This post is not at all colored by the fact that I'd do Mr. Pierce in a heartbeat, gay or no gay

[slammerkinbabe]

Aww, David Hyde Pierce! I love him so much. He "outed" himself recently (which term I put in quotes because he never exactly wasted a lot of energy over keeping himself "in") in what, for my money, was a perfectly brilliant way of handling it: a casual reference to his partner in a standard bio for a press release. Check out the link: I love that link because the headline is all "DAVID HYDE PIERCE COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET!" and then there's this complete cognitive disconnect while you read an entirely unrelated story about Curtains. So by the time you get to the reference to his partner, you're like "...that's it?" And, yes! That's it! Some of us have partners! THE NEWS, SHE IS NOT SHOCKING. And I really like that David Hyde Pierce, who previously basically responded to queries about his sexuality with an archly raised eyebrow and commentary along the lines of "If you can't figure it out you're mighty obtuse I'm not going to tell you," has now taken to referring to his partner in the media in precisely the same way that any other celebrity with a non-famous spouse would refer to theirs.

It is often good to make a big damn deal out of sexuality, to go shouting who we are and our rights as citizens from the rooftops; to make sure our voices are heard and to insist on visibility and acceptance. But it is good in a different way *not* to do that - to live your life just as if your sexuality were a basic part of who you are, with the attitude that you needn't be ashamed of it nor spend a lot of energy defending it. In all honesty, it's how I'd prefer to go about things. The social activist runs strong in me and all, but in my relationship with λ, I feel a lot less like a person Doing a Transgressive Thing Of Great Cultural Controversy, and more like, you know, a person in love with another person. I feel really incredibly privileged to live in Massachusetts, where I can mostly act that way. And I really love David Hyde Pierce for being the first celebrity that I can remember hearing of who "outed" himself in a manner that said, quietly but firmly, that this is not the front-page-of-the-tabloids Big Deal that everyone makes it into. It's a tactic that wouldn't work if it were the only one used, but it's an important complement to more conventional activism, I think. And, in the end, he's got the right to live his life however he wants to and say as much or as little about it as he chooses. It's a neat thing for him to reaffirm that this way.

Comments

[archaica.livejournal.com]

I like how your tags are lolspeak.

I think it's great that we've gone from "ROCK HUDSON IS GAY" to "Yeah, my partner and I ... " dropped into conversation. There's still whole segments of the population for whom that is far more difficult (professional sports, I'm looking at you), but overall society's progress has been good. That seems kind of paternalistic ("wait for it, it'll come some day"), and must be terribly frustrating for a member of the affected persecuted minority, but eventually, society does tend to evolve past its (more visible and egregious manifestations of) prejudices.

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

Well said. David Hyde Pierce is an amazingly talented actor. And I too think it is good that people like him, and Neil Patrick Harris, just quietly come out, because generally the reaction is, 'yeah, and?'

[nerdcakes.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's so lovely!

I have always been in denial about David Hyde Pierce's gayness because I was Very Young And Naive when I visited all the fansites that went, "if he is gay then it's NONE OF OUR BUSINESS" and interviews where he said things like, "my life is an open book. I'M JUST CASUALLY NOT MENTIONING THAT I AM KIND OF GAY, OKAY?"

And even, like, last year, I was totally getting into arguments with people and go JUST BECAUSE HE'S BRILLIANT, IT DOESN'T MEAN HE's GAY! GOD. And everyone would be like, "I think his gayness is maybe sort of an open secret..?" And I was all, "OH MY GOD, WHY WON'T YOU PEOPLE LEAVE DAVID AND KEVIN SPACEY ALONE?"

Oh, it's so shiny. I love Casual Coming-Outs quite a lot.

[erindubitably.livejournal.com]

I totally had to crtl+f to even find the mention of 'partner' in that article. Good on him, that's totally classy and awesome.

[greenovalfruit.livejournal.com]

That has to be THE best icon, ever.