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Not-out Cooper on Out's Gay Power List
OUTED CooperMost of the celebrities and tycoons on Out magazine's first Gay Power List (May issue, on newsstands Apr. 17) will probably be grateful for the honor, but maybe not the two on the cover. That's because Anderson Cooper and Jodie Foster have never publicly identified themselves as gay, though neither has ever challenged plentiful speculation to that effect.
"It's a bit of chutzpah on our part," acknowledges Out editor in chief Aaron Hicklin. But he says it wasn't merely an attempt to stir up controversy. "The A-list and even B-list gays are mostly in the closet still, and those are the kinds of people we need to have on our cover. This is a way of addressing that."
While the ethics of outing are up for debate, Cooper and Foster, who appear on the cover in the form of models holding up masks of their faces, were fair game, says Hicklin, because they inhabit what he calls the "glass closet." "The Anderson Coopers and Jodie Fosters of the world don't go to any great lengths, if any at all, to pretend they have partners of the opposite sex. There are a lot of closeted gay men and women who aren't going to make that list because the risk of litigation [against Out] is too great."
A CNN spokeswoman said Cooper was out of the office and not immediately reachable; the network itself had no comment. A message left for Foster's spokeswoman wasn't immediately returned.
Not-out Cooper on Out's Gay Power List
OUTED CooperMost of the celebrities and tycoons on Out magazine's first Gay Power List (May issue, on newsstands Apr. 17) will probably be grateful for the honor, but maybe not the two on the cover. That's because Anderson Cooper and Jodie Foster have never publicly identified themselves as gay, though neither has ever challenged plentiful speculation to that effect.
"It's a bit of chutzpah on our part," acknowledges Out editor in chief Aaron Hicklin. But he says it wasn't merely an attempt to stir up controversy. "The A-list and even B-list gays are mostly in the closet still, and those are the kinds of people we need to have on our cover. This is a way of addressing that."
While the ethics of outing are up for debate, Cooper and Foster, who appear on the cover in the form of models holding up masks of their faces, were fair game, says Hicklin, because they inhabit what he calls the "glass closet." "The Anderson Coopers and Jodie Fosters of the world don't go to any great lengths, if any at all, to pretend they have partners of the opposite sex. There are a lot of closeted gay men and women who aren't going to make that list because the risk of litigation [against Out] is too great."
A CNN spokeswoman said Cooper was out of the office and not immediately reachable; the network itself had no comment. A message left for Foster's spokeswoman wasn't immediately returned.
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