Have You Never Been With a Fellow?

"I'm so not. I'm so heterosexual...What am I doing to make people think this? Later I thought it was cool. But there's no truth to it." -- Oliiva Newton-John, in the Globa tabloid, March 11, 2013.

Queerty had a lovely interview with Olivia Newton-John over the weekend about the Aussie icon's upcoming residency at the Tropicana in Vegas, in which she voices her onging support for LGBT equality. (Read HERE.) Although I try to avoid reading comments -- especially the vicious ones typically seen on Queerty and Towleroad -- I happened to see this one and for some reason it really stuck in my craw.

ProfessorVP:

When I say that popular and influential gays and lesbians who claim to be supportive of gays and lesbians while at the same time refusing to come out themselves… when I say that they are not only not supportive of gays and lesbians, but what they do is actually proving a lack of support, there will inevitably be a reply by someone criticizing me. “How dare you call Olivia Newton-John a lesbian!” (like it’s so bad it’s libel) And the inevitable “How do you know?” Listen, it is very hard to keep a secret like that, many people already know, and like a lot of people with a secret, she sometimes is tempted to put her cards on the table. She did once, allowing herself to be interviewed for the book “The Vinyl Closet” several years ago, in the chapter “The Story of O.” Both she and her gay then-husband Matt Lattanzi were candid as to why they had to protect their careers. That was a few decades ago. It is now 2014, and women like Olivia and, to a far greater degree, Oprah Winfrey, are financially independent to say the least, and if they never earned another penny, they’d do okay, and could stop treating their fans like idiots. Like Winfrey, Olivia is far more than just coy about her sexuality, but downright deceptive, even going so far as keep marrying, and blaming the late Johnny Carson for spreading the rumor about her. What she and other successful gay men and lesbians do- being supportive of gay men and lesbians- is like Bullwinkle being supportive of moose. It is the same old fear and shame. Far into the 21st century, aside from being disingenuous, their attitude seems straight out of one of those tacky time capsules, containing things like Dewey Beats Truman. Enough already, time to move on.

I vividly recall where I was when I first heard the "Olivia's a lezzie" rumor. It was 1980 and my friend Greg and I were playing tennis at La Casita, one of the recreation centers inside Dobson Ranch, the Charles Keating-built masterplanned community my family lived in from 1979 to 1990. We were resting near the net -- those crosscourt forehand battles could really knock the wind out of you, especially in 100-degree heat -- when Greg shared the news with me. I think he'd gotten the tidbit from his totally cool big sister Francine, who smoked and got pregnant out of wedlock. (That's how cool she was!) I was still digesting the news that "Rod Stewart had to get his stomach pumped after swallowing too much cum,", so it hit me hard, especially since Olivia was "my girl." Although I was becoming aware of my own "alternative" sexual feelings, hearing it about the Australian golden girl made my stomach feel as if I'd swallowed one load too many loads. I can only imagine it was the same combination of disappointment and protectiveness that parents feel when their children come out, which is ultimately based on ignorance and homophobia. ("What will people think of her when they find this out? Her life is going to be so much harder." Just a typical 13-year-old boy concerned about the career of an international sex symbol!)

I'm not sure if Elton John was right or not that once the rumor spread, the truth was just a thing of the past. By all accounts, hunky ex-hubby Matt Lattanzi is gay -- and the Livvy is too rumor has never really dissipated and may very well be true. But I'm not entirely sure this commenter is right when he says that Oliiva and other gay celebrities who refuse to come out "are not only not supportive of gays and lesbians, but what they do is actually prov(id)ing a lack of support." Sure, it would be WAY BETTER for all gay people to come out. But like Anderson Cooper before her, Olivia's (and his) being pro gay and speaking out for marriage equality is definitely better than NOT being pro gay and speaking out in support of marriage equality. And I don't see how you can call this providing a "lack of support" for LGBTers.

Thoughts?

P.S. The irony that I am writing about this on the same day that the woman I dumped Olivia for "came out" as bisexual is not lost on me!