Some think that outing people, especially celebrities, is a good thing, because it gives more exposure to the gay community. But I’m a firm believer that people need to come out of the closet willingly, not against their own will. The exposure is only a good thing when they’re coming out proudly of their own volition, not being shamed into admitting to themselves, and the world, who they are.
It sounds like Kathy Griffin agrees, because here’s what she had to say about not outing her close friend Anderson Cooper, who yesterday publicly told the world he’s gay:
Believe it or not, I don’t “out” people. It is neither my business nor my desire. Remember, folks, I am a comedian, not a journalist. These weren’t questions where I could make a joke about Ryan Seacrest getting a mani/pedi. This isn’t a joke I make about whether Oprah and Gayle are gay lovers. I have no idea if Oprah and Gayle are gay lovers. I doubt they are, but as a comedian, I find some comedy in picturing those two girls running the world as a power couple. Anderson is someone who has led a very specific kind of professional life, who never talked and simultaneously exhibited social contradictions. And quite frankly, he never gave me permission to speak about something that represented the one part of his life he was not comfortable having confirmed in the media. But in my dealings with a certain sector of the press, that simply was never good enough.
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