NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight
NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight
NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#0
Posted: 8/7/06 at 2:14pm
Interesting article in yesterday's NY Times, snippet:
===
If You Must Know, I’m Straight
By MIREYA NAVARRO
Published: August 6, 2006
LOS ANGELES
TO issue “the denial” in 2006, do the following:
Step 1: State emphatically what it is you are not.
Step 2: Scoff at the rumor with good humor.
Step 3: Note, for the record, your true feelings about the rumor: not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Or, skip steps 1 through 3 and opt for evasion with the nondenial denial: “I don’t want to talk about my private life.”
We are talking, of course, about denying the Gay Rumor, that surreptitious creature that attacks scores of entertainment, political and athletic personalities and that most recently has prompted disclaimers from Oprah Winfrey, the “Superman Returns” star Brandon Routh and Michael Strahan, the New York Giants defensive end.
Ms. Winfrey, who has denied in the past that she is a lesbian, said in the August “friendship’’ issue of her magazine, O, that her close bond with her best friend of 30 years, Gayle King, defies definition, but added: “People think I’d be so ashamed of being gay that I wouldn’t admit it? Oh, please.”
In the case of Mr. Routh, the denial came during a July 2 interview on “Larry King Live,” when Mr. King asked whether Superman’s appeal among gays, the subject of an earlier article in the gay publication “The Advocate,” could lead people to assume the actor was gay.
“I’m very confident in who I am and my relationship with my lovely girlfriend,” Mr. Routh responded.
The list of suspected lesbians and gay men is ever growing: In addition to the perennial suspect Tom Cruise, actors like Jake Gyllenhaal and Marcia Cross of “Desperate Housewives” have had to assert their heterosexuality. Mr. Strahan’s run-in with it was brief, prompted by a comment his wife made during their tumultuous divorce proceeding but that she later retracted.
“For every one coming out, we have five denials,” said Michelangelo Signorile, the gay author and Sirius Satellite Radio talk show host famous for pioneering the outing of prominent people as homosexuals in the late 1980’s. As for how gay rumors begin in the first place, they can be triggered by just about anything — a certain look, too many gay friends, being older and still romantically unattached. And more public figures are being put on the spot about their sexual orientation, something that was once considered in bad taste.
“The media is more willing to ask the question, because being gay has become a more publicly acknowledged fact of life,” said Larry Gross, director of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and author of “Up From Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men and the Media in America” (2001, Columbia University Press).
But while that may speak well of the achievements of the gay rights movement, some sociologists and gay advocates say that all the fuss over the Denial is one more indication of the stigma still attached to being gay....
Gay media watchers regard Mr. Gyllenhaal, who fielded questions about his sexual orientation after his starring role as a gay cowboy in “Brokeback Mountain,” as a model for the right approach.
“I can honestly say I’ve never been attracted to a man sexually,” he said, “but I don’t think I’d be afraid of it if it happened.”
Contrast that balanced response to sharp-tongued quotes attributed to Mel Gibson. After his drunken-driving arrest and anti-Semitic outburst in Malibu last week, entertainment journalists dredged up other controversial remarks of his, including the following quote from a 1992 interview with the Spanish newspaper “El Pais.”
“Do I sound like a homosexual? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them? I think not.”
Wrong approach, said Neil G. Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or Glaad. “Building ourselves up by putting another class of people down is never a good thing.” ...
The New York publicist Ken Sunshine said that among his celebrity clients, being an attractive 20-something man is almost a guarantee that gaydars will go off.
“It comes up all the time,” Mr. Sunshine said. “The gay rumors are based on nothing and then they have to make the decision to comment on their sexuality.”
Mr. Sunshine said his media strategy varies depending on the circumstances and the wishes of his clients, most of whom he said choose not to comment.
“Sometimes I yell and scream, sometimes we threaten to sue, sometimes we try to charm,” Mr. Sunshine said of how he deals with prodding from the news media. “It’s very difficult to combat with the celebrity obsession that we’re going through.”
If You Must Know, I'm Straight
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#1
Posted: 8/7/06 at 2:40pmIt never ceases to amaze me when celebrities hurt their career over how they respond to gay allegations. Gayle King was also gracious saying if she was gay she would say so, because there is nothing wrong with it. Celebrities always need to remember as well the power of the gay dollar and that the gays can keep you afloat during the lean years. Just ask so many divas of the past who are kept in a career by doing gay club dates, gay cruises, Pride parades and other events. Be good to the gays and they will take care of you. Cross them and you are banished like last year's shoes. Sorry Mandisa, you almost became a gay diva but you screwed that up.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#2
Posted: 8/7/06 at 2:45pm
Great article. Could have gone a little further. But good article. And yeah..Mandisa threw away a career.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#3
Posted: 8/7/06 at 2:46pm...lest we forget Donna Summer and her infamous remarks of 1981 and how her career took an *immediate* nosedive thereafter.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#4
Posted: 8/7/06 at 2:49pm
Well. she recovered and went out of her way to deny the so called "misrepresentation" of her comments while not denying anything. There was a thread about all that here once. I will say.. she now is a regular contributor to APLA ( Aids Project LA) and has generously donated percentages of her last two LA concerts for the cause. Next one is end of October at the LA County fair.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#5
Posted: 8/7/06 at 2:50pm
Michael Strahan, the New York Giants defensive end
heh.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#6
Posted: 8/7/06 at 2:53pmHow long, do you think, it will be before the world looks back at the current attitudes over the gay issue, and shakes its head in bemusement? I hope it's in my lifetime.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#7
Posted: 8/7/06 at 2:56pm
Lest we re-open that wound, Donna Summer was...
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WRONGLY PUNISHED
(Gay Times, November 1999)
by Richard Smith
I'm sure most gay men's hearts sank when Donna Summer's appearance at G.A.Y. last month caused the rumor that has dogged her for sixteen years to rise from the grave once more. It's baffling that this story - despite endless streams of denials from Donna - can still haunt her after all these years. That she once said Aids was a divine punishment from God has become something of a "gay myth." And like any good myth, it refuses to die, even though the truth is somewhat different. Part of the popular myth is that it was years before Donna Summer issued any denial. This is not true. Donna Summer has denied making such comments in every interview since the mid eighties. She issued a press statement in 1984, stating: "It is a source of great concern to me that anything I may have said has cast me as homophobic…all I can ask is for is understanding as I believe my true feelings have been misinterpreted."
It is true that Summer didn't take any legal action until 1991 - after New York Magazine printed a two-paragraph item in their gossip column. But that piece explicitly denied that Donna had made endless denials (concluding, wrongly, that "it's incomprehensible that she won't retract those statements.") Summer files a $50 million libel and invasion of privacy suit. Under terms that remain confidential, the case was settles out of court. At a press conference afterwards, Donna tearfully said, "the magazine said that I said homosexuals were sinners and that Aids was a divine ruling. That is completely false. I did not say it, I do not believe that. I would never say the things attributed to me in that article."
So what really happened and how did such a rumor start? As Donna has acknowledged, the whole thing started when she was talking to some fans after a concert in America at the end of 1983, about her recent conversion to Born Again Christianity. This conversion had been preceded by some form of collapse - after the death of disco at the end of the Seventies, her career had bottomed out and she split up with her husband and her record company Casablanca. ("I became desperate and suicidal. I was taking a very serious anti-depressant drug and knew I had to come off it - but I didn't know how. It wasn't living, it was living hell.")
It's important to remember that these were not good times for gay fans either. Aids had really hit hard, and it was manipulated by the Christian Right in the States, who were seen as the Republican Party at prayer. For many gay men, this was life during war time. And. Merely by being Born Again, Donna was seen as having defected to the side of our enemies. As one long time fan, Cathy Hawkins, explained to me: "The political climate of the time, combined with a bit of naivety on Donna's part, made for a bad combination. She would occasionally appear on Christian television shows - not realizing that those appearances allied her with the political right in the minds of some. I think that left some of her fans feeling a bit betrayed."
According to Donna Summer, initially she had hoped to clear up any confusion about her beliefs: "There was a lot of different stories in the newspaper, and I didn't want anybody to have the wrong idea, like I was going crazy or something. And so after one concert I told some people 'if you are interested I'll talk to you after the show'. So about 500 people stayed… At the end some boys were asking me some questions and I guess they were gay, and I answered the questions and then at some point one of the boys got angry and he started yelling back and forth to me and, you know, and we said things back and forth to each other, but not really. I can't explain it… He said it [Aids was God's punishment]. He said that I said it, but that's not what I said!"
I put an appeal out on the web, asking eyewitnesses to this incident to come forward. The following account from one fan, J, backs Donna's version of events. "A gentleman with Aids asked her if she would pray for him. She said she would be delighted. Then some wise-ass in the audience said something about, if she did, it would be hypocritical. She stopped and asked what he meant. There was some talking and I could not hear the next couple of exchanges. Then she said, "God so loved the world that he gave his only son". The world meant everyone. Then the guy went ballistic. I got confused during the debate, [I wasn't sure if he was like Jerry Falwell and attacking her for praying for the guy, or if he was gay and anti-God. Anyway, she was either frustrated or confused herself, and became sarcastic. People were leaving during this time because it was out of hand. She then told the guy it was because of the reckless lifestyle, Aids was in the gay community to begin with. The guys in the audience went berserk… That was the slam against gays."
J, a gay Christian, thinks she was right, although he acknowledges it wasn't something gay men wanted to hear. - "At the time we were all in denial [that] it had anything to do with sexual freedom, but we now know that was what caused the disease to spread so fast…" - but that's not the same as calling Aids a divine punishment, and at no point did she condemn gay men.
"The guy with Aids stayed and was prayed for. She never condemned him, but did ask that he turn his life to Jesus. Being a gay Christian, I had no problem, however, there are some gays in our community who will not accept this. I do not think she realized the whole thing was going to blow up in her face. Nor do I think she meant any malice to the gays whatsoever… I do not think she thought anyone would leave the room. She can be really naive."
J also stresses that Summer hugged the fan who had Aids; "At that time, people did not do that unless they had gloves on. She also prayed for him." And he emphatically states that Donna Summer said the exact opposite of Aids is a punishment from God. "If the people who got mad had stayed, they would have heard her say: 'the devil comes to steal and destroy, but God came to give life and life more abundantly', basically blaming Aids on the devil."
Some fans believe the rumor that Donna called Aids some divine punishment was started and spread by just one man who was at that concert. Some argue that those around Donna made things worse by shielding her from this 'bad press." In 1987 she spoke of why she may have appeared "unconcerned" by the rumor before: "When I was first becoming famous, the gay community said I was a guy, so I figured this is another rumor, this is gonna die too. So I really didn't get too bothered about it, you know?"
Donna says it was "A misquote taken completely out of context. I'm here to spread love and not to judge people." Asked to clarify what she meant, she says: "What I was trying to say was 'look, I've done a lot of crazy things in my time and God changed my life and helped me'. The message that I was trying to bring, that has been taken totally out of context and perverted, was that, whoever we are, God is still there and he does love us and he will forgive us only if we ask… I'm not trying to force it down your throat and I'm not trying to make you change."
All you can judge Donna Summer by is her record; her endless statements that she did not and would not say such a thing, her numerous performances for Aids charities, and the fact that everyone I've spoken to who knows Donna Summer - fans, journalists, and musicians - have all said the same thing: Donna Summer is in no way homophobic. "I've had the pleasure of talking to her around 17 times." J says. "All I can say is Donna is full of love, hates anything to do with gossip, hates lies, hates bigotry of any kind, and always accepts a person unless they do harm to her or her family. She knew I was gay and never shunned me or my partner. Donna Summer can not be anti-gay in any way."
© 1999 Gay Times
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#8
Posted: 8/7/06 at 2:59pm
"All you can judge Donna Summer by is her record; her endless statements that she did not and would not say such a thing, her numerous performances for Aids charities, and the fact that everyone I've spoken to who knows Donna Summer - fans, journalists, and musicians - have all said the same thing: Donna Summer is in no way homophobic. "I've had the pleasure of talking to her around 17 times." J says. "All I can say is Donna is full of love, hates anything to do with gossip, hates lies, hates bigotry of any kind, and always accepts a person unless they do harm to her or her family. She knew I was gay and never shunned me or my partner. Donna Summer can not be anti-gay in any way."
© 1999 Gay Times"
Thank you Pal..
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#9
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:01pmSo, did Donna say it or not? What do you think?
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#10
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:04pm
That is beautiful and peachy, and I shall forever belt out MacArthur Park with clear conscience, but it's beside the point.
My point was "look what happens when the gay public perceives you as being homophobic at ALL"...we have TREMENDOUS spending power, and ever more we are the arbiters of social trend.
It does not behoove you to piss us off.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#11
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:06pm
From the article, it sounds as though someone else said it, and it was attributed to her.
"According to Donna Summer, initially she had hoped to clear up any confusion about her beliefs: "There was a lot of different stories in the newspaper, and I didn't want anybody to have the wrong idea, like I was going crazy or something. And so after one concert I told some people 'if you are interested I'll talk to you after the show'. So about 500 people stayed… At the end some boys were asking me some questions and I guess they were gay, and I answered the questions and then at some point one of the boys got angry and he started yelling back and forth to me and, you know, and we said things back and forth to each other, but not really. I can't explain it… He said it [Aids was God's punishment]. He said that I said it, but that's not what I said!"
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#12
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:09pmBeyonce ran into a similar problem a few years ago, but she made a point to snuff it out within hours.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#13
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:11pmWhat i think is that most stars have people who hate them, and still they don't make up this kind of things about them. So why do people say Donna said this and they don't say that other stars say things like these as well? She must have said something.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#14
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:12pm
What happened with Beyonce?
And, I read the entire article.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/24/03
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#15
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:14pm
am I the only one not getting the "Mandisa" reference? I feel like I'm not reading for context.
The whole "treat us well" scenario reminds me of the "Gay Mafia" rumors and the JACK & KAREN episode that used it.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#16
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:14pm
It's not that she said "something", it's that she dared to be openly Christian in public, and you know the gays hate nothing more than a preachy Christian; you also have to imagine the social temperature back then. The gay community was a very wounded animal, and it took very little to cause a furor. The religious right was particularly vicious to them, and Donna being a devout Christian was ALL the fuel they (I'd say we, but I was only a year old and I don't feel right including myself) needed to (understandably) assume that she, like the rest of the evil godmongers, hated the gays.
It really wasn't fair to Donna, but...*shrug*...it's not the first time someone's taken heat for their beliefs.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#17
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:14pm
Read the article Muscle.
It was apparently said by someone else in a question to her - and the question was attributed to her as a statement.
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/6/04
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#18
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:16pm
Don't forget Mike Piazza, holding a press conference to announce he's not gay.
"Not that it's any of your business, but I f*ck playboy girls"
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#19
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:16pmWith Beyonce, she was quoted in a paper (one of the U.K. ones, I think) saying something like "God won't let me kiss a girl," in reference to the Britney/Madonna/Christina kiss. She said she was misquoted and threatened to sue the paper.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#20
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:17pm
It gets very difficult for mainstream performers who are Christian because we gays get very attentive once we know a performer is Christian and listen to what they say. Artists need to keep their spiritual beliefs far away from commerce. Everytime Beyonce or whoever praises Jesus, a gay rolls their eyes b/c of the persecution we have faced from religious groups. Also, gays can be left to wonder if artists who identify as Christian (Chenowith, Beyonce, Summer, and numerous others) will take their $$$ and secretly do that "love the sinner, hate the sin" mentality where they really don't like or value you, but accept you as a sinner. It can all be very disconcerting to gays who have been oppressed.
As far as Mandisa, she made it clear that her mentor and role model was a female preacher who was notorious for her anti-gay rhetoric in the media. The hateful apple doesnt fall far from the tree, so the gays dropped Mandisa like a hot potato. Also during one of her more "Jesus-y" preformances on Idol, she did an intro where she came out stating "It doesnt matter what your lifestyle is, Jesus will still save you" or some big bag of bulls#@t like that.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#21
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:19pmSay what you will about Cheno, but she has stepped up in that regard, such as when she was bumped from the Christian women's conference because she refused to adhere to their anti-gay views.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#22
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:22pm
I recall, and I may be wrong, but much earlier than that (around 1980, pre-AIDS) she stated that "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." Summer, that is.
Am I the only one who remembers this? Am I the only one who's old enough to remember this?
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#23
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:24pmOh I love me some Cheno and I am not dissing her, but there's always that little bit of paranoia in me that she thinks "love the sinner, hate the sin." I've heard that from so many Christians in my life who treat me fine to my face, but then secretly pray for me.
re: NY Times: If You Must Know, I'm Straight#24
Posted: 8/7/06 at 3:34pm
She never said it, Doodle. Girlfriend was FRAMED--and it stuck.
Donna Summer in the Advocate, July 4, 1989.
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"I know God is real. Anyone can tell you whatever they like - that God doesn't exist, you are God, I am God. Baloney! I cannot make a tree; I don't have that power. I can't stop a wave on the beach. I know there is a force outside of myself that is guiding my life. It's inside of me now too, because I have accepted it there. I have a lot of faith.
"Being a Christian," she continues, "doesn't make me perfect . I have chosen to live my life in a way that will be an asset to others as well as to my children and myself. If someone wants to misconstrue that with all the baloney about Christianity and people who profess to be Christian but are not, that's their problem. Christianity does not make you perfect; it's about asking God to hold you to the commitment to be perfect in a way."
This seemed like the right time to ask Summer the most important questions of our interview: Does she hate gay people? Does she think homosexuality is a sin? Does she think AIDS is God's wrath against homosexuals? And did she ever make a public statement to that effect?
"I did not make that statement," Summer says angrily. "Eight years ago, I made a reference to AIDS. What I supposedly said I did not say, and my reference to AIDS was really an innocent reference.
"At the time, I thought AIDS was a herpes pimple, like you get on your mouth. I certainly didn't have any. idea what it really was, and certainly if I had, in my heart I would not wish AIDS on anyone. I'm not that kind of person. It's one of the most horrifying diseases around. I don't think they're doing enough for it.
"I've lost a lot of friends who have died of AIDS,' continues Summer, tears welling in her eyes. 'I'm hurting as much as anyone else at the amount of people who are gone. Last year was an incredible year in terms of friends of mine who died - people who ran my first album, who were really close to me, beautiful guys, and I mean beautiful guys. It is devastating,
'In the past two years, I've done several AIDS benefits, but I'm not going to do AIDS benefits to prove to someone that I'm not antigay, Some of the most creative people in this country are gay and have given great things. I have people in my family who are gay. I have people in my life, who have been in my life before any of this stuff went on, who are gay.
"A couple of the people I write with are gay, and they have been ever since I met them. What people want to do with their bodies is their personal preference. I'm not going to stand in judgment about what the Bible says about someone else's life. I've got things in my life I've got to clean up. What's in your life is your business.
"I never said, 'If you are gay, God hates you. Come on. Be real. I don't understand that. Anybody who really knows me knows I wouldn't say that.
'I never started a war against gay people. It all started with one newspaper writer [Jim Feldman, in a 1983 review of Summer's post-born-again Atlantic City come-back concert, in the Village Voice). I did not make those statements… The guy who wrote it, I think he was angry at me for accepting God. But his attack wasn't on God; it was on me.
"I can't defend myself. People are just going to say, 'She can say anything now. ' But if I wrote a vicious story about you and put it in the newspaper, I guarantee that you would run into it for the rest of your life. It's always going to be in the back of people's minds, whether you said it or not.
"It hurts. It makes me ache. I can't stand to talk about it because it hurts so bad. When I first started, they said I was a man - a transvestite. That too was a rumor. It passed.
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