Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 30th, 2007
AfterEllen.com found it, buried deep in an AP report on CNN’s web site:
He worked at Playwrights Horizons, the Public Theater, Shakespeare in the Park and a lot of regional theaters such as the Guthrie in Minneapolis, Chicago’s Goodman and Long Wharf in New Haven, Conn. Pierce got to Los Angeles in the early 1990s when his partner, actor-writer-producer Brian Hargrove, wanted to write for television.
David Hyde Pierce is probably better known for his role as Niles on the television sitcom Frasier. AfterEllen confirmed Pierce’s relationship with Hargrove through Pierce’s publicist. AfterEllen also notes that this quiet self-outing may be in response to Michael Musto’s more strident outing in Out magazine’s controversial “Gay Power List” which featured Jody Foster and Anderson Cooper.
As far as I’m concerned, everyone has the right to be as out or as closeted as they want to be. We all have our own reasons for deciding how much of our private lives we want to share, and we all should have the right to make those decisions freely. If the gay rights movement means anything, it must mean that either we all share the right to protect our privacy or none of us do. Otherwise, why are we fighting so hard to secure our place in the world regardless of what we do in the privacy of our homes?
And yet, I’m glad that David Hyde Pierce has decided to come out. Visible role models are a good thing. It’s just too bad that we still need visible role models. And it’s too bad that everyone who comes out is expected to become one.
But if Peirce is going to be a role model, the way he came out is a good example to follow. No big announcement, no press release, just a simple statement made matter-of-factly in an article that paints an expansive portrait of his career. Maybe someday all such “announcements” will be so mundane.
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David Lynn
May 31st, 2007
Why did I know David Hyde Pierce was gay like 10-12 years ago? And no, I don’t travel in LA circles.
So on Frasier, it was Pierce, John Mahoney (the father, Martin Crane), Dan Butler (sports guy), Edward Hibbert (who played a closeted gay critic), all are gay. anyone else?
Eddie?
Dave Rattigan
May 31st, 2007
Yeah, I’m not sure this was David’s coming-out. I’ve known for a while that he was gay, and I assumed he had always been out.
Jim Burroway
May 31st, 2007
You can count me among those who didn’t know he was gay. On the other hand, I had a similar reaction when Rosie O’Donnell came out. I thought everyone already knew that.
Timothy Kincaid
June 1st, 2007
I agree we are are entitled to our privacy.
But, on the other hand, do people expect everyone to keep a secret when they see you at a party or out with a boyfriend. For heaven sake, if a straight celebrity is seen out it gets dragged into the rags, why would we expect that gay celebrities are off limits for speculation and gossip?
Pierce was hardly private. He was seen socially with his husband. For Out to mention him (what, 20 years into it?) is hardly “outing”.
Rose
June 2nd, 2007
I don’t think David was outed as much as Brian Hargrove was outed. In any case it was handled with class. But you wouldn’t expect anything less of DHP. He’s definitely a positive role model. I wish there were more like him.
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