Maybe An Old Neighbor, Friend, Or Relative Is Gay

[PeaceBlondie]

I was perusing the list in wikipedia of more-or-less-confirmed famous people who were/are bisexual or gay. Lo and behold, there was my old neighbor! However, a bisexual neighbor told me the rumor a year before it was publicly announced, so maybe he knew.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gay,_...exual_people:_A

Interesting stories. Almost everybody born before 1960 was in the closet for decades, or all their life.

[OxfordWill]

go on then... who is the old neighbour..

[PeaceBlondie]

lead singer of King's X. I kept his apartment, checked his mail, etc., when they toured as the opening act for an AC/DC tour. Nothing in his apartment or mail box, the Rolling Stone interview, the Houston Chronicle business section article, my son's visit to their manager's office, conversations, etc. gave any clues that Doug is gay. We were all in the closet then.

[thaicurious]

hadn't even thought to check.

at last year's christmas party i was chatting with this listed guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Panozzo.

not panozzo, but my best friend, a famed actor who i sadly buried, is in wiki but not on the gay list. for a moment there i was tempted to add him. lololol. i have to give it more thought first to consider if he'd find it funny or if he'd be pissed. not that he has any say in the matter. god knows i think it's funny.

Edited September 23, 2008 by thaicurious

[OxfordWill]

I reckon you can strip 15% of those listed as bisexual based on it being fashionable.

[kek]

Please, please, nobody tell my mother that Johnny Mathis is gay ... it will ruin her twilight years.

On a similar musical note, I could not find Cliff Richard's name on the list nor by his real name of Harry Webb. Could it be that all those stories I heard were just scandalous rumours?

[endure]

Please, please, nobody tell my mother that Johnny Mathis is gay ... it will ruin her twilight years.

On a similar musical note, I could not find Cliff Richard's name on the list nor by his real name of Harry Webb. Could it be that all those stories I heard were just scandalous rumours?

He's sort of admitted it in his latest book...

[PeaceBlondie]

Having read many of the wikipedia biographies of suspected gay celebrities, I suspect Cliff Richard is like my neighbor - Christian and afraid to admit he's gay until he;s been in show business for decades. Cliff Richard is virtually unknown in the USA unless you saw Billy Graham evangelistic films in the 1960's, as I did. 250 million records, and never been married.

[Nip]

Please, please, nobody tell my mother that Johnny Mathis is gay ... it will ruin her twilight years.

Many years ago my mate played in Johnny Mathis's backing band. At the time Mathis had a top 20 hit, a love song he sang I think it was with Natalie Cole? Well I got free tickets to the show and have to say that while I can appreciate that the boy can sing and the show was excellent I would have preferred to see Aerosmith or Santana... Anyway Mathis closed the show with said duet with Natalie Cole and I went back stage... To my horror there was said Mr Mathis sitting on a bentwood chair with his boyfriend astride him mopping his brow etc etc.... I have never quite gotten over it!

[rixalex]

It seems a shame to me that Bird Thongchai isn't more open about his sexuality. Can't see why in a country like Thailand there's really any need for him to hide it (of course in an ideal world, there wouldn't be a need in any country).

Any ideas why he does?

Edited September 28, 2008 by rixalex

[PeaceBlondie]

It seems a shame to me that Bird Thongchai isn't more open about his sexuality. Can't see why in a country like Thailand there's really any need for him to hide it (of course in an ideal world, there wouldn't be a need in any country).

Any ideas why he does?

No idea. But in my fictional novel, Bird finally comes out as gay in Bangkok in 2006, and sings a duet with Sir Elton John.

[chrisyork]

Careful chaps!

In the first place I am actually convinced there are genuinly people out there who are not interested in relationaships - so "not married" may be a high suspicion factor, but it's not a clincher!! I have a freind of 40 years who is a resolute bachelor, but who I am quite certain is not gay, despite a certain degree of wishful thinking on my part.

Secondly, you are probably quite right about people born before 1960 having spent large numbers of years in the closety. But just because it isn't necessary now, doesn't necessarily make it any easier for them to come out. There's a lot of cemented in behaviour from years of dodging the issue and whilst they might feel OK in LoS where nobody knows them to start a fresh persona on the pink side, they will probably find it hugely difficult in an environment where they have already made a firm accomodation with their own version of reality.

Please lets have a bit of respect for those who don't (or didn't) have the courage to publicly acknowledge who they are. In my book its OK to share the knowledge discreetly amongst mutual freinds, quite another to blow their cover in ways they or their freinds wouldn't appreciate. Unless of course there's political hypocrasy involved!!

Chris

[catmac]

Careful chaps!

Please lets have a bit of respect for those who don't (or didn't) have the courage to publicly acknowledge who they are. In my book its OK to share the knowledge discreetly amongst mutual freinds, quite another to blow their cover in ways they or their freinds wouldn't appreciate. Unless of course there's political hypocrasy involved!!

Chris

I'm with you there, Chris.

I can see no justification for that hideous craze of "outing" unless the person concerned has indeed been a bloody hypocrite. Too easy for young people (and those of us lucky enough to be living here in the relative freedom of LOS) to forget the very real fear and pain of growing up gay in the '50s and early'60s in most Western countries.

If someone really hasn't felt able to come out at home - I can think of a very dear friend of mine, now in his seventies who still keeps his gay side a secret from his very close-knit family - that surely is their business. Even when they are dead and buried, what right has anyone to tell all and sundry of their personal life?

[endure]

I rented a room from a gay guy in his 70s. He'd spent all his life hiding the fact apart from during the war when he was in the army and had a couple of boyfriends. He joined as a private soldier and left as a Major with the Military Cross and a Mention in Despatches. He then went back into the closet until the 80s when the first crude electronic bulletin board systems started up. There used to be a system in the UK called Prestel with (sort-of) chatrooms. We gays used to monopolise one of them on a Saturday night after the pubs shut. We eventually arranged a meet in London. It was the first time he'd deliberately gone out and met gay folks in all his life. I eventually got a job down his way and rented a room as I said. He was the nicest bloke you could ever wish to meet and, apart from 6 years during the war, had spent his life hiding his sexuality from the world.