Who is the greatest living American homosexual?

You little homosexuals better vote for ME

Hmm. Well, if presence on twitter is a metric, George Takei could be nominated.

Ooze.

Lindsey Graham, one proud sassy gayling trapped inside an old man body.

Cruise.

Oprah

Sondheim. Waters. Takei. Maupin. Take your pick.

I'd say Sondheim.

Takei is a straight mans homosexual.

I say Somdheim. His contribution to culture and the arts rivals that of few others. He is a living legend.

Waters is a close second. But, like other contenders such as Rupaul, is still too “pop cultural” to really claim the title. They are “in it” but Sondheim is above it.

Probably someone we don't know.

Donald J. Trump

Edmund White

Andy Cohen

Steven Sondheim is gay??? By the way, shouldn’t his name be spelled Sondhiem? As in I before E except after C. (Oh dear g-d are you darlings ever going to rip into me over this!)

I think Edmund White moved away to Paris? No expats.

Sondheim didn't come out until age 40 (pussy) so I'll vote Waters.

Tim Cook

White left Paris years ago, OP. In 1998, to be precise, to start a teaching position in New York.

Miss Coco Peru (Clinton Leupp)

Barbara Jordan and James Baldwin

I know they are both dead and Barbara Jordan never came out, but these two are exceptional examples.

Obviously...…….

I don’t remember, is David Hockney technically an American or not? I would only say him since his retrospective, which really placed him at the top of the greatest living artists. He has truly diversified the media he works in and and evolved over the decades multiple quintessential styles and techniques. His auction prices have escalated over the last decade as well.

I really thought Edmund White was dead.

[quote] ...a straight mans homosexual

R9 - WTF does that even mean?

R24 : A caricature.

Pete B. He will be POTUS one day.

Out: Sondheim. Tim Cook was also a good answer.

Closeted: Dolly Parton

All American homosexuals are great. You don't have to choose.

Ryan Murphy

Dearest Cunt OP

Do foreign born US residents count?

Carson Kressley

George “Goober” Lindsay

Neil Sedaka, for writing some of Connie Francis' most beloved hits.

Mitch McConnell based on that prime cock-sucking mouth.

White started leaving Paris in 1990 because he was a prof at Brown for a few years. I had him and his courses were a hoot.

Oh everybody counts, R30, I was just being a bitch. Re: Edmund White, last I read of him was in Butt Magazine 20 years ago, so no surprise my info is outdated.

I had forgotten about Sondheim. I'm not against him for being closeted, but I do think the lack of any kind of gay content in his work disqualifies him for the title.

Is me!

Armistead Maupin

Anderson Cooper ❤️

[quote]I think Edmund White moved away to Paris? No expats.

Then you should have said living in America...

Tyler Perry.....I know he’s not traditionally handsome (he’s a downright ugly moose) but he has created thousands of jobs.

[quote]I vote for John Waters.

Ridiculous. Some campy film director.

Ellen.

Well, R42. Divine is dead, so I had to go to the next best thing. Better than some politician.

I also figured Angela Davis wouldn't make anyone very happy.

Tom Cruise

[quote]Takei is a straight mans homosexual.

[quote]Probably someone we don't know.

Agreed, R9 and R10.

Pete. Here's one homosexual who's not here to entertain but to lead the entire country as an American.

Pete is also a straight man's homo.

Edmund White, 80, is very much alive. His latest novel, "A Saint from Texas", released in August, receiving good reviews. In the last couple yeas he's won several "lifetime" achievement awards.

Mario Cantone

[quote]Sondheim didn't come out until age 40 (pussy) so I'll vote Waters.

Sondheim is a genius who created art and changed theater. Waters is a funny guy who created some campy kitsch.

Waters is gayer than Sondheim. Sondheim's work may have been classy, but it doesn't express a gay sensibility in any way.

But he’s gay so his sensibility is naturally gay?

R53 Sondheim's lyrics are always informed by a gay archness.

"It's alarming how charming I feel" could have been written by Oscar Wilde.

I don't think Pete has a gay sensibility.

In terms of influence and standing, Apple's Tim Cook is the man.

Yeah, I think it breaks down into either being a great gay in terms of gay culture, or a gay being successful in hetero society (making money or getting on TV news).

Johnny Rapid, who takes care of American homosexual's basic needs throughout a career longer than anyone's.

But did you have-have him, R35?

It seems like Tim Apple is still riding on the coattails of Steve Jobs.

Apple has been successful (to say the least) but has lost its wow factor.

Will Truman

3) Tim Cook (Apple CEO)

Only a handful of gay men have such importance around the world. He influences our ways of communication in our everyday lives, even those that do not own apple products.

2) Pete Buttigieg

He opened the door of politics to gay men and the impact of his candidacy will have a long lasting effect in American politics.

I can think of a great composer, or writer, or actor but it's interesting that I can't think of any great gay American who's made an great impact on society overall.

Are we so irrelevant?

John Waters is the most interesting 🧐, most intelligent & most unique person in the world🌎

Why Tim Cook?

I can’t think of a single person. We used to have a few but the ones mentioned above are not anything to brag about. Tim Cook? Apple products are far from innovative and it’s a mystery to me why they are doing so well. My iPhone will be the last. Two replacements so far, not good quality. Made in China crap. If you’re going to charge a big premium, then deliver a premium product. For what they charge, they could pay Americans to manufacture them.

How about Tony Kushner? He addresses gay issues in the larger cultural and historical context. He won a Pulitzer for Angels. Plus I like his cute & smart husband's take on popular culture.

Sorry for bad link. Kushner's husband is Mark Harris

Tim Cook is a fucking EXECUTIVE at a large corporation. He hasn't accomplished anything other than making money for stock holders.

Nothing "great" about that...well, except for stock holders of Apple.

The “mainstream” homos now are just awful. Remember, we lost the greatest homosexual generation to AIDS. That’s why the young homos are so rutterless. They’re clueless druggies on PreP and crystal meth. I weep for our future. Oh, and fuck the Gen Z peeps......lazy fucks.

Yes we did lose our greatest generation to AIDS. What a loss. Fuck you Reagan. Fuck you Republicans. Never forget.

I want to see a gay David Attenborough, a gay Nelson Mandela, a gay Jimmy Carter...

A decade ago I would have said Oliver Sachs

*Sorry, I thought Brit Oliver Sachs was a naturalized US citizen. My mistake.

OP =MANSON GIRL

Milo

The guy who runs The Concluding Chapter of Crawford. I appreciate connoisseurship.

Oh I know.

I would vote in your poll but I am too busy fucking my girlfriend.

Interesting, with all the respect for Cook as a business exec of a huge corporation, no comment about David Geffen. Cook did build upon what Jobs and Wozniak accomplished. Geffen was more responsible for building a business from nothing.

That being said, I'm not sure "business" success is the best criterion.

Ray Gillette.

Ray is being criminally under-used in the new season of Archer.

R64 said, "I can think of a great composer, or writer, or actor but it's interesting that I can't think of any great gay American who's made an great impact on society overall. Are we so irrelevant?"

You want relevant? Larry Kramer. Founder of ACT UP. The Normal Heart. He died last May, but I think he met R64's requirements. We've had powerful leaders and heroes from our community. Harvey Milk? Barney Frank? Margarethe Cammermeyer? Remember Aaron Fricke? Harry Hay? The problem is that AIDS and anti-gay violence wiped out generations of gay men.

To my mind, every gay person who is fully out in their lives is a hero. Tim Cook didn't make Apple great or successful -But he came out as the first CEO of a Fortune 500 (or some such -I pay little attention to the business world). Steve Sondheim came out late, but consider his generation. His art speaks to a wide variety of people and will likely endure for generations. It may not have many explicitly gay characters (see Wise Guys/Gold/Bounce/Road Show), but there's no denying the gay sensibility. Like it or not, those out gay actors and TV personalities have probably had more impact on society's attitudes than the politicians and activists.

For years I'd have said Gore Vidal now that he's dead, I don't know.

Hillary Clinton

Megan Rapinoe

Armistead Maupin

R81, that person resides on a floating city for the duration of the plague and needs to be dropped from everything including public memory. You’re in or you’re out and he’s out.

Neil Patrick Harris single handedly made being gay respectable.

To whom are you referring, R89? Geffen? Wozniak? Cook?

I vote for John Waters.

He is an empathetic person who is unabashedly himself while displaying unique and seasoned taste.

*Also, he doesn't frack.

Willam.

Tammy Cruise.

I am going to say Mayor Pete for now. He's gone where no gay man has gone before - he's a pioneer and opened the door for him and other gays. Anything is possible now.

Pete had made gay marriage acceptable mainstream.

Pete's tearing in up right now. He's going to end up in a serious Cabinet position.

Thomas Roberts for looks, not substance.

[quote]I vote for John Waters. He is an empathetic person who is unabashedly himself while displaying unique and seasoned taste.

Translation = Typical queen

I also have to say Mayor Pete. As someone said above he opened doors for other gay men to fallow. And, he's still young, just getting starter.

R73 A fake "hero" terrorist and a Southern Baptist anti-Semite? No thanks.

....

[quote]John Waters is the most interesting 🧐, most intelligent & most unique person in the world🌎

But most of his movies are very amateurish.

There's nothing great about Mayor Pete.

Put you money where your mouth is R105, why don't you post your resume here next to his so we can compare.

The game is not "greatest military-industrial complex homo"....

[Quote] Takei is a straight mans homosexual.

R9, in contrast, how would you define a 'gay man's homosexual'?

That's easy, R108 -A "gay man's homosexual" is any hot man in Hollywood that gays on DL insist must be gay!

Let me guess, R109, and they have to have the obligatory uniform of a high fade haircut and scruffy beard...? Gosh, how unique.

Well, "the uniform" sounds a lot better to me than the Straight Man's Homo who must be a flaming ugly sexless queen with bitchy remarks.

The gay man's gay man depends on the gay man you're asking.

I'd go with Sir Ian McKellan or James Baldwin or Gore Vidal but I doubt that everyone else would so...

I could be happy with Tim Gunn as an example of the classic gay aesthete if the meaning of homosexual is meant to be a identifier of a type of gay from a certain time and place that has since past.

I agree that Tim Gunn is a classic example of the gay aesthete.

Christ, how I miss them. The young'uns don't know how it was before HIV/AIDS and the interwebs.

R112 - I'm with you on those -- what comes out of their mouths and/or pens is what defines them, not just merely the current cookie-cutter 'look'...

Tom Ford. He's smart, sexy, creative and everything he does has style. His movies are beautiful eye candy. He is a pioneer.

Greatest? Gunn? Ford?? FFS what have come to.

Rex Reed

Tom Ford is a vapid cunt.

He’s our vapid cunt.

Rupaul has had the greatest impact on changing the landscape of pop culture. That's not a small accomplishment considering where he started.

If you asked me who the greatest homosexual was, I'd say Alan Turing but he's neither living nor American. So, RuPaul isn't exactly Alan Turing, but who would be?

I would say Buttigieg, in terms of what he represents and his potential.

But I still like the idea of RuPaul in spite of the fracking.

Whaaaaat is a gay person’s heterosexual then? (Off topic I know but I can’t resist)

Two words: Colton Lee Haynes.

[Quote] in contrast, how would you define a 'gay man's homosexual'?

William Shatner.

Bruce Villanch

R16 Sondheim was born in 1930. He may have came out at 40, but that was in 1970, a time in which many people were not out. Sorry he wasn’t running around as an out gay man in 1950. I am sure he would have liked to.

DR. Eric Cervini

Eric Trump

Cockgobbler

Um, HELLO?

Where the FUCK am I on this thread??

You didn't come out until after you were elected Barney. -2 points. But more than most.

Edmund White.

I thought Tom Ford wasnt gay, but stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night?

Maybe we should break this down into catigores, Ill start:

Fashion = Tom Ford

News Anchor = Anderson Cooper

Best looking News Anchor = Thomas Roberts

Politics = Pete Buttigieg

Writer = Armistead Maupin

Facebook Si-Fi Queen = George Takei

That's depressing as shit, R134.

R134 - such a basic bitch assessment. And the writer is David Sedaris.

[quote]That's depressing as shit,

You go with the homosexual you have, not the ones you wish you had.

Yeah, that's the depressing part, R137. I'm starting to agree with the ones complaining about AIDS killing all of the interesting people.

[quote]the writer is David Sedaris.

Funny sometimes. Never compelling. Greatest living gay writer: Andrew Holleran.

R134 - you're on the right track. Gays are not and should not be a homogeneous mind meld of tastes and pursuits.

[quote]Gays are not and should not be a homogeneous mind meld of tastes, pursuits, and initials.

Fixed.

I think Pete for at least DL's Gay of the Year Award for being the FIRST openly gay man to make it to the primaries and make it so far. He doesn't get lifetime achievement until we see what he does over the next 4 years.

I would go as far as Homo of the Year for Pete.

Welcome to the HIV/AIDS killed gay culture crowd, R138!

Pete for Gay of the Year?

Absolutely. No question.

R58 Sondhiem did both.

R16 You are mad Sondhiem didnt come out until he was 40? The man was born in 1930! I am sure he would have loved to be an out gay in his twenties, but in the 1950s that wasn’t really an option. Shit, he came out in 1970 and even then that wasn’t easy.

Sondheim is a tiny bit overrated. Broadway shows are tremendous collaborative projects (not to mention financing). Hal Prince usually came up with the ideas for Sondheim to write on. And Boris Aronson was key for setting some of the best shows. I don't think the Hammerstein connection hurt him either, getting started. He had every advantage, and superb people around him for long stretches.

R147 is a tiny bit of a cunt.

Of those peak 70s shows, I believe only Sweeney Todd was 100% Sondheim's concept. Maybe also Sunday in the Park with George. It's a little like George Lucas getting all the credit for The Empire Strikes Back (or Star Wars, for that matter, which his wife saved in editing).

I agree, there's nothing great about mayor pete.

Oh, the George thing was an 80s show.

For the record, I like Sondheim way better than Mayo Pete, the man from McKinsey.

R149 - It's true that musical are a collaborative art form, and the glory should be shared. However, Sondheim writes his own words and music. The shows belong to the entire creative team, but those scores are all his.

This is true, R153.

It’s probably some gay guy who we don’t know who works full time but still takes care of his aging grandparents who raised him because his parents got addicted to meth yet he has a big heart and still visits them in jail all the while he adopts stray animals and pickets the local leeching chemical factory in his spare time. God bless him!

Personally, I like Gypsy a lot more than the peak Sondheim stuff.

It’s really hard for me to tell who’s gay and who’s straight in the musical world because the gay ones get married and have kids so it screws up the gaydar.

Jeff Stryker

I don’t think we know the real John Waters. The one we see in interviews and on tour is always “on”. Every sentence is a setup for the next punchline. Even when he’s being “candid.”

That being said, he is certainly entertaining

Sondheim came out in his 60s, not his 40s. The Wikipedia entry is wrong, and the reference does not support it. He came out during the production of Passion, when he was involved with Peter Jones.

But yeah. He’s the greatest.

Is this where we acknowledge we’re not allowed to compete in most arenas?

We need smart dataloungers who know super gay US scientists and doctors. These are the folks I’ll support. Otherwise, I’ll find a rando instaho fireman with his jumpsuit puddling around his adonis belt and nominate him.

R161 is right, the black folks can claim a president now, but we are still talking about entertainers.

Who cares about Broadway shows! There I said it. You vapid queens have low standards and make poor choices if that's all it takes to be man of the year.

R156 I agree, and he doesn’t seem to talk about it or embrace it much. Maybe because he didn’t do the lyrics?

Sondheim suggested to Imelda that she do GYPSY after her triumph in SWEENEY TODD.

We’ll take that into consideration, R165 - but only if this conversation occurred while he was trying on her shoes.

[Quote] Sondheim suggested to Imelda that she do GYPSY

Oh, the BETRAYAL!

There have been No Gay Presidents?😆

R163 - yes, agreed we need to look for more substance. However, the black community had for many years only entertainment/sports figures to look up to. Then things started happening to change that focus. I see the gay community going through that same process. So yes, Broadway/Fashion today, but even now we see other examples to focus on, e.g. Tim Cook, Pete, etc.

Lily Tomlin

Billie Jean King

One advantage we have over the black community is being able to skip over the step of clergy being political leaders. Yuck.

Satchel.

2021: GAY LIVES MATTER signs all over Black Neighborhoods

R173 - Ha. Ha. Ha.

Fuck you, R168. The same way Rufus fucked me.

Presidents on the down low don't count.

Lil Nas X paving the way for the new generation of young gay men.

Evan Wolfson. Duh.

R164, your Gay Card will be confiscated this morning. It will be torn up, lit on fire, and the ashes stomped on in a fit of pique. Stephen Sondheim DID write the lyrics for Gypsy. The music was by Jule Styne (who couldn't notate triplets properly). How you can pretend to be gay in this century and not know these things is beyond me! After relinquishing your card, you will be dressed in ill-fitting Lee jeans, Haines underwear, and a cotton-poly shirt from J.C. Penney, before being dragged to Supercuts and given the daily special. Twinks will mock you. Maitre d's will no longer seat you.

And you brought this all on yourself.

The greatest living homosexual is nobody famous. He’s your doctor who specializes in HIV treatment and studies on cures and vaccines for countless hours even away from work. He’s the anonymous donor that supplied months worth of food and clothing to the homeless men’s shelter down the street. He’s the struggling composer or writer that will give the world the next great musical or literary creation. He’s me, an employed, educated, content man who contributes to his community and society, after living through an adolescence filled with bullies, abuse, neglect, drug use, all connected to the gay struggle in a small Texas town.

I bet Richard Rodgers could notate triplets. Probably shtupped several too.

Greatest is Anonymous.

Well, Anonymous certainly tops the DL list of WWs!

Big ole bottom

David Muir.

If he wasn’t so terrified to admit he is gay.

Where does Jeff Stryker rank?

Mark Eitzel (though he would likely want to be cast in the role of America's most hated homosexual).

Robbie Rogers

Edmund White is a great choice, as is Sondheim. But I'd give it to Tony Kushner.

I don't think it's sensible to give honours like this to living people.

I know of examples where the fame sent the recipient crazy and they lost their good reputation.

We don't know what fads will eventuate in our increasingly-puritanical society over the next 2 decades when formerly-good people will be dishonored.

More people have jerked off to Jeff Stryker than Stephen Sondheim.

This thread needs a vote.

Those of you voting jeff Striker:

Those of you voting Stephen Sondheim:

Ellen Degeneres

Beverly Leslie