NEW YORK — Clay Aiken appears on the cover of the latest People magazine holding his infant son, Parker Foster Aiken, with the headline: "Yes, I'm Gay."
The 29-year-old former "American Idol" runner-up, multiplatinum recording artist and Broadway star credits his son, conceived by in-vitro fertilization with friend and producer Jaymes Foster, with making him realize that he could no longer hide his homosexuality from the world.
"It was the first decision I made as a father," Aiken told the magazine, which arrives on newsstands Friday. "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."
Aiken, who rose to fame on "Idol" in 2003, has long been subject of rumors and tabloid fodder that he was gay, but usually refused to acknowledge them. In an interview with The Associated Press two years ago, he said of the talk: "I don't really feel like I have anybody to answer to but myself and God and the people I love."
Aiken said he only told his family that he was gay four years ago. He recalled a tearful discussion with his mother in a car after dropping off his brother, who was being sent to Iraq, at a military base.
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"It was dark. I was sitting there, thinking to myself. I don't know why I started thinking about it ... I just started bawling. She made me pull over the car and it just came out," he said. "She started crying. She was obviously somewhat stunned. But she was very supportive and very comforting."
Aiken said his mother "still struggles with things quite a bit, but she's come a long way."
The magazine cover features Aiken holding his son, born in August. Aiken, who considers himself a born-again Christian, said he knows he may turn off some fans -- known as Claymates -- with his admission and his decision to have a child outside traditional marriage.
"I've never intended to lie to anybody at all," he said. "But if they leave, I don't want them to leave hating me."
Gay groups applauded Aiken's public admission.
"We congratulate Clay for making this decision and for setting an example for others and his family," said Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. As we're seeing, more and more gay people, including celebrities, are living openly and honestly, and this has tremendous impact in terms of creating awareness, understanding and acceptance."
Aiken recently released the CD "On My Way Here" and made his Broadway debut this spring in "Monty Python's Spamalot."
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Rachel Maddow to host on MSNBC
Rachel Maddow Becomes First Out Lesbian to Host Prime-Time News Show
by
Sarah Warn, Editor in ChiefAugust 20, 2008
Openly gay political commentator Rachel Maddow, 35, is getting her own prime-time show on MSNBC, the cable news channel confirmed on Tuesday.
"This just completes our prime-time lineup," MSNBC President Phil Griffin told the New York Times.
Beginning Sept. 8, Maddow will replace commentator Dan Abrams in the 9 p.m. time slot. Her show will initially focus on the presidential race but will become more of a general news program after the election.
"This is great," Maddow told the Times. "Getting a regular cable show is something I’ve wanted."
Maddow will be the first out lesbian to host a prime-time news or political commentary show on American television, and one of the very few women ever to do so. MSNBC does not have any other news or political commentary shows hosted by women.
Maddow currently divides her time between Manhattan and western Massachusetts, where she lives with her partner of 10 years, artist Susan Mikula.
Maddow has hosted a popular liberal talk radio show on Air America since 2004. She has also been a frequent guest commentator on political talk shows like MSNBC's Tucker and CNN's Paula Zahn Now, and is currently a regular panelist on MSNBC's Race for the White House With David Gregory.
Last year, Maddow told PageOne Q she believed her career in television hadn't taken off, "not only because I am gay, but because of what I look like. I am not a Barbie girl with Barbie doll-like looks. Because in television, what you look like is a huge deal."
But if the events of Maddow's career since then are any indication, perhaps America is warming up to women who are not "Barbie girls."
In April, Maddow began filling in occasionally as the guest host on the cable network's popular show Countdown With Keith Olbermann, and her episodes quickly became the show's most-watched by viewers ages 25 to 54, a highly desirable advertising demographic. Shortly thereafter, she became Olbermann's official fill-in host.
Maddow on Countdown With Keith Olbermann, Aug. 14
Last month, MSNBC's Griffin hinted that Maddow was at the top of "a very short list" to headline her own show, and he made it official this week.
"We’re hiring Rachel because she’s a smart person," Griffin explained to the Times. "Rachel goes far beyond politics. She’s an expert on military affairs. She was a Rhodes scholar.” Maddow was the first openly gay American to win a Rhodes scholarship.
When asked in a 2005 interview with Velvet Park magazine what it's like to debate men like Pat Buchanan, Maddow responded:
They see me as a novelty. I've slipped through the cracks, this butch dyke. They always try to bring up gay marriage with me. We're talking about Syria, Bosnia, Rwanda refugees on CNN and they're like "Rachel, now how does this relate to gay marriage?" It's also an interesting challenge to have to be so concise on TV, using language to bring people along with you and also to provoke them. People say, "Isn't it hard to only have three minutes to argue against the death penalty?" But, don't you rebel against the restraints, you work within them.
She also chalks up her debating skill to coming out at an early age. "You have to learn to survive and prosper in a hostile environment," she said in an interview with AfterEllen.com last year. "It's kind of a talent that gay people bring to everything we do."
by
Sarah Warn, Editor in ChiefAugust 20, 2008
Openly gay political commentator Rachel Maddow, 35, is getting her own prime-time show on MSNBC, the cable news channel confirmed on Tuesday.
"This just completes our prime-time lineup," MSNBC President Phil Griffin told the New York Times.
Beginning Sept. 8, Maddow will replace commentator Dan Abrams in the 9 p.m. time slot. Her show will initially focus on the presidential race but will become more of a general news program after the election.
"This is great," Maddow told the Times. "Getting a regular cable show is something I’ve wanted."
Maddow will be the first out lesbian to host a prime-time news or political commentary show on American television, and one of the very few women ever to do so. MSNBC does not have any other news or political commentary shows hosted by women.
Maddow currently divides her time between Manhattan and western Massachusetts, where she lives with her partner of 10 years, artist Susan Mikula.
Maddow has hosted a popular liberal talk radio show on Air America since 2004. She has also been a frequent guest commentator on political talk shows like MSNBC's Tucker and CNN's Paula Zahn Now, and is currently a regular panelist on MSNBC's Race for the White House With David Gregory.
Last year, Maddow told PageOne Q she believed her career in television hadn't taken off, "not only because I am gay, but because of what I look like. I am not a Barbie girl with Barbie doll-like looks. Because in television, what you look like is a huge deal."
But if the events of Maddow's career since then are any indication, perhaps America is warming up to women who are not "Barbie girls."
In April, Maddow began filling in occasionally as the guest host on the cable network's popular show Countdown With Keith Olbermann, and her episodes quickly became the show's most-watched by viewers ages 25 to 54, a highly desirable advertising demographic. Shortly thereafter, she became Olbermann's official fill-in host.
Maddow on Countdown With Keith Olbermann, Aug. 14
Last month, MSNBC's Griffin hinted that Maddow was at the top of "a very short list" to headline her own show, and he made it official this week.
"We’re hiring Rachel because she’s a smart person," Griffin explained to the Times. "Rachel goes far beyond politics. She’s an expert on military affairs. She was a Rhodes scholar.” Maddow was the first openly gay American to win a Rhodes scholarship.
When asked in a 2005 interview with Velvet Park magazine what it's like to debate men like Pat Buchanan, Maddow responded:
They see me as a novelty. I've slipped through the cracks, this butch dyke. They always try to bring up gay marriage with me. We're talking about Syria, Bosnia, Rwanda refugees on CNN and they're like "Rachel, now how does this relate to gay marriage?" It's also an interesting challenge to have to be so concise on TV, using language to bring people along with you and also to provoke them. People say, "Isn't it hard to only have three minutes to argue against the death penalty?" But, don't you rebel against the restraints, you work within them.
She also chalks up her debating skill to coming out at an early age. "You have to learn to survive and prosper in a hostile environment," she said in an interview with AfterEllen.com last year. "It's kind of a talent that gay people bring to everything we do."
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Golden Boy comes out.
This medal favourite is taking a historic and courageous step: he's the first Australian to go to the Olympics declaring his homosexuality, writes Jessica Halloran.
Matthew Mitcham at the Sydney Aquatic Centre and in action, above right, at the Commonwealth Games in 2006.Photo: Steve Christo
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MATTHEW MITCHAM is brave enough to dive from a 10-metre platform for Olympic gold and courageous enough to do what no Australian athlete has done.
When Mitcham balances on the Beijing diving tower this August, like all Australian Olympians, he will be hoping the ones he loves will be there to watch him.
The gold medal hopeful's journey has not been easy. Those close to him have seen Mitcham, 20, battle depression, retire in his teenage years after physical and emotional burn-out, then nine months later resume his sport and build himself into the champion he is today.
One person who has been by his side for the entire tumultuous journey is his partner, Lachlan.
Months out from the Games, Mitcham has taken the courageous step of revealing his sexuality to the media for the first time, in an exclusive interview with the Herald. He has also applied for a grant through a Johnson & Johnson Athlete Family Support Program to have Lachlan near him in Beijing.
Matthew Mitcham at the Sydney Aquatic Centre and in action, above right, at the Commonwealth Games in 2006.Photo: Steve Christo
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MATTHEW MITCHAM is brave enough to dive from a 10-metre platform for Olympic gold and courageous enough to do what no Australian athlete has done.
When Mitcham balances on the Beijing diving tower this August, like all Australian Olympians, he will be hoping the ones he loves will be there to watch him.
The gold medal hopeful's journey has not been easy. Those close to him have seen Mitcham, 20, battle depression, retire in his teenage years after physical and emotional burn-out, then nine months later resume his sport and build himself into the champion he is today.
One person who has been by his side for the entire tumultuous journey is his partner, Lachlan.
Months out from the Games, Mitcham has taken the courageous step of revealing his sexuality to the media for the first time, in an exclusive interview with the Herald. He has also applied for a grant through a Johnson & Johnson Athlete Family Support Program to have Lachlan near him in Beijing.
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