“In times of upheaval, power changes hands fast…”

“…It’s no surprise, then, that two of our 10 10 [sic] names this year are new entries. Or that one — Apple’s Tim Cook — rockets to the top of the list.”

It’s Out’s list of the 50 most powerful gay and lesbian people, where “TV and the internet remain fertile ground for LGBT talent and power to flourish.” Great. Skimming it, I see that Out has some LGBT talent on their list who aren’t actually out: #3 Anderson Cooper, #6 Shepard Smith, #8 Barry Diller, #39 Matt Drudge, #46 Jodie Foster. Not a big deal since no one who regularly reads Out (if such people exist) is going to gasp at the implication that Jodie Foster is a lesbian. But assuming this list means something to the gays or people who read gay print magazines (again, if they exist), why not celebrate five people who are powerful despite being openly gay and not powerful because they were able to get away with not publicly acknowledging that they are gay? And isn’t it a thing now that if you out someone, they could kill themselves? Hope everyone is OK.

There’s also the shaky moral ground of outing someone who isn’t exactly a household name (e.g., Shepard Smith) and who may not be comfortable with his or her sexuality being a topic of conversation for the entire world (or, haha, the people who read Out magazine), but Out doesn’t have a problem with outing people or celebrating other people who do the same thing, I guess. Perez Hilton is #20 on the list.

Also, there are no “T”s (trannies) on the list of powerful LGBTs, which should make GLAAD mad, and Out’s copy editor fails at math as well as grammar as the “Power 50” list has 53 names on it. [Out]

6 thoughts on ““In times of upheaval, power changes hands fast…””

  1. shep ??? drudge??? mehlman?? Jodie? I guess POWER here means powerful like Mugabe, Gadaffi.
    Otherwise EPIC FAIL.

  2. Perez Hilton doesn’t belong on that list. And Coop doesn’t have to come out IMHO. Anyone who has their photo taken with Jake Shears & Amanda LePore I just assume are gay… Adam Lambert should rate higher as well. I thought radio would have issue playing him but I hear him all the time.

  3. I had to laugh at Shep at number 6 and the openly gay Jann Wenner (editor of 2 magazines – Us and Rolling Stone), Andrew Sullivan (political pundit), and David Geffen (media mogul) trailing him. That’s some closet! A big shiny glittery pink sequined closet. Anderson Cooper I get. But Shep?! There was a guy online in a message board who posted something I totally believe: Shep was in a gay piano bar in Manhattan for the over 30 set and was singing along to every show tune and tried to bring him home, and he was pissed the day or two after Shep was on the air discussing “girlfriend problems”. The guy thought Shep meant him.

  4. I thought Jodie Foster came out a few years when she thanked her wife at some awards show. I think we all know Anderson Cooper’s story, it’s like the worst kept secret ever. I know two people he slept with!!

    I’m just wondering how people in the closet can have any power in the gay community. What is this power they have? Out 50 is so pointless in my opinion.

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