Big Gay Closet

Openly gay PR man Howard Bragman is the mastermind orchestrating the buzz around May 5′s short-lived mystery celeb coming out. We know now that the gay celeb is country singer Chely Wright — and all the build-up made her more famous than a new album and book could. But the guessing game had America speculating about other gay-ish celebrities like Queen Latifah, Shelby Lynne, Ryan Seacrest, and Anderson Cooper, none of whom were ready to come out themselves, nor answer questions about when they might. So while Bragman’s ultimate goal was to ease one client out of the closet, did he actually hurt the larger group of still-closeted gay celebs?

Bragman has helped other gay public figures come out. There’s WNBA player Cheryl Swoopes, Cher’s daughter-cum-son Chaz Bono, and Family Ties’ Meredith Baxter. Thanks to Bragman, Chely Wright this week becomes free to embrace lesbianism in her life. Her new memoir Like Me and album Lifted Off The Ground will undoubtedly sell bigger because of the buzz. That’s great for both of them, but what about the other closeted celebs who have had to fend off their own outings in the wake of Wright’s media storm? Is it OK that Wright and Bragman’s press ploy may have placed unnecessary pressure on closeted celebs? Do they have no obligation to these other gay celebrities whatsoever?

read the rest: Did Howard Bragman Do More Damage To Gay Celebrities Than Good? / Queerty.

I’d wondered about this myself. The key here was obviously to build as much hype as possible because with someone of Chely Wright’s low profile, the announcement wouldn’t have made much of a stir on its own. However, the manufactured hype created a situation that must have been incredibly stressful for celebrities who are still keeping their sexuality  a secret — and for those who are keeping no secrets but are accused of it anyway.

So. Should Howard Bragman have considered this effect before he created all this hype? Or should celebrities simply expect pressure like this as part of being closeted?