But about that Oprah quote. Is it even a denial that she's gay? "People think I'd be so ashamed of being gay that I wouldn't admit it? Oh, please." That's only saying it's ridiculous to think that I'm the kind of person who would be ashamed of being gay. If I were the interviewer, I'd want to ask: Yes, I know you wouldn't be ashamed of being gay, but as a popular mainstream daytime television personality, might you not reason that your audience is not ready to hear that someone like you is gay, and might you not decide to remain discreet about it in order to continue to reach them?
But let's look at the source material. It's an interview on the home territory of Oprah Magazine, with both Oprah and her best friend Gayle King.
Gayle: The truth is, if we were gay, we would so tell you, because there's nothing wrong with being gay.The boldface indicates possible hedging. But Oprah says "Yeah" to Gayle's initial statement, so she's either not gay or she is liar. And it would bother her if you thought that she was a liar.
Oprah: Yeah. But for people to still be asking the question, when I've said it and said it and said it, that means they think I'm a liar. And that bothers me.
Gayle: Well, particularly given how open you've been about everything else in your life.
Oprah: I've told nearly everything there is to tell. All my stuff is out there. People think I'd be so ashamed of being gay that I wouldn't admit it? Oh, please.
And doesn't having a nonsexual best friend as good as Gayle seem highly desirable to you? It's not as though the relationship only makes sense if it's sexual.
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I'd like to have a close, lifelong friend like that. All my friends are either online only or transitory.
Yes, but is she still beating her wife?
Just as a technical point, in most cases where I hear homosexuality discussed, there appears to be a clear distinction between gay and lesbian, which has caused me to assume that the term "gay" refers specifically to male homosexuals, not all homosexuals. True or false?
I mean, if it also meant she was a man I can see why she'd want to keep that under wraps - at least until she was having trouble in the ratings or something.
This is silly. One should take her at her word since she has already made clear denials about being gay. And as the first or second wealthiest black person in the country, (with the former owner of BET probably being first), she would hardly be effected by coming out, and could just as soon focus on production instead of her show (if it were to lose audience). A billion dollars goes a long way.
People, when they don't understand something, always rush to the lazy explanation, or the entertaining one, or one that conforms to their limited world view. It's like those people who read letters written 100 or 300 years ago, and see the passion and warmth in how people of the same sex addressed each other, and then leap to the conclusion that the writers had to be gay.
Also, I've seen so many friendships like Gayle's and Oprah's among black women, and it's not at all unusual. Nearly every black woman has a Gayle.
George said...
"She had about as much effervescence as a 20 pound hunk of lead."
Or maybe, George, the show was not designed to "effervesce you"? You being a guy and all?
It's always amazing how people extrapolate a worldview from a miniature moment.
It's sad and it's almost like we *can't* have real relationships, or perhaps a good term would be primary relationships, that are not sexual. Why not?
I am surprised no one has brought up Stedman.
I think that the assumption that society attaches a stigma to "a popular mainstream daytime television personality" being gay is incorrect.
Many people may not like homosexuality. But it has become so accepted as a reality that no entertainer is harmed by coming out. Ellen De Generes is a beloved daytime talk show host. Rosie O'Donnell is coming back to the genre soon.
Mark Daniels
I'm Gay!
There I said it!!!
I'm soo glad I didn't pursue my childhood dream to become a famous actor. I'm also glad I'm too lazy to become a world famous blogger! :-)
There was a time when I younger, my colledge days, that I was very fearfull of telling my friends or having them find out about my secret life, because partly I didn't want to change the nature of our relationship, and partly because I feared rejection over the relevation. Friends are hard to come by when you're insecure with the world and your place in it. Strange thing, most of the friends I did tell during that time are still here, and the others have faded out of my life.
I am surprised Stedman hasn't come up yet either. Any suspicions I have about her sexuality flow through her relationship with him. I thought they were engaged, but other people have said they are simply "life partners". Even so, I doubt she is a lesbian, though I have never heard much about Gayle King's love life.
I see about an hour of her show a year, though I did watch that stupid Oprah's Legends Ball, or whatever it was. That was just a cheesefest of self importance, arrogance and self love. If I were as big of a star as some of these people are, I would have been embarassed to appear on that.
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