One Perez Opinion

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Perez Hilton: Anderson Cooper Should Come Out of the Closet (Video)

By Dylan Stableford
Published: May 19, 2010


Perez Hilton recently gave a wide-ranging interview to BigThink.com. Here's an interesting part about his thoughts on gays in media and Hollywood:

Question: Who did you first come out to and what was it like?

Perez Hilton: I don’t remember who I first came out to. I remember being at a holiday party, my freshman year at college. That was the fall of ’96 at NYU. And this girl said, “You’re gay.” And I was like, “No, I’m not!” She’s like, “Honey, please. Are you going to come out? You’re gay.” I’m like, “OK, I’m gay!” And then I realized, you know what? It’s no big deal. I went to the Tisch School of the Arts. Practically every other person there was gay.

Question: Is coming out a personal experience?

Perez Hilton: Absolutely. Nobody ever forces anyone to come out. Nobody ever “outs” anyone, even though people accuse me of that. I report on celebrities; I report on the private lives of public figures. Look at someone like Anderson Cooper, who even Out magazine has reported as being gay. Has Anderson come out? No. That’s his choice. He’s choosing to remain in the closet even though everybody knows he’s gay. And that’s OK because it’s his story to tell if and when he’s ready. But that doesn’t mean that the gay media, myself included, shouldn’t talk about Anderson Cooper being in the closet. And we shouldn’t talk about how much better it would be for the community and for him if he were open.

Question: Why would it be better for the community if he were to come out?

Perez Hilton: It would be infinitely better for the community if Anderson Cooper came out, if Kevin Spacey came out, if Jodie Foster came out. Why? Because visibility is key. The more straight people see that there are gay folks out there, the easier it is for us to achieve change, the easier it will be for us to get marriage equality, the harder it is for people to hate.