ENTERTAINMENT
JUNE 11, 1993
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 19
alleged sexual harassment on the part of Clarence Thomas.] And until we can assure people that nothing like that would happen I think it will stay the same way, and I don't know how long that will take
So you think that for a long time to come, the rich and closeted will be able to buy their way out of exposure?
I think so. The way they protect themselves, it really does keep them from having their lives altered in any way. At the same time, though, it's breaking down in other areas, so that it's going to become increasingly difficult for them to do that. That's how the closets of power are going to break down, as more of the people in the middle and at the bottom come out. They're not going to take it anymore. I think that you're not going to see the media not wanting to engage in the secret no matter what the person does.
Wouldn't you think that the media would want to be sniffing out what would appear to be good stories and to be able to write stories about famous people?
Yeah, I think they want to, and, for instance, during the Pete Williams story,
The tabloids will actually help, because they burn things so much into the ground that nobody's going to care who's gay after a while.
middle-level editors and producers wanted to do it. They thought it was a good story. When it went to the very top, it got killed. When it goes to the top, the people in power who are friends with the closets of power, or who are in the closet themselves, are the ones who nix it. And I think they can do that once or twice, but I don't think that's going to go on forever.
I certainly don't want to see the mainstream media acting like the tabloids and outing people just because it's fabulous. I make a distinction between gratuitous outing and talking about someone's homosexuality when it is pertinent to a specific story. That's what I'd like to see the mainstream media do, and I think we will see that.
You dedicate the book to your parents, and you recently wrote a hilarious piece in the Advocate about your mother. Has your family been supportive of your activities?
In the beginning it was very difficult for them, but now it's amazing how absolutely
supportive they are. My mother saw me on the Today Show yesterday, and called me and told me how much she loved it, and how proud of me she was, and all of this sort of thing.
I think it was especially difficult for them in the beginning, because they were being outed in a way as the parents of a gay son. I mean it wasn't their choice when I was getting all this publicity when I was at OutWeek, it wasn't their choice to tell their friends that I was gay. I was now on the TV, and I was a bad gay, of course, so that was especially difficult for them, and something most gay people's parents wouldn't have to go through.
But then, once I got the book contract, suddenly for my mother there was some sort of legitimization in her eyes. I think that when my mother sees [Today Show host] Katie Couric treat me well, it makes her feel better, because this is a woman who my mother watches every day on television, and who she respects. So I think all that helps.
At age 32, you've had a career as a columnist, writer, activist, and now you have a book published by a very reputable publisher. You've led a pretty intense life so far. Are you afraid of burning out?
No, I used to be, but the way everything has gone, I've done so much, and they're all the kinds of things I spun in my mind when I was a teenager. And although nothing was ever planned, and I go two thousand miles an hour, I just kind of feel like there's a program in my head that I don't really have access to that has planned my life out. I think I'll do a lot more things that I want to do. I'm much more confident and comfortable now than I was even five years ago. I think that happens when you hit thirty or so, I guess.
Do you fantasize about going to see the movie Queer in America? Who would you fantasize to play Michelangelo Signorile?
Oh, God! [laughing] I couldn't even begin to come up with that. I haven't thought about fantasizing about the movie. I couldn't even begin to imagine who could play me. I really don't know.
What's next on your agenda?
I'd really like to write another book. I left the Advocate; I'm now working at Out Magazine, just doing two or three stories a year. I'd like to do long pieces. I'd really love to get into different parts of the country and do those local kinds of stories that have an effect on the community nationally, looking at a microcosm. I love meeting people around the country and I love working in different places. I'd really like to focus on the religious right, which I think is something to contend with for the next ten years.
Good luck on your tour, and good luck with the book. Thanks a lot.
♡
JUL
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