News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media

People thinks the gays are sexy too!

To promote their annual "Sexiest Man Alive" issue (a highly esteemed list second only to AfterElton.com's own Hot 100), People Magazine has uploaded 100 Sexy Men In 1 Minute to their website. The video clip is, well, exactly what you'd expect: a collection of photos of 100 sexy male celebrities set to music which lasts exactly one minute.

Interestingly, amongst the staples of such lists (Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Jakey Poo, etc.) at least three openly gay celebs made the cut: T.R. Knight, Neil Patrick Harris, and Tim Gunn (though there easily could be more, as those photos fly by awfully fast).

Now, as someone who has flipped through an issue of People once, maybe twice in my lifetime (and only then in a doctor's waiting room, when there were no other options), I'm not sure that the magazine has ever included any gay men on their sexy list. Browsing through the photo galleries on their site, which only date back to 2003, I wasn't able to spot any.

If the gays' invasion into the video is any indication, might we see some openly gay men included when the list is released next week?

WW's picture

People who need People

People's history of putting openly gay men on their lists seems to be up and down. I  recall some years where there were no openly gay guys on them (I wrote them once to point that out, and never got a response). Last year, I believe People devoted a whole page to Tim Gunn in their ''Sexiest'' guys issue. But whereas some of the other featured guys reflected on what they looked for in a woman, Gunn's piece made no mention of what he looked for in a guy, or even acknowledged he was gay. On the other hand, in 2002, People did a ''50 Hottest Bachelors'' issue and included two out guys: singer Matt Zarley & Danny Roberts from ''Real World.'' 
JBE's picture

Does that mean

we have finally been accepted by straight society?  Yahoo, break out the champagne! 

My apologies for my sarcasm, I hate Tuesdays.

Cheers

JBE

Insideguy's picture

Assume nothing

You are assuming that none of the past nominees  were closeted gays.   I look at People while waiting in the grocery line.   I haven't seen every list year but if recall correctly Kayan Douglas made the list a few years back.  I know of several closeted gays that often make those sorts of lists and have to think they have made the list at some point over the years .  This year's list seems to feature more out gays than in the past and it may come to include more in the future if others acknowledge their sexuality is less important than their talent(s). There have been many gay stars through the years and will be in the future, maybe they just won't have to suffer shame as they once did.                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

LyleMasaki's picture

I guess that depends on the

I guess that depends on the message you take from this. The message one might take out of this is that People thinks an openly gay celebrity can be sexy to a general audience -- which goes against the old common wisdom saying that straight female audiences won't accept a gay man as a sexy if they know he's gay since they can't fantasize about him. That idea was once used to keep closeted celebs in the closet and to limit the careers of openly gay performers (since, it was argued, only gay audiences want to see gay actors in lead roles). So, if you're coming from that perspective, closeted celebs don't count, except maybe too compare how they were treated before coming out.

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