AfterElton Briefs: George Takei, Desmond Tutu, Tom Cruise, Dan Abrams and more!

A long time ago, I was the opinion editor for the SMU Daily Campus. I had to edit a commentary of someone who was quite upset that editorial policy mandated that the "N" word could not be used in any article or commentary. He was so upset, he informed me the policy was "gay" and had the gall to tell me I was being oversensitive because "gay" doesn't mean "homosexual" anymore. It means "stupid." On the plus side, after schooling him on language and entymology, he never again graced the news room with his presence.

If anyone's curious, my first National Coming Out Day column can be found in the archives at http://web2.htrigg.smu.edu/~dcwww2/HTMLPages/Fall96/DC.10-10-96/DC.10-10-96-c.ncod.html

In fairness to Defamer their have been rumors about JC being gay for years just like there were rumors about Lance Bass being gay, and Gossip columnist Jonathan Jaxson said that Chace Crawford was gay months before he was spotted all over the world with JC. Globe Magazine and TMZ have all had this story going so it's not just Defamer.

All of Carry(sp?) Underwoods relationships seem to be designed for publicity and you never seem to see these two supposedly straight guys out with the women there supposed to be dating anymore. Just each other. Where there's smoke there's fire.

Face it. We're in a new day. People in the media have a right to openly speculate if two celebrities are gay or not. That's actually kind of a positive developement. Lance Bass, TR Knight, Neil Patrick Harris are all guys who were spotted all over the place with there boyfriends months before they were outed. They all eventually came out. I don't think Chace will come out though, (if he's even gay) he's to much of a hearthrob and I see a publicity storm of women all of a sudden showing up in his path. My personal opinion is that he's gay but I though that long before he was spotted in private cabins and Elton John parties with JC.

"Can two handsome, young men be friends without everyone speculating they might be gay? Not if Defamer has anything to say about it (via Towleroad.com)."

We all have off days, but how is the above bit any better than when AE was correctly critizing Gawker.com when it was generating hits via blog posts regarding third-party speculation about gay newscasters?

AE holds itself to higher standards than much of the junk that is out there, but spreading the word about these rumors, which come from even less reputable sources than Gawker.com was using may make the site look less than forthright in what it's trying to be/do.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=518130334

Whatever JC and Chace are up to is not of our concern.  There is this overwhelming demand that all gay celebrities come out.  While it can be helpful to some extent, it is not reasonable to tell them all what they should do.  Chace is not such an established star that he can afford to come out without some reprecussions, JC is attempting to re-establish himself as an independent singer.  I am sure both of them have the standard morals clause in their contracts which could be invoked if they did come out.  Ellen and Rosie were both multimillionaires when they came out.  As is, I suspect, Neil Patrick Harris given his long and enduring career.  Lance is set for life, and more, from his N"sync days and has chosen a different path of wanting to be a producer, where his sexuality will make no difference.

Of course anyone has a right to speculate if they so choose, but, it is not helpful to say every man in show business is gay because they chose to be an actor or are young and attractive.  Only 10% of all celebrities are likely to be gay at best.

I don't think anyone is asking them to come out. I'm just saying that it's fair game to ask them if they are dating. They can deny it if they want. They probably are just really really really good friends.

Regular everyday people get asked about their personal lives all the time. Gay and straight. Are we saying that being gay is the worse thing in the world and it can't even be asked about about?  It's 2008. The old days when you could only talk about the dating lives of straight celebrities are over.