Queen Latifah Did Not Come Out
Queen Latifah wants it known: Despite rumors to the contrary, Queen Latifah's performance at Lesbian & Gay Pride in Long Beach was not a coming out party.
From Entertainment Weekly:
“That definitely wasn’t the case,” she tells EW. “I’ve never dealt with the question of my personal life in public. It’s just not gonna happen.”
Although she insists she hasn't and won't come out, Latifah did refer to the assembled LGBTfolk in Long Beach as "her people." She also said, presumably of performing at a pride celebration, "I've been waiting to do this a long time."
Though Long Beach was Queen Latifah's first pride event, she's performed for all-gay audiences before. In EW, she shares this anecdote:
“My first show that paid more than $10,000 was in a gay club on New Year’s Eve in San Francisco. Tupac happened to be in town, so he came to kick it with me. This was the early ’90s. And the boys were like, ‘Take your shirt off, Tupac!’ He wasn’t doing that. But we had a blast in there.”
I wish these closet-defenders had some sense of perspective.
newsflash, folks, people have been coming out for decades. in times far more unforgiving, dangerous and intolerant than today.
heck, people are still coming out and giving Visibility to our communities in places overseas where they are indeed being rounded up, arrested, and KILLED because of it.
and yet, they still Come Out. because it's important. The Closet helps nobody.
it makes me sick to hear cowardly excuses from grown-adults here in North America in 2012 - the same excuses I gave as a teen.
i'm so over the adult cowards who are shirking responsibility and passing off the hard work onto the shoulders of the young.
i tip my hat to the brave men and women who came out in the decades before i was born. you were the people who took the risks, who thought of OTHERS and not YOURSELVES, and because of your visibility, and your adamance that people see you and know you to be gay, i was born into a family of people who already knew gay men and women, and thus had no qualms with having a gay son.
Posted by: LittleKiwi | Jun 4, 2012 3:12:13 PM
"I have a last name as well as a first and have been out and proud since 1961."
And a big wheel in society, too. Don't you know, the world turns according to what David Ehrenstein thinks and does? Great, influential man, that. LOL.
I have to admit--being a nobody has its advantages.....it means you can behave any way you want and lose nothing by it because nobody knows who you are or cares what you do.....which makes it easy to be out.
I am sure there are days when celebrities like Queen Latifah and Anderson Cooper envy that carefreeness.
Posted by: Rick | Jun 4, 2012 5:08:53 PM
You effeminate extremist-liberals and diva-worshipping feminists who hate being men are the reason my father only let me perform fellatio on him if I wore a pink dress and a wig, because you gender-bending clowns made him think that my desire to perform oral sex on him meant I wanted to be a girl. It's all your fault!
Posted by: Rick | Jun 4, 2012 5:15:26 PM
I'm the best because I'm a Nobody AND a Closet-case.
I'm a nobody with nothing to lose and yet I still don't have the balls to come out.
My dad was right, he should have paid for my mom's abortion. I mean, he tried. Kicked her in the gut while she was pregnant with me, but I managed to survive. And look how well-adjusted I am now! You queens are just jealous.
p.s. does anyone else have fond memories of having sex with their geriatric family members? They're my favorite.
Posted by: Rick | Jun 4, 2012 5:19:54 PM
"I have to admit--being a nobody has its advantages.....it means you can behave any way you want and lose nothing by it because nobody knows who you are or cares what you do.....which makes it easy to be out."
And yet you're NOT out -- and hate everyone who is out like poison.
"I'm the best because I'm a Nobody AND a Closet-case.
I'm a nobody with nothing to lose and yet I still don't have the balls to come out."
You're the worst. The Absolute Worst.
And that gives you stiffy -- right "Rick"?
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Jun 4, 2012 6:46:12 PM
what is the deal with african-americans and sexuality?
Posted by: Bob | Jun 5, 2012 1:17:18 AM
While I respect the fact that Queen Latifah would prefer not to talk about her personal life, and agree that only she can make the choice about when/if to disclose her orientation...the mixed signals are getting ridiculous.
By trying to support her gay fan base while maintaining a facade for the benefit of her straight fans (as she seems to be doing) she's going to wind up alienating everyone.
Posted by: Tony M. | Jun 5, 2012 3:04:24 AM
"TONY M.,"
SO, YOU ARE SAYING IF A HETEROSEXUAL MUSICIAN IS WILLING TO PERFORM A CONCERT FOR A HOMOSEXUAL AUDIENCE, THE HOMOSEXUALS WOULD DECLINE BECAUSE THEY DO NOT KNOW THE MUSICIAN'S ORIENTATION. THAT IS SILLY. I GUARANTEE, IF GEORGE STRAIT OR BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN WERE WILLING - [I am glad they are not] - TO PERFORM FOR "gays," Y'ALL WOULD NOT BE COMPLAINING.
CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON
Posted by: CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON | Jun 5, 2012 3:29:26 AM
"BOB" (5 JUNE; 1:17:18 AM),
I AGREE. THAT IS WHY NEGROES DO NOT SUPPORT "gay-rights." "BOB," THE NEXT TIME YOU GO TO A PUBLIC MEN'S ROOM AND A NEGRO MALE WALKS IN, NOTICE HOW HE WILL GO TO THE TOILET STALL TO URINATE INSTEAD OF USING THE URINAL. [That is because he does not want a "gay" to "sneak-a-peek." SIR, THAT IS, "the deal with [A]frican-[A]mericans and sexuality."
CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON
Posted by: CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON | Jun 5, 2012 3:40:30 AM
I don't know what the deal is Bob> I'm gay and I'm black and have had no problem in being both.
It IS possible to tapdance and chew gum at the same time.
Christopher Allen Horton has obviously never heard of Bayard Rustin -- or the "Harlem Rennaissance" (a black gay and lesbian movement) either.
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Jun 5, 2012 9:42:11 AM
"THE NEXT TIME YOU GO TO A PUBLIC MEN'S ROOM AND A NEGRO MALE WALKS IN, NOTICE HOW HE WILL GO TO THE TOILET STALL TO URINATE INSTEAD OF USING THE URINAL. [That is because he does not want a "gay" to "sneak-a-peek"
Maybe when they come in to pee they see some demented queen named Miss Horton trying to look at their black ding dongs.
For shame, Miss Horton. Try looking up Pitt Bull Productions for Blatino DVDs. It's a lot easier than hanging out in public men's rooms.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jun 5, 2012 9:59:53 AM