Celeb Closet Cases: Outing in the 21st Century

SheWired’s sister site Gay.com raises an interesting question about the levels of being out in the 21^st century, and wonders why certain celebrities are still living in ‘the glass closet.’

Inspired by the release of OUT magazine’s fifth annual Power 50 list, which covers powerful people in the LGBT community determined by a range of factors, "including power to influence cultural and social attitudes, political clout, individual wealth, and a person's media profile."

The list is loaded with many of the usual suspects, like entertainers Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris, political commentator Rachel Maddow, designers Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs, Congressman Barney Frank and White House Social Secretary Jeremy Barnard.

But the big surprise is their #1 pick: Tim Cook, the COO/Acting CEO of Apple.

The surprise isn't that many in the LGBT community don't know Cook, it's that Cook isn't publicly out.

And he’s not the only non-officially out LGBT professional they included on the list:

CNN journalist/anchor Anderson Cooper, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, blogger Matt Drudge, and IAC Chairman Barry Diller (though Diller isn't that quiet about his life) are also mentioned.

So, how do you feel about the power of being out versus the privacy of remaining closeted (on some level)? Do crusades to out celebrities do more harm than good for gay equality? Do famous LGBT people, or “gaymous” people have a responsibility to be out?

Obviously there is no simple answer, but it's rare to have this discussion opened up to the larger gay community. Normally it's a conversation reserved for news shows and involving "LGBT leaders" no one in the gay community elected. So let's change that. Right here, right now.

Weigh in on the debate now and vote on the poll at Gay.com.

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