ANYWAY…I gave up on Barbara Walters some years ago.  Evidently, for some reason she was so wanting of attention or else was having an ongoing nervous breakdown (or early sign of Alzheimer?) when she decided to tell the world that she had actually had an affair with then Senator Edward Brookes.  A BLACK MAN!!!!  Hummmmm…Or was this a desperate ploy to ensnare some not too bright or not too particular Black man…or was she telling Oprah upfront that for her, she was the wrong sex???

Barbara Walters Reveals Past Affair With Senator (Update1 ...
May 2, 2008 ... Barbara Walters, who co-hosts ABC’s ``The View,’’ revealed during the ``Oprah Winfrey Show’’ that she had an affair in the 1970s with Edward ...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid;...refer... - Similar

Oh well…am definitely out of the loop.  I have no idea who Ricky Martin is…and don’t care.

I guess what I should have written was “The whole thing SHOULD BE such a NON-ISSUE.”

I completely agree.

No, cloudburst, it doesn’t explain why I’m talking about “it.”

I know what I’m talking about. I hid in the closet until my mid-30s for one reason - I traded my INTEGRITY for a paycheck. An act of cowardice. Granted… culturally induced. But cowardice nontheless.

There should be no need for anyone to “come out” but in some ways, in my view, our culture is mired in a morass of mediocre adolescence. It’s like the place is being run by air-headed 12 year olds! I fully agree that our culture is mind-fu***d about human sexuality… thank you Judeo-Christian ethics!

I guess what I should have written was “The whole thing SHOULD BE such a NON-ISSUE.”

It only becomes a non-issue AFTER you’ve come out and realized (a) you’re now FREE and (b) the sky didn’t fall. Oh ya… and whatever the price, it was worth it.

What really explains why “I’m talking about it” is the indelible resentment I feel towards a society that has lied to me from BIRTH about almost everything for one reason: so that I would become, as much as possible, a pliable, conforming, consuming puppet conditioned to dance, with minimum complaint, to each manipulative tug on the invisible control strings.

And you know what… for the most part, it WORKS BEAUTIFULLY. As the twig is bent so grows the tree. Anyone willing to look can see the entire forest is a twisted, tangled mess.

Your “support” is touching. Really.

You know it was only 3 years prior to that first Barbara Walters clip that Ellen came out. And she lost her show because of it. (And that was in North America where being gay is more accepted than where Ricky Martin’s fanbase is). Wasn’t until 2001 that she started making gains again.

“At least it kinda balances the cowardice of hiding in the closet all those years.”

No, what’s cowardly is our culture for forcing people in there in the first place.

“The whole thing is such a NON-ISSUE.”

Oh…that must explain why you’re talking about it :p

Whoa there cloudbusting… you’ve made a big mistake… one too many words in:

“The man is not only a singer…”

I’m sure you meant to write “The man is NOT a singer…”. Right?

Sinatra was a singer. Pavarotti was a singer. To be a singer one needs a VOICE. Ricky Martin is a cute, dashing song and dance man who’s “voice”  can barely be heard over the band - and for good reason!

Come to think of it what ever happened to singers? There used to be so many fabulous voices - Fitzgerald, Vaughan, Washington, Simone. Now we’re treated to the talents of such memorable tonsils as Bif Naked, Miki Berenyi, Bianda Butthole and Bjork!

I’m glad I’m going deaf, as well as dumb and blind.

Don’t get me wrong. I do support Ricky Martin and the others who “come out” of their own accord. It takes a certain bravery, I suppose. At least it kinda balances the cowardice of hiding in the closet all those years.

The whole thing is such a NON-ISSUE.

I’m really disappointed in the way most of the media has handled this story and the way people have reacted; almost entirely with mockery saying “we knew all along”. That isn’t the point! It doesn’t matter if WE suspected or “knew”. It matters what he is comfortable living openly with. And I applaud him for being confident enough with his true self now to acknowledge it openly.

The man is not only a singer but a singer in Latin America; you can’t view this from a North American perspective. I tried to find out if there were many openly gay male Latin pop stars, but I could only find one when I researched!  (There certainly may be more but I couldn’t find them)

Coming out could have affected his livelihood not to mention his personal life and the personal lives of his partners and loved ones. It was his personal choice. He didn’t come out for any of us—he came out for himself. And he’s probably helped countless young men in Latin America by doing so. We should support him, not mock him :/

I’m really surprised and rather disappointed that I have to post a reply to this ‘story’ about Ricky Martin and his coming out.Especially on Truthdig that is a progressive website. First,coming out is personal and self-directed,if it is to have any real meaning for the person engaged in it. Coercion of any kind is not part of any legitimate self directed look at how one lives his/her life. Mr. Martin chose to come out not because of ‘the cringe inducing interview’ with America’s Mother Confessor but as an act of his own volition and as an act to be honest, in a time and place of his own choosing. Are there no LGBT people on your staff to consult with when a ‘story’ like this is being contemplated? This should have been on Perez Hilton’s web page not Truthdig!!

Gay or otherwise, after 10 minutes within earshot of this Ken Doll, I feel a saccharine overdose coming on.

He might be a nice guy but you’d have to be willing to dig long and hard through the phoney facade to find out for sure. By that time you’d have diabetes.

If his sex life is as shallow, predictable and boring as his performances, I’m sure glad I’m not part of it. I’d want a cigarette DURING… and I don’t even smoke!