a fact, not as a rumor, although I don’t remember where it came from; it’s not as if I keep a close tab on these things. Just another bit of random useless knowlege lodged in my brain. ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/42 "2005-03-24T11:54:10Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I’d have to put Mercury in the flamboyantly bi column. He had a son by his college girlfriend, and spent the last years of his life with another girlfriend. Freddy Mercury had a son? Really? I have never, ever heard that before. Is Mercury junior alive today? ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/43 "2005-03-24T12:18:25Z")
Re: Jorja Fox, the best reference I could find (which is still not the best) was her name on the uncontestedly-gay list on Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/44 "2005-03-24T12:46:12Z")
Rob Halford from Judas Priest is gay, he came out in the last few years though it didn’t seem to surpise many people. It is funny though to go back and see the “gay” lyrics in some of the songs. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/45 "2005-03-24T12:52:41Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > David Hyde Peirce is openly - albeit quietly - gay, as were the writers of his show. In fact, the only straight male who was in any way involved with the production of _Frasier_ was Kelsey Grammer himself (who perhaps overcompensated by marrying a Playmate.) Creater, producer and writer of _Fraiser_ David Angell and his wife were on Flight 11, the first one to strike the World Trade Tower. Let’s not paint such a broad stroke. I know Village Person Policeman Ray Simpson, his wife and daughter. There’s plenty of talk about theatre producer Cameron MacIntosy, actor Michael Ball and Prince Andrew’s activites as a trio in the theatre world. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/46 "2005-03-24T13:03:28Z")
I’m a straight female, but…you say Jodie Foster is gay? _reconsidering_ Apparently everyone but me has always known that Barry Manilow is gay. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/47 "2005-03-24T13:27:28Z")
Nathan lane!!! ;)\* \ Is this thing even on? I wonder if they still have a tube tester down at the Sropuse-Reitz dime store. \*Really I know he’s gay. Terri Schaivo knows he’s gay. He described Timmon and Pumbaa from _The Lion King_ as the first openly gay couple in a Disney cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/48 "2005-03-24T13:41:04Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > I haven’t any inkling of the truth, but I have come across rumors that the Drudge Report dude\* is gay. This seems to be based on various sightings of him hanging out in obviously gay bars. > > - I’m not sure what his first name is David Brock’s book, _Blinded by the Right_ (in one of its many salacious moments) claims that Matt Drudge came on to him pretty openly, several times. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/49 "2005-03-24T13:41:42Z")
I recall an interview some years ago with Nathan Lane, in which the interviewer asked him flat-out if he was gay. He said something to the effect of, “I’m over 40, I live with my mother and I dress better than she does. You do the math.” I have no cite for this, but I remember laughing about it when I read it. Someone mentioned Fried Green Tomatoes - I was surprised to find that the author, Fannie Flagg, is gay, and apparently had a turbulent long-term relationship with Rita Mae Brown. But that also brings up another celeb I’ve wondered about - Mary Stuart Masterson (for whom I would not only cross the street, but I’d run across, dodging sportscars the whole way.) ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/50 "2005-03-24T14:04:49Z")
Langston Hughes. I only recently found out. I have read short biographies of his and no one mentioned it. It seems like a big thing to leave out. When watching TV, my mom would point to stars like Rock Hudson and say, “He’s gay.” She did not condemn it, she just was letting us know that gay people are out there. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/51 "2005-03-24T14:15:20Z")
I remember the quote: “I’m over 40, I’m single and I work in the musical theater. Do the math.” I might be wrong, or it might have morphed through retellings. > [@LifeOnWry](#): > > I recall an interview some years ago with Nathan Lane, in which the interviewer asked him flat-out if he was gay. He said something to the effect of, “I’m over 40, I live with my mother and I dress better than she does. You do the math.” I have no cite for this, but I remember laughing about it when I read it. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/52 "2005-03-24T14:24:10Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > I recall an interview some years ago with Nathan Lane, in which the interviewer asked him flat-out if he was gay. He said something to the effect of, “I’m over 40, I live with my mother and I dress better than she does. You do the math.” I have no cite for this, but I remember laughing about it when I read it. > > Someone mentioned Fried Green Tomatoes - I was surprised to find that the author, Fannie Flagg, is gay, and apparently had a turbulent long-term relationship with Rita Mae Brown. But that also brings up another celeb I’ve wondered about - Mary Stuart Masterson (for whom I would not only cross the street, but I’d run across, dodging sportscars the whole way.) I read the same Nathan Lane interview years ago- I’m thinking GQ or ESQUIRE. As a childhood watcher of Fannie on various late 1960s-early 70s game shows, I was surprised she was a novelist as much as that she was gay. Mary Stuart- I think not. I seem to recall she is happily married to a man & is a mom. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/53 "2005-03-24T14:30:33Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > I remember the quote: “I’m over 40, I’m single and I work in the musical theater. Do the math.” I might be wrong, or it might have morphed through retellings. I think the complete version includes “over 40, single, live with my mother & work in the musical theatre”. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/54 "2005-03-24T14:42:19Z")
> [@Scott\_plaid](#): > > _Dusty Springfield?_ Yes, it’s actually true that the only boy who could ever reach her was the son of the preacher man. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/55 "2005-03-24T14:44:19Z")
F. U. Shakespeare? What did you just say about Shakespeare? You couldn’t have said what I thought you said. 🙂 Actually the above is just an excuse for me to mention the idea that many of [Willy’s sonnets](http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/shakespe.htm) were written to men. P.S. To be excruciatingly technical, this [article](http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/828_9/828_9_outcelebs.asp) seems to support LifeOnWry’s memories, but with the word “love” in place of :" work in the". That is to say:“I’m single, I’m 40, and I love musical theater—you do the math.” That doe not exclude the possibility that Lane used the words F. U. Shakespeare quoted in a different interview, or that the article was misquoting. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/56 "2005-03-24T15:21:26Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I know Village Person Policeman Ray Simpson, his wife and daughter. I’ve even heard that his heterosexuality was long hushed-up, because it would have been bad for the band’s image. I wish that “Famous and gay” list had something in the way of cites, because I’m frankly skeptical about many of them. Francis Bacon? Isn’t that sheer speculation at this date? Basquiat? His bio-pic, my only source of information about him, claims otherwise. Sir Arthur C. Clarke? Has he ever come out? Didn’t he fight a pedophile charge a few years ago? Is that what his inclusion is based on? If any of the people on this list are “officially” straight (even if they’re widely assumed to be closet cases), I think that should be respected. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/57 "2005-03-24T15:23:34Z")
I have it on second- (but not third-) hand that half of the Village People are gay and half straight. This seems to be backed up by **Annie**. I’m guessing that qualifies for both ‘surprised to find out they’re gay’ and also ‘surprised to find out they’re straight’ lists, depending. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/58 "2005-03-24T15:27:23Z")
See post 12 and following in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=135607) thread. FTR, I’ve hardly read any Shakespeare – I’m a semi-educated American. I just thought it was neat to form a username by juxtaposing two things that don’t seem to belong together, like Mojo Nixon or Jello Biafra. And Rose’s utterance gave me the specific idea. > [@Scott\_plaid](#): > > F. U. Shakespeare? What did you just say about Shakespeare? You couldn’t have said what I thought you said. 🙂 > > Actually the above is just an excuse for me to mention the idea that many of [Willy’s sonnets](http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/shakespe.htm) were written to men. > > P.S. To be excruciatingly technical, this [article](http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/828_9/828_9_outcelebs.asp) seems to support LifeOnWry’s memories, but with the word “love” in place of :" work in the". That is to say:“I’m single, I’m 40, and I love musical theater—you do the math.” That doe not exclude the possibility that Lane used the words F. U. Shakespeare quoted in a different interview, or that the article was misquoting. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/59 "2005-03-24T16:00:10Z")
Joan Baez is [gay](http://www.famousandgay.com/b.html)? Hmmm… I know that she’s active in gay and lesbian causes, but she has also been active in civil rights causes. That doesn’t mean she’s black or even semi-black. Given her famous romance with Bob Dylan, her marraige to David Whatshisname, and absent any evidence or claims by the site as to her lesbian or bisexual status, I’m doubtful. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927/60 "2005-03-24T16:05:30Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I’d have to put Mercury in the flamboyantly bi column. He had a son by his college girlfriend, and spent the last years of his life with another girlfriend. I’m going to have to ask for a cite for this. His girlfriend in college was Mary Austin, who he remained very close friends with throughout his life (and who he left the majority of his estate to, including Garden Lodge); but I’ve never heard of him fathering children with her. She does have children that Freddie was close to, but they were fathered by a man that Austin subsequently divorced. At the time of his death, and for years and years before, Freddie was partnered with Jim Hutton. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-are-homosexual-but-are-often-thought-not-to-be/295927.md?page=4)