Not Cooped Up Anymore
With Anderson Cooper finally coming out, one of media’s most open secrets is now just an opening for debate. The news comes packaged with an argument between those who want the newest normal to be taking sexuality for granted (who cares?) and others who see a need for public figures to champion their sexual identities on behalf of everyone who faces discrimination. I’d say it’s just nice that Cooper can finally stop all the weird circumlocutions he goes through to avoid talking about his romantic life on TV.
For a look at how they handled this sort of thing in the bad old days, check out this fascinating old Jack Anderson column about then-Vice President Spiro Agnew’s son, Randy, who was apparently the Anderson Cooper of 1970, or at least a Vietnam war vet living with “a male hairdresser in Baltimore” while “working at suburban health salon.” See any similarities between Randy and Anderson, two handsome scions of leading American families whose formative experiences occurred in Vietnam?
This column also spoke with Hash, who put to rest a rumor that Randy had dropped out of society to pursue a hippie existence. “Randy’s nowhere near the hippie type,” said Hash, “He’s really very goody-goody.”
Here’s to a more open tomorrow, where the hippie existence—or any other kind—isn’t a cause for pearl-clutching obsession.
- Tim
