Not everyone in the mainstream press is in Hilton's thrall. At a Mediabistro event in New York last month, Us Weekly editor-in-chief Janice Min, talking about how her magazine is dealing with the rising popularity of blogs like his, said, "I love Perez, but this is a guy who draws cocaine sprinkles falling out of celebrities' noses and writes things like 'sucks dick' on pictures of celebs he wants to out."
Of course, Perez counters that he's no journalist, just a guy with a Web site. This is a disingenuous, if not calculated, pose. In addition to working for GLAAD and writing for a variety of print magazines, he also was briefly the managing editor of Instinct, a gay men's magazine.
But even other celebrity bloggers repudiate Perez's tactics. Trent Vanegas, who runs Pink Is the New Blog, says, "I do not outright call people gay. I do not feel it is my place, or anyone else's place, to make people come out of the closet. Being shockingly hurtful just to get attention is not my style." David Hauslaib, who designed Perez's Web site and now runs the gossip blog Jossip, also disagrees with Hilton's motives, arguing that "the rationale that he's doing this for the good of that gay community is tantamount to saying that there is a gay agenda. Is this a positive for the gay community? I'd say, 'No.'"
So why has the mainstream media given him such a free ride? Hauslaib has an idea about that. "That he's in Details, or GQ or the L.A. Times, or now on Salon makes sense from a journalistic point of view because he is a story. Whether people are celebrating him is another question entirely." In fact, Perez is filling a cultural role first blazed by Steven "Coju" Cojocaru, Carson Kressley and Bobby Trendy: the bitchy gay man who has all the dish. Perez acknowledges that his signature flashy outfits and affected manner are an act, telling a German TV reporter that he wears "outrageous things because it gets attention. It gets people talking." It doesn't take a degree in psychoanalysis to see a link between Perez's vehement claims that he's a force for positive change for gays and the fact that, to succeed, he has been forced to adopt the outmoded stereotypes of who a gay man is. Like Cinderella in reverse, Mario, once a bespectacled cardigan-wearing hipster, has transformed into Perez, who saunters through Hollywood parties in a satin pantsuit with his name embroidered on the back. In a very real way, he's a modern-day Stepin Fetchit, cheerfully describing himself as a "media whore" for hire. The mainstream entertainment press, be it "E.T." or "Good Morning America," is happy to have him until the next bleached-blond, sequined caricature comes along to talk about the sex lives of former American idols.
Of course, the rationale Hilton employs in outing celebrities isn't unprecedented -- gay activist blogger Mike Rogers has made a name for himself over the past few years by outing members of Congress. In March 1990, Michelangelo Signorile, a gay writer, used OutWeek to publicly out billionaire Malcolm Forbes and, two years later, outed the son of conservative political activist Phyllis Schlafly, prompting a vigorous debate on the ethics of outing. Signorile, who now hosts a show on Sirius Radio, sees a direct connection between what he did and what Perez is doing now. "For me, it's about equalizing journalism," he says, adding, "When it's relevant, and only when it's relevant, it's appropriate to out someone. In the world of gossip, of course, there are different standards. Why can we only gossip about the love lives of heterosexuals? I think people like Perez Hilton are a part of the equalizing of that."
The logic is that outing minor celebrities who don't promote their sexual identity will force marquee celebrities to come out. Bruce Vilanch, the comedy writer best known for punching up the Academy Awards and sitting center-left on "Hollywood Squares," has, as he puts it, "been out longer than Perez has been alive." Of Hilton's argument that he's helping further gay civil rights, he says, "I don't understand why we profit from having some bitter miserable person exposed against his will. How does that make a gay teenager happy to be gay? What kind of a role model does that establish? I don't think it does anything for anybody." Vilanch also sees the connection between Signorile and Hilton, saying, "It's the same thing I said when Michelangelo Signorile was doing it: What purpose does it serve? These are professional homosexuals. They are gay people for a living. They have to respect the rights of homosexuals who aren't professional."
"If somebody isn't going to willingly announce that they are a positive individual, with a positive outlook on life," Vilanch asks, "why would we want to include them among us?"
About the writer
Japhy Grant is s a writer and director living in Los Angeles, and he blogs at the Modern Romantic.
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