Shh...Don't Tell Anyone, But Elton John is a Closet...

Traditionally, coming out of the closet was an extreme risk that gay people took.  People (primarily men) didn't take that risk before the '70's.  Famous Hollywood actor Rock Hudson was a big sex symbol (for women) in the '50's.  He never came out but was more or less outed in the '70's and died of AIDS in the '80's.  The great classical pianist and showman  Liberace, as over the top flamboyant as anyone, never admitted his homosexuality, and in fact, denied it to the end.  He died of AIDS in the '80's.

Elton John rose to fame in the early '70's during the time of Glam Rock.  Though not one of my top favorites, his music is certainly key to any soundtrack of the '70's.  Elton was not Glam Rock, but the flamboyance in rock at that time allowed him to dress that way without raising eyebrows (interesting aside, none of the true Glam Rockers I can think of were actually gay, and in fact the most famous Glam Rocker, David Bowie, dated, married, and fathered children with numerous supermodels.  Go ahead, click the link -and crank it- believe it or not, not gay).
Anyway, by the mid-70's, Glam Rock was dying, but Elton's flamboyance continued to grow.  By about that time, it was starting to be accepted that numerous people in show-business were gay, and that that was, OK.  I guess The Village People helped make that happen during the Disco era of the mid-to-late '70's.  Anyway, though Elton didn't admit it, he didn't go out of his way to deny he was gay, and it didn't effect his popularity, especially and even with women, at all.  According to Wikipedia,

John married German recording engineer Renate Blauel on Valentine's Day, 1984, in Sydney, with some speculation that the marriage was a cover; when they divorced four years later John told Rolling Stone that he was "comfortable" being gay

Anyway, Elton married some guy after that and has continued to be a respected, popular performer, and of course by the late-80's it practically became a bragging point to be gay in showbiz.

Now, in the decadent 21st century, we can have senior politicians, such as Barney Frank, who flaunt their gayness, and have partners who run male-prostitution rings out of their apartments with no detrimental effect to their ability to be re-elected.  This is not 100% true of course.  Idaho did reject Larry 'wide-stance' Craig, after he was busted for sex in the men's room at an airport a few years ago.  But he was a Republican politician, not a Democrat.  If he'd been a Democrat, no one would have batted an eye.

Well, I'm wandering off-topic.  Our society has 'progressed' to the point that being gay is no real detriment to doing anything in this country anymore, including having a career in the military.  Being in the closet for being gay is pretty much passe.

Homosexuals have traditionally, and continue to vote Democrat, along with blacks and other perceived minorities, because culture, ie The Man, has been sticking it to them throughout history and the Democratic Party is the party of downtrodden whiners who need the government to remedy their existential failure.  Nowadays, it takes more guts to admit you're a Conservative than to admit you're gay.  If you're a perceived minority, be it black, or hispanic, or a woman, or gay, or..., to admit you are a Conservative is risking, as Monty Python says, social death.  You're labelled an Uncle Tom or a sellout for your minority's assumed cause.

Well, one famous member of one perceived minority is not coming out of the closet, but is acting a whole lot like he may be an in-the-closet Conservative:

• Elton John plays at Rush Limbaugh's wedding and we learn

“What is wrong with Proposition 8 is that they went for marriage. Marriage is going to put a lot of people off, the word marriage… I don’t want to be married. I’m very happy with a civil partnership. If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership… You get the same equal rights that we do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships.” – Elton John

Which, as the Big Hollywood article says, is the same view Rush Limbaugh has on gay marriage, and maybe the same view a majority of Americans has.  Then,

• Elton John performs in Israel and slams artists who boycott:

Refusing to bow to the pressure of anti-Israel activists, Sir Elton John arrived in Israel on Thursday and performed in front of tens of thousands of Israelis at the Ramat Gan stadium.

and finally

• Elton John slams Boycott of Arizona:

According to the Arizona Daily Star, he told the crowd, "We are all very pleased to be playing in Arizona. I have read that some of the artists won't come here. They are (expletive)wits! Let's face it: I still play in California, and as a gay man I have no legal rights whatsoever. So what's the (expletive) with these people?"

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/music/articles/2010/07/27/20100727elton-john-slams-arizona-boycotts.html#ixzz0vEXSoJgS

Columnist and talk show host Debbie Schlussel comments:

Over the past several months, the man has really earned my respect. He’s shown courage and intestinal fortitude, first by refusing to get involved in the gay marriage issue in California (which is especially brave since he is openly gay and in a longtime gay relationship), then by refusing to boycott Israel and dissing those who do, and, now, by refusing to boycott Arizona and dissing the showbiz types who are doing that. (That’s not to mention his performance at Rush Limbaugh’s recent wedding. Reports say he got a cool mill for that one.)

I agree.  Maybe it's the don't-give-a-shit-what-people-think attitude of older age, or maybe he's always felt this way but never been 'out' about it.  Dunno, but he is taking courageous stands in these dark times.