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Which begs several questions: Is this really journalism as Perez claims? Does America really have the right to know the name of the allegedly closeted actor or his ex-boyfriend? And is what Hilton does a good thing or a bad thing for the gay community?

“I don't know if they have the right to know,” Hilton admitted, “but they have the desire to know, and therefore media outlets will attempt to feed that hunger. … However, I think that if you're someone like [actor's name removed], who dated a male friend of mine, and a reporter asked him, ‘Hey [actor's name removed], there are all these reports that you're gay. Are you gay?' And, instead of him saying, ‘I'm not talking about my personal life,' he should say, ‘Yes, I am gay. And I'm not talking about my personal life.' That's cool by me. I'm not going to tell him what to do, but that's what I think he should do. But people are going to talk regardless.”

The self-crowned Queen of All Media is doing a great deal of talking himself — and that has earned him quite a bit of criticism from the gay community. Kim Ficera, author of the AfterEllen.com column Don't Quote Me as well as Sex, Lies and Stereotypes: An Unconventional Life Uncensored, takes a critical stance on what Hilton is doing. In her Nov. 29, 2006, column, Ficera wrote:

If Perez Hilton wants to be our knight in shining armor, he should stop looking for the Loch Ness monster in an aquarium, and work harder to gain our respect as both a journalist and a cultural attaché. But respect doesn't seem to be something he's interested in.

The bitchy view from Hilton's high horse is suspect. I have to question the character of a man who attacks others on such deeply personal levels, without provocation and for self-benefit, monetary or otherwise. On some level, it's acceptable, I suppose; gossipers are notoriously bitchy, speculation is fair game and trash talk is a tool of the trade. But Hilton's lack of boundaries exposes something closer to rage and reveals a rather unenlightened train wreck of a man.

Hilton insists that he is a journalist rather than a social climber, and that his brand of reporting is not a form of “outing.”

“Well, that word is not part of my vocabulary,” he said. “I don't ‘out' celebrities; I report on the private lives of public figures: gay or straight, out or not. So I don't do anything different than what US Weekly does about Jessica Simpson's secret relationship with John Mayer. Just like I reported about Lance Bass' secret relationship with Reichen Lehmkuhl. It's the same thing in my eyes. I think what's different is that now I'm doing it on a larger scale. I'm not doing anything that hasn't been done before that Michael Musto or Michelangelo Signorile or even [when] Out magazine outed Anderson Cooper.”

Out columnist Michael Musto wrote a suggestive column about the CNN anchor's sexuality in March 2005. Since then, Cooper has issued vague responses but has never clearly stated that he is gay. Hilton continued: “It's nothing different or revolutionary. I'm not out to change the world or cure cancer. … I'm just reporting like I would any other story.”

Michelangelo Signorile, the openly gay radio host of The Michelangelo Signorile Show on Sirius Satellite Radio's OutQ channel, has also reported on the sexual orientation of several public figures. They include the gay son of political activist Phyllis Schlafly, deceased billionaire Malcolm Forbes and fellow journalist Pete Williams.

When asked for his opinion of Hilton's unorthodox brand of reporting, Signorile took a balanced view of the situation. “I've always maintained that there is a distinction between news and gossip,” he said. “And I've always felt that the journalists are going to report on politics, and working journalists should be reporting on gay public figures when it is relevant. … For gossip columnists, they're not often reporting the news that must be reported. You know, they're not playing by the same rules as journalists.”

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