Monday, 14 March 2011

An article from AfterElton

[Source]

The AfterElton.com Gay List

Posted by AfterElton.com Staff on March 14, 2011

One of our favorite mantras around the AfterElton offices is “because visibility matters.” Indeed, the idea that gay and bisexual men need to be visible, both to ourselves and to the wider culture, is one of the principle reasons AfterElton.com even exists. After all, it is only by being visible to family, friends and the world that we’ve been able to overcome the stereotypes and bigotry used to justify discrimination against the GLBT community.

That quest for visibility explains why we have done so many polls including the AfterElton Hot 100, the Fifty Greatest Gay Movies, the Top 50 Gay TV Characters, and the 50 Best Gay Books. After all, it’s not as if Entertainment Weekly is going to ask gay and bisexual men which guys we think are the hottest, which movies mean the most to us or, in the case of our latest poll, which celebrities we most admire.

But guess what? When we do so, much of the rest of the world tends to notice. The results of our Hot 100 poll are always reported in dozens of countries, and winners of other AE polls are often mentioned in all sorts of articles.

But why a poll about out celebrities? For better or worse, celebrities are some of the most influential people on the planet, and their fame allows them to either make the world a better place (Oprah Winfrey, anyone?) or act like total jackasses in front of the entire planet. (Way to go, Charlie Sheen!)

By highlighting which out gay and bisexual men our readers most admire, we celebrate not just those men, but how far the entire gay community has come. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that finding 50 out gay and bisexual men for a list like this would have been pretty hard to do.

It certainly isn’t any more. Thousands of AfterElton readers voted in our poll, nominating over 300 different gay/bi men they admired. That’s a lot of visible gay and bisexual men.

And note: we're not even including all the out women there are. (We left that poll to our sisters over at AfterEllen.com, and if you're interested you can find their results here.)

The men who made the top fifty in our poll were diverse in many ways, including not just the obvious actors and musicians who rule pop culture, but also includes two politicians, three athletes, a soldier, two writers, a sex advice columnist and a gay rights activist.

Actually, almost everyone on the list could be called a gay rights activist, and not just because they have all made the decision to be out. Rather, almost every man in the top fifty is someone who has done something to further the cause for gay equality, whether it be fighting Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, speaking up for marriage equality, or speaking out on the issue of gay teens who are bullied.

Some, like Sir Ian McKellen, have been doing it for decades, while others are brand new to the fight, but no less important or visible for that.

Alas, the results weren’t terribly racial diverse, which highlights an ongoing problem: limited GLBT visibility in minority communities. But our list did have some men of color including two Hispanic men, three Asians and two African American celebrities.

Enough pontificating about why this list matters. We’re pretty sure you already get it. It’s on to the results, starting at number 50 and working our way to number 1!

14. Luke Macfarlane

Canadian actor Luke Macfarlane (born January 19, 1980 - age 31). He is best known for his role as Scotty Wandell on ABC's Brothers & Sisters. Macfarlane came out publicly in 2008.
Further Reading...

Really? the 14th place?
By the way, it is the list of top 50 gay as follows. What do you think?

The 2011 AfterElton.com Gay List....
1. Chris Colfer
2. Adam Lambert
3. Neil Patrick Harris
4. Ricky Martin
5. John Barrowman
6. Sir Ian McKellen
7. Jonathan Groff
8. Elton John
9. Jesse Tyler Ferguson
10. Cheyenne Jackson
11. Dan Savage
12. Stephen Fry
13. Gareth Thomas
14. Luke Macfarlane
15. Russell Tovey
16. Jake Shears
17. Matthew Mitcham
18. George Takei
19. Ryan Murphy
20. Tim Gunn
21. Barney Frank
22. Dan Choi
23. Dustin Lance Black
24. Rufus Wainwright
25. Johnny Weir
26. Nate Berkus
27. Tom Ford
28. Darryl Stephens
29. Scott Evans
30. RuPaul
31. Lance Bass
32. David Burtka
33. B. D. Wong
34. Alan Cumming
35. Clay Aiken
36. Chad Allen
37. David Sedaris
38. Randy Harrison
39. Sean Hayes
40. Wilson Cruz
41. Chris Salvatore
42. Matt Doyle
43. Robert Gant
44. Alan Ball
45. Gavin Creel
46. James Duke Mason
47. Joel Burns
48. Mika
49. T.R. Knight
50. Nathan Lane
Posted by CJ at 15:09
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