Queer Quote: Jodie Foster Coming Out Speech

Jodie Foster gave a speech at the Golden Globes on Sunday night which has been reverberating through the LGBT blogosphere and celebrity circles.

The key parts of her speech which people have been reacting to so viscerally are:

"So while I’m here being all confessional, I guess I have a sudden urge to say something that I’ve never really been able to air in public. So, a declaration that I’m a little nervous about but maybe not quite as nervous as my publicist right now, huh Jennifer? But I’m just going to put it out there, right? Loud and proud, right? So I’m going to need your support on this. 

"I am single. Yes I am, I am single. No, I’m kidding — but I mean I’m not really kidding, but I’m kind of kidding. I mean, thank you for the enthusiasm. Can I get a wolf whistle or something? [Audio is silent for seven seconds] ... be a big coming-out speech tonight because I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age, in those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family and co-workers and then gradually, proudly to everyone who knew her, to everyone she actually met. But now I’m told, apparently that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a prime-time reality show. 

"You know, you guys might be surprised, but I am not Honey Boo Boo Child. No, I’m sorry, that’s just not me. It never was and it never will be. Please don’t cry because my reality show would be so boring. I would have to make out with Marion Cotillard or I’d have to spank Daniel Craig’s bottom just to stay on the air. It’s not bad work if you can get it, though."

The problem with this aspect of her speech is that she is basically teasing the media about a "confessional" that she is "nervous" about making which will be "loud and proud" and then instead of actually saying "I'm a lesbian" or "I'm a single lesbian" or "I'm single and I'm looking for woman" she just says "I'm single." This inability to actually ever use the words "gay" or "lesbian" in her entire rambling peroration has most definitely frustrated many, many lesbian (and other LGBT) observers.

In addition, she is also claiming that she "already did my coming out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age." Really? Jodie Foster has been known in several circles as a lesbian for decades and has therefore been a legitimate target of people who support outing (such as myself) since at least 1991. The first time she can really be considered as being officially out of the closet is probably 2007, when she made a speech at one of the many, many awards ceremonies at which she has been honored and mentioned the main person in her life was named Cydney. Since that was merely over 5 years ago and she has been in the public eye for over 40 years (since the age of 3!) it is at the very least hypocritical for her to claim that she did not actively hide, conceal and obfuscate her sexual orientation for decades while she was near the pinnacle of Hollywood movie making. (This is a woman who has won two Best Actress Oscars--for 1988's The Accused and 1991's The Silence of the Lambs!)

But then her speech moved from merely being hypocritical to literally being offensive when she basically disparages other celebrities who have come out by saying that "ever celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a prime time reality show" by equating being honest about your private life to creating a spectacle of one's life like "the Honey Boo-Boo Child." This is simply wrong and incorrect. There are many, many different ways to come out, and to say that everyone who comes out (i.e. discusses "the details of their private life" with the public) is acting like Honey Boo Boo is patently offensive and projects a negative portrayal of people who do come out matter-of-factly, like Anderson Cooper, Ellen Degeneres, Sir Ian McKellen and Rosie O'Donnell. (Although it should be remembered that almost all of these people were also rumored to be LGBT before they publicly acknowledged it.) No one was asking Foster to make a reality show about her family life, but just acknowledge the reality that she loves (and lives with)  women.

There are still people who are widely believed to be gay who are at the same level of fame as Foster (such as 2-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey) who are not out and who are also targets of outing. (There are many many more who may or may not be gay but who are rumored to be such and whom we probably won't know definitively about until after they die or at least decades from now.) Foster's speech will not make things any easier for those members of the Hollywood elite who still think being publicly honest about being gay is something which should not be done, which is odd considering the clear over-representation of people who are LGBT in positions of power and celebrity in Hollywood! (One of the most bizarre aspects of the Celebrity Closet is that very often it is the LGBT staff and hangers-on around the Celebrity that encourages them to stay in the closet.)

She then went on to say, the following, which I am designating as today's Queer Quote:

"There is no way I could ever stand here without acknowledging one of the deepest loves of my life, my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life, my confessor, ski buddy,consigliere, most beloved BFF of 20 years, Cydney Bernard. Thank you, Cyd. I am so proud of our modern family. Our amazing sons, Charlie and Kit, who are my reason to breathe and to evolve, my blood and soul. And boys, in case you didn’t know it, this song, all of this, this song is for you."

The  interesting thing about this second quote is that she acknowledges the existence of her "ex-partner in love" with whom she raised her two kids. But, because "Cydney" sounds like it could be a male name, many of the millions of people watching world wide may not have realized that Jodie Foster was revealing publicly the existence of her longtime same-sex relationship. Thus as a big coming out speech it is not very effective, because it takes an inferential step to deduce the homosexuality of the speaker.

Regardless, it was an important statement to make, and overall it will have a net positive impact on "teh gays" but it would have been a much more effective statement if she had made it 2 decades ago when she was a more relevant part of the media elite. I would be shocked if the percentage of people under the age of 25 years old who even know who Jodie Foster is and can name more than two of her movies is above 10%. Frankly, there was really no excuse for the other aspects of her speech which I have analyzed above as exceedingly problematic.

Celebrity Friday: Top 50 Coming Outs of 2012

2012 was a very big year for celebrities to come out. At TowleRoad, they produced a list of what they call the Top 50 coming outs of 2012. For example, the Top 10 are:

1. Andrew Ahn
2. Gillian Anderson
3. Paul Babeu
4. Matt Bomer
5. Thomas "Bozzy" Bosworth
6. Anne Burrell
7. Sam Champion
8. Cheryl Chow
9. Anderson Cooper
10. Orlando Cruz

You should go see the full list for your self.

Hat/tip to TowleRoad

Celebrity Friday: Anderson Cooper Comes Out

Anderson Cooper, the CNN reporter/news anchor and daytime television talk-show host, has officially acknowledged his homosexuality in an email to well-known openly gay blogger Andrew Sullivan that was published on Monday July 2.

I’ve also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible. There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand. 

The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud. 

I have always been very open and honest about this part of my life with my friends, my family, and my colleagues. In a perfect world, I don't think it's anyone else's business, but I do think there is value in standing up and being counted. I’m not an activist, but I am a human being and I don't give that up by being a journalist.

Of course it had long been known in most gay and media circles that the 45-year-old, blue-eyed hunk was gay, and he had often been photographed with his boyfriend Benjamin Maisani around New York City where they both live.

Congratulations, Anderson!

What Do You See? A Racial Rorschach Test

What Do You See? What do you think is happening in these pictures?

An interesting study trying to get to the root of racial understanding by children was commissioned by Anderson Cooper of CNN. It uses the pictures above and asks children "What is happening in these pictures?" It is supposed to be an update of the now-classic doll research from the 1940s which investigated how African-American kids viewed race (and revealed that they had incorporated negative self-image about dark skin from a very early age).

According to CNN:

The updated study aims to answer such questions as these: “Is race a factor in how children view conflicts and choose friends? Do children see race or are they, as many parents believe, socially colorblind? How, when and why do they form their opinions on race? Can those opinions change over time or at a certain age, are kids “hard-wired” about race? And does the racial make-up of their school and environment affect their opinions on race?”

The full story entitled "race relations through a child's eyes" can be viewed online.

One of the points of doing this research is to point out the reality that people of different races can view images and events very differently, as the ongoing controversy about the killing of Trayvon Martin has revealed to some.

There's a 2011 report (Post-Racial? Race and Americans in the Age of Obama) by the Greenlining Institute which summarizes:

 “People of color tend to see the state of relations between whites and blacks as being far worse than whites see it. While more than twice as many whites believe there is “a little” racial discrimination in America as believe there is “a lot,” Hispanics divide roughly evenly between the two choices, while blacks overwhelmingly see “a lot” of discrimination – by a nearly four to one margin,” the summary read.

According to this report, only 16 percent of whites believed that there was “a lot” of discrimination in America, compared with 56 percent of blacks and 26 percent of Latinos. As to whether there was “some” discrimination, 44 percent of whites, 56 percent of blacks and 48 percent of Latinos agreed. When it came to whether there was “a little” discrimination, 39 percent of whites, 8 percent of blacks and 21 percent of Latinos concurred.

What do you think about race relations in America? Give feedback in the comments!

CNN Weekend Anchor Don Lemon Comes Out!

Don Lemon, CNN's Weekend Anchor, is revealing in a new book coming out this week that he is a gay man. The 45-year-old African-American television celebrity reveals in Transparent that he was abused as a child and never knew his father.

The New York Times reports:

Few national television news anchors or hosts have publicly acknowledged being gay. Rachel Maddow is perhaps the best known. Her MSNBC colleague, Thomas Roberts, has also come out as gay.

Mr. Lemon has not made a secret of his sexual orientation in his work life; many of his CNN co-workers and managers have long been aware that he is gay. But he still acknowledged that going public in his book carries certain risks.

“I’m scared,” he said in a telephone interview. “I’m talking about something that people might shun me for, ostracize me for.”

Even beyond whatever effect his revelation might have on his television career, Mr. Lemon said he recognized this step carried special risk for him as a black man.

“It’s quite different for an African-American male,” he said. “It’s about the worst thing you can be in black culture. You’re taught you have to be a man; you have to be masculine. In the black community they think you can pray the gay away.” He said he believed the negative reaction to male homosexuality had to do with the history of discrimination that still affects many black Americans, as well as the attitudes of some black women.

How long does Anderson Cooper think he can stall before affirmatively answering the question that everyone already knows the answer to?

Greater Than AIDS Campaign Featured on CNN's AC360 1/14/11

The above well-produced PSA in the "We > AIDS" campaign by the Black AIDS Institute has been popping up on television in the last few weeks.

BAI's Founder and Executive Director Phill Wilson will be on a special 1-hour segment of Anderson Cooper's AC360 on CNN Friday January14th at 9pm EST/PST called "Hope Survives: 30 Years of AIDS."

Openly Gay UM Student Prez Talks About Being Cyber-Stalked By Psycho

WATCH: Psycho Heterosexual Supremacist Harassing Gay College Student

This is one of the most bizarre stories you will ever see. A public official, a Michigan Assistant Attorney General Tom Shirvell, has been electronically harassing the 21-year-old student body president Chris Armstrong. CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed Shirvell. Watch what happens.

WATCH: Wolfson v. Gallagher on AC360

Celebrity Friday: Evan Wolfson

Evan Wolfson is the founder and executive director of Freedom to Marry, the national organization devoted to fighting for marriage equality, and he appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper show to debate the odious Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council about the aftermath of Maine's vote to sustain a people's veto of their marriage equality bill LD 1020.

Hat/tip Joe.My.God

VIDEO: Don't Ask Don't Tell Debate on CNN

The debate gets hot between Dan Choi and the odious Elaine Donnelly with Anderson Cooper attempting to moderate.

Bill Clinton Endorses Marriage Equality

Real World Brooklyn Features Gay and Transgender Members

J.D. (Latino gay man)


Katelynn

MTV's Real World stopped being in my DVR a looooong time ago but I may have to put the 21st edition of the show, Real World: Brooklyn because not only do they have a (cute!) gay Latino man in the cast but also a transgender named KateLynn who (along with a third castmember) all volunteer at the New York City Gay and Lesbian Community Center during this season.

What do you think? Are you gonna watch the show? There's also some dish around JD: He may or may not be Anderson Cooper's ex-boyfriend.