Anderson Cooper is employed with CNN and I'm sure there is probably something
in his contract that prohibits him from speaking publicly about his personal/intimate life.
You know CNN is based in the State of Georgia, right?
The same state that has a ban against sex toys.

Give Anderson a break.

Michael, I could not agree more. It's time for the cowards to come out, Yes even if we have to drag them out. I love your blog. keep it going.

I'll make the same point I made (late in the game) last time outing celebrities came up, to see if anyone wants to respond. I'm opposed to outing celebrities, not because they don't deserve it, but because it makes the gay community look like a bunch of vindictive, catty schmucks. The people who are outing are NOT vindictive, catty schmucks, they're people who want their rights recognized, but if the public does not perceive the situation correctly, the purpose of outing them, to show the diversity of the community and expose hypocrisy, comes to nothing. I wouldn't underestimate the ability of the public to see the person outed as a victim, to see their privacy violated. Just look at all the gay people who commented the first time here who would feel bad for an outed celebrity and see the outer as the villain. This is an incredibly common outlook, and I am convinced the public, too, would see the gay person as the victim and the gay community as villainous. That would be totally counterproductive.

I can't fully agree or disagree with you. I have only discovered my sexuality 4 years ago. If I had made it in mainstream entertainment like I originally planned, I would have been either marrying a woman because that's what's expected or realized my sexuality and kept it private to protect my career. Either way, I would not have been as happy with myself as I am today by coming out. BUT that would have been my choice to make, and my burden to bear.
I still believe sexuality is a very personal matter, so for me, I have adopted the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. If you don't ask, I won't tell you, but should you ask, if you're not ready for it,then you've opened Pandora's Box because the truth is bursting out.

The reason I believe Kevin will recover very well (emotinally and physically) is because, by being an out performer, he's being himself, and the freedom from that can heal many wounds. The celebrities (and people in the general public) who are closeted don't have that in them. As I didn't have it before, hence my past misery.
I admit it, I WAS A COWARD. Afraid to face who I was, and maybe some of these celebrities who are not coming out is because they are in the identity crisis that I was in. So unless we know for sure that they know for sure who they are, we should just continue the fight for gay rights without them. Not exposing them to make them join in, because that can have the opposite effect. Let's just hope they'll join in when they've matured enough to accept their true selves.

I don't know the answer to preventing future attacks, but regarding the outing of Anderson Cooper - seriously, how will outing him prevent future crimes? The scum who beat him just don't seem like regular CNN watchers.

I hear this "outing" argument all of the time but do you really think it will make a difference?

Shoudn't we instead focus on the many lawmakers, religious leaders and politicians who have openly gay staff members or are gay themselves? IMO, those are the really evil ones. I read Senator Rick Santorum has an openly gay man working for him , I believe as chief of staff. Now if that is true, it is unfucking believable.

Michael,

As usual, I agree with you 100%. Gay celebrities in every art form have a responsibility to be a visible force against the type of violence Kevin has suffered. Screw the Richard Chamberlains who expect a badge of bravery for coming out 30 years after their career is over. The GLBT community needs and deserves the strength of those celebrities who are proud enough and responsible enough to be out at the beginning or even at the height of their careers.

Bravo to people like Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres, Chad Allen, Margaret Cho, Matthew Duffy, Kevin Aviance, and you, Michael. These are the people with real strength, responsibility, pride, accountability, and character who we, as a community, can rely on.

Joseph Fenity: I believe the state you are referring about banning the sex toys is Alabama, not Georgia. Hell, I stopped by the adult bookstore in southeast Georgia by Interstate 95, they are well stocked with sex toys!

I agreed with Michael Lucas -- it is high time that Anderson Cooper and few others like FOX NEWS' Shepard Smith (who frequented Townhouse Bar and OW Bar) to acknowledge that they're gay -- they do not have to say that they're gay -- just bring their partners around will do just fine.

Politics or not, they are still public figure -- pressure them to do the right thing.

R-

Amen brother Michael.

If you are in the public eye - make your living as an entertainer, pundunt, politician, political hack, preacher, reporter ~ NOW IS THE TIME TO GROW A SET OF BALLS AND TEAR DOWN THIS WALL. For Christ's sake people if you are glbto [o=other] it is time to speak out. If glbto folks were purple this would not be an issue.

We have our f#cking family coming out to people as a parent, aunt, uncle, brother, nephew and sister-in-law with a gay couple in their family - and most importantly - that they have our back. Oh, we all live in South Carolina, so we're talking a huge set of balls. If our family can come out with us in the buckle of the bible belt; then Anderson, Dylan's son, Spacey, Dryer, Graham, etc. can step up to the plate - or just sit on the sidelines and watch their rights evaporate. Being rich and famous I guess it doesn't really matter to them; they already have a life a majority of us could never imagine.

This is where we're coming from: Dear Mr. President by PINK.
(Cut and paste link; Uncle Z hangs his head in shame)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FF0cS9s6Aw

peace y'all,
Uncle Z

Beautiful Michael,

You are a handsome cat, but lets throw those nails in the right direction. You are about to take a good man's eye out.

When ever a person is under attack, there is a very strong temptation to lash out in any manner that can have an effect, even upon one's lukewarm friend rather than upon one's zealot enemy.

Unfortunately the defining element of sociopathy is a complete absence of conscience. Perhaps you have not encountered first hand the depth of evil we are up against. To my experience they crave infamy. We can 'counter-attack' a closeted gay man and get some satisfaction from the tears he may cry because he has the heart to cry tears in the first place. Its not quite so easy to reach the bottomless, unfathomable compulsions of a basher but that's no reason to make more sideways damage on all the world around him.

There are only two things a basher fears and the disapproval of out gay celebrities is not one of them.

A basher fears physical pain. Your best chance to achieve justice is right while the event is happening. Obviously, if you are outnumbered you are double screwed but there are ways that a smaller person can prevail against a larger one. Don't banter. Don't try and move weight around. Strike suddenly with the intention of inflicting maximum debilitating pain. The adams apple, the groin, the knee cap, the bridge of the nose, grab an ear and rip, gouge out eyes, bite. They care about it looking pretty but you don't have to. just inflict pain. You are essentially in a pain endurance contest. Fighting is 90 percent mental.

By the way I do not claim at all that I would have done better than Kevin. But for those of you wondering what to do about this and are considering self-attacking the quieter members of the gay community, buy a gun for your home, take target practice and learn self-defense for the street instead.

Bashers fear a loss of freedom. They care about power. They care about territory. They care about control. In prison all those qualities are defined for them and all their evil turns inward into a crucible. Prisons should be hellish. They want to indulge destructive narsassistic power operas? fine, let it be the death of them.

All unprovoked assaults, across the board, should carry a 10 year prison sentence minimum. To make room and to protect non-violent criminals, make drug crimes a federal crime and put drug offenders in safer federal prisons. Let all the evilist bashers, rapists and violent crimals pickle in the thickest brine of who they are. A special differentiation for hate crimes is a handy loophole for even a simpleton to circumvent, merely by not using epithets. Let all reasonable people unite for the basic safety of our persons rather than squabble of who suffers worse and why.

I agree that as many people as want to come out ought to be able to. However it is really not a lack of gay celebrity or gay identification with celebrity that was likely at work upon the minds of the bashers that got Kevin.

We know the obvious and logical weapons against bashers. They are the tried and true methods against any hideous beast. We need to up the amplitude on what works against people that are actually guilty of something rather than attack more innocent people in the name of doing something.

Ford Wright
Playwright of International Fiction

I'm almost embarreded about you and those that agree with your stand on outing gay men and women who have not the courage to come forward themselves. If your really concerned about the welfare of others than have you given any thought to he concept of what this could do to them mentally? Everyone does'nt cross the same cross roads in their life the same way and everyone does not have the courage to face themselves in the sense of who they are either. If so we would be looking at regualr men having sex not these somewhat unattainable glamourized male beef cake models that we all wanna fuck or be fucked by! If we all wanted to show who we really were, most would'nt feel the need to be covered by labels and brands! If a lot of gay men not most but a lot loved themselves I think they would'nt have to find a fuck w/ a pretty face but more of a man w/ substance It amazes me that we don't want the world to condem us for our life and the choices we make yet were willing to give up our own for the sacrafice of what. If you want change, those that are strong enough to confront the world w/ who they are are the voices we need! why bring a voice that's not strong enough? The way that Clay Aiken was outed is deplorable and disgusting. This guy was in the armed forces fighting for freedom of choices and life and yet he makes a choice that could potentially distroy someone else at what cost for what reason? For his own selfish needs. As a gay man If I need to find a role model or strength in somones character then that will be someone that has risen to the challenge and not forced into one. It takes a lot of balls to feel and act like GOD! to make choices that put others life in jepardy....Bravo, If that's your AMERICAN dream bring it on.

This is a tough one. While I think something desperately needs to be done in order for the homosexual community to be recognized as a legit faction of the public, I don't think it's right to be outing anyone, celebrity or not. By outing another person, you take away their human rights. Whether good reasons or bad reasons, they have their reasons, and it's still their choice to make. By outing someone, you could not only cost them their career, but you also risk exposing the people around them to having their lives in turmoil, not to mention the possiblity of the person themselves being exposed to hate crime like this as well.

Now, on the other hand, without enough public face for the gay community, events like these will continue to take place. Maybe rather than outing CCN anchors, we should pressure the powers that be to put a stop to public displays of hate, such as Fred Phelps' group, Eminems' colorful terms, and most of the republican party, as they only encourage it. I think maybe it's time for the GLBT community to adopt a zero tolerance policy of our own.

There is strength in numbers. Outing people against their will will only serve to divide us and show the world we don't even respect each other.

The whole question of to out or not out celebrities is secondary to that of squelching anti-gay prejudice.

If the anti-gay prejudice didn't exist, celebrities would be as open with their sexuality as they are with anything else.

A prejudice can't be eliminated overnight, but our elected officials, by speaking out against the prejudice, could make expressing it unacceptable in most social contexts.

What do we have instead?

Bush.

In the same week that Islamists took over Somalia, he spearheaded a campaign to pass an anti-gay marriage ammendment to the Constitution.

What a backwards, rednecked disgrace!

We should be insisting to Bloomberg that he very vocally and publically demand for Bush to denounce anti-gay prejudice. New York has one of the largest gay populations in the country but we are not safe on our own streets. This mayor gets away with saying the minimum about these anti-gay outrages. The attack on Kevin Aviance was well-publicized because Kevin is famous. Wake the hell up and realize that non-celebrity gay people are viciously set upon by bigots in New York on a regular basis. Demand for Bloomberg to say more.

It's true that closet-case celebrities could bolster the cause by coming out; but it's no less true that heterosexual government officials should be speaking out more against anti-gay prejudice and the violence that results from it.

I have written before, I owned a home in West Hollywood where Treve Broudy was beaten and left for dead. Unforturnately, the liberals that are supposed to protect us did not prosecute this case as a HATE CRIME! We homosexual men constantly support the liberal cause, yet we forget these representatives will obviously protect those "suppressed" ethnics that attack us. We all must re-examine these men and women that are proponents and supporters of everyman/woman. So because the thugs that nearly murdered Treve Broudy are of a not disclosed ethnic origin, will not endure the punishment they deserve because of our LIBERAL reps. I am so discouraged by this.

Outting a celeb. Well, I can't comment on that. Everyone is entitled to their personal protection unless they start shooting off and embarking upon political and social areas for which they are not qualified to speak upon (like the president doesn't try to be an actor).

This man that was attacked, oh and the link describes the occurence as he was dressed like a boy? The LIBERAL MEDIA is so distorted. Dressed like a boy. It reverberates in my mind. Again, the media is generally liberal...the libs want our vote...and they don't want to prosecute a hate crime? describe someone as dressed like a boy? We cannot let anyone represent us unless it is us.

Thank you Michael.

Love,
Melosh

I just saw an interview of you that was featured on the LOGO channel, you struck as a very handsome, yet perseptive. I found myself going on-line to learn more about you. I take my hat off to you and congratulate you on not only helping the gay community, but your parents as well. Thank you Michael.

Peter Falcon

Comments directed to Melosh:

We can not have anyone represent us but us?

Can you take a moment to please consider how absurd that is before you set about destroying the alliances we have managed to make?

Are you the phantom menace? Maybe you can turn LIBERAL into FAGGOT merely by repeating the term amid unfounded attacks of innuendo, that'll help right? You should request a position with the Heritage Foundation if you haven't already.

We are going to put all this work behind hate crimes and all it takes is one opposing case to reach the Supreme Court and wipe it all away. So its not just a snap to make your particular dream of unequal justice come true, thank God. Once again I see a crime committed with plain real world consequences reach the gay community and then decend into a befuddled, fractured act of self-destruction.

I am trying to figure out what guides your way of thinking so I'm about to riff off based only on the fact that you have a Jewish name. Even if I'm wrong about that, okay. I also saw a thing about Michael Lucas wigging on a national anthem sung in Spainish. l just think its sad to see these comments so here's me attempting to lure back or win Jewish LIBERALS if possible.

If you think you can do better on the right-wing, do it at your own risk. You are on a parrallel to the brown shirts of Germany, jump off now before it is too late. Before Hitler killed his enemies, he killed his friends. On the night of Long Knives, many gay brown shirts were the first to die. What respect do you think you could get from the Hitler's of today? You want to arrive at their door as a traitor and a fool? For what? your unrealised revenge against a minority? Yikes... creepy. Think about that. Is that you?

I am personally committed to the protection of Israel and I am a liberal. There is a perfectly good nationalist case for the support of Israel. If you are being seduced toward the right wing by some feeling that Fundementalist Christians will support Israel better, you are wrong. Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton all, to different degrees, did alright by Israel did they not?

As for the love you are getting from fundementalists, consider it also as an obligation and consider please how that obligation will be called upon. You are playing with fire to nurture their zealotry. Its nice for them to be able to visit holy sites but they won't be truly happy until you are all converted. After they die in wars and pray for you endlessly, do you really think that after all that, they will take no for an answer?

I understand Israel's deathlock with Islamist fundementalists, I have no love for jihadis, other liberals have no love for them. You think I want a stone wall knocked onto my head? Or if I were a girl, to get my clit hacked off among other injustices? No way. I will fight them. Liberals have proven that they can be quite good at war when the cause is truly just. I believe the protection of Israel is a just cause that our nation is bound to by honor.

But you are getting cozy with a python to snuggle up to Christian Fundementalists. A Fundementalist Christian pogrom may end up killing you just as dead as an Islamist one, it will just coil in a little slower.

I don't know. I have to hope that it is fear and not just innate nastiness that is the reason for the above expression of bigotry. I don't accuse you of intentionally or even actually being the befuddled easy-to-maipulate divider the right wing wants you to be but that's what your comments reflect.

Ford Wright
Playwright of International Fiction
Libertine LIBERAL

Michael,

Others have already noted that your anger is misdirected. The individuals who bashed Kevin Aviance and the religious and political demagogues who foment such violent hatred are the ones who need to be held accountable, not closted celebrities. Homophobia does not thrive because the LGBT lacks enough pretty-boy newscasters to claim as one of their own, and gay bashers are not going to suddenly learn acceptance of LGBT people because Anderson Cooper or some other celebrity comes out of the closet.

LGBT visibility is important and more of it would help to challenge prejudice; however, celebrity visibility is not what is really going to reach hearts and minds. People care most about the people they encounter in their everyday lives; an individual's perception of LGBT people would be far more affected by knowing a LGBT co-worker, friend, neighbor, classmate, sibling, or child, than by learning that a glossy newscaster on CNN was a gay man.

In addition, how does "outing" someone help to change people's mind's about homosexuality? If being gay is treated as some "skeleton in the closet" that should be exposed and exploited for political gain, then the practice of "outing" hardly helps to change the notion that homosexuality is shameful and wrong. Of course, I have no problem with exposing hypocrites who attack the LGBT community while keeping their own homosexuality secret, but I see no benefit in trying to "expose" a newscaster who has never condemned the LGBT community, and who has at least on one occasion risen to its defense (during his now famous interview with Jerry Falwell).

Furthermore, it is important to realize that visibility and education will not reach all people. Some people will never let go of their hatred. Neither the charisma of Anderson Cooper nor even the love of a child can always break through a stone cold heart. As LGBT people we should reach out to those willing to listen, but we need to learn to move past those who refuse to hear the truth.

I say leave Anderson Cooper alone. Rather than "outing" celebrities, the LGBT community needs to focus on political activism coupled with active social outreach. And most importantly, we all need to strive to live our own lives truthfully, instead of worrying about how others choose to live theirs.

Melosh, you just made me skip your comments to the next after you badmouthed a Liberal.

R-

I think your comments about Anderson Cooper are exremely narrow minded. Have you thought about the impact it would have on his ability to cover stories in countries where he could be put to death for openly admitting his sexual preference? We are privilaged to have reporters of his stature and compassion on the air in the first place. I'm sure Fox News would love to have Anderson as a target. Do You?