Janet Napoliano: 1st Gay cabinet member?

[I LUV DEM]

We have come a long way!!!

Go-Obama!

http://www.queerty.com/janet-napolitano-to-run-homeland-security-cue-up-the-sexuality-questions-20081120/

[Metric System]

1. From the article:

"Napolitano says she's not a lesbian"

"This has made all the gays in Arizona all kinds of peeved, as she publicly opposes same-sex marriage."

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. Well, I'm just glad that we have Obama. I love that man! nt

[WI_DEM]

4. She probably supports civil unions like most of the politicians.

[Teaser]

59. .

.

[I LUV DEM]

38. she had 2 say that in a red state

[blondeatlast]

54. Funny, no one I know is peeved by it.

:shrug:

[WI_DEM]

3. I don't think the article makes it clear that Napoliano is gay

[Miss Chybil]

5. Napolitano has never said she is gay. nt

[Fran Kubelik]

6. Welcome to DU

Even if she's gay, she's certainly not the first closeted gay person in the cabinet.

[slampoet]

7. Exactly, Janet Reno comes to mind, if she had any sexuality.

[Median Democrat]

10. The Ally McBeal Character Loved Reno's Waddle

[Drunken Irishman]

37. Reno might be asexual?

[slampoet]

58. I just never heard one way or the other for 10 years. I'm not trying to start rumors.

I am telling you that i have heard absolutely nothing on the subject.


That in itself is the only thing that has been odd.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

61. Mary Frances Berry was the first openly gay person serving under Clinton

Civil Rights Commission; not sure if that's a part of the cabinet.

[lamp_shade]

8. Gay? Where the hell did you hear that? Oh... never mind.

[LostinVA]

9. This isn't going to end well

I smell pizza for lunch, actually.

[Occam Bandage]

11. Women with short hair are all lesbians. Duh.

:eyes:

[blondeatlast]

20. Yup. Between 1979 and 1997, I was a lesbian. I no longer am...

My 1996 pregnancy has yet to be explained...

(I know you are kidding, btw.)

[No Elephants]

12. I would bet my condo that America has had gay cabinet members,

including, by many accounts, Condi Rice. The key words here are not gay or hetero but "closeted" or "out."

[CTyankee]

39. Absolutely right. Many gay Americans served their country as cabinet members

just as they do in the general population, but of course under the awful stress of being "outed" for political reasons. Wasn't there a book about that, "Advise and Consent" by Alan Drury?

[scheming daemons]

13. Welcome to DU..... IBTL

[Barack_America]

14. Nope. You're forgetting Condi.

I know that you posted this trying to get someone to mention Reno, so I present you with Condi instead.

And why not? If we're on a gay witch-hunt, Condi clearly is as "suspicious" as Reno or Napolitano.

Now run along back to your friends at FR.

[genna]

36. I think there is less with Dr. Rice to get excited about than the others

because there are many black women with her level of education, socio-economic status who are heterosexual but decided to never marry. The interaction between Pres. Bush and Dr. Rice have always made me think that Condi is straight.

[I LUV DEM]

40. she spent her time with married men

[Marrah_G]

15. Have a nice stay

[MarkInCA]

16. You know I was afraid to bring it up

Yesterday I wondered if she was gay but figured if I brought it up here I would get nailed. Didn't see any mention of it in any stories so wrote it off as "she just looks that way."

IBTL

:popcorn:

[Fire_brand]

17. . . .

[crispini]

18. Snort. I love this comment from that blog

No. 14 · pissyrabbit
Have any of you ever been to Vermont or New Hampshire? All the straight women look like her.

:rofl:

[blondeatlast]

21. HAH!

:rofl:

[TygrBright]

22. Yup. Here in New Mexico, too. n/t

[bunnies]

60. shit. I'll have to cut all my hair off now.

Being the only one in NH with long hair and all. :rofl:

[Larry in KC]

19. Hello? Henry KISSINGER?!

[crispini]

51. Kissinger was gay? Wow, I'm out of the loop. nt

[dsc]

57. Kissinger wasn't gay he was famous for dating pretty, young women

He was the reason for the saying that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

[blondeatlast]

23. Here since May and this is the first issue I see you comment on.

Holy hell, if Arizona doesn't make her sexuality an issue, no one else should.

[saracat]

24. Janet has repeatedly denied she is gay. She is smart enough not to conceal it if she were.

She has said she wiuld admit it if she were gay but she is NOT. Not every single woman with short hair is gay.

[atimetocome]

26. simple-minded people will believe this article.

[Perky]

25. She has said she is not gay... just a workaholic,

[LynneSin]

27. Personally if she was gay - who cares.

:shrug:

[JI7]

28. for some reason i always thought she was married and had kids

but sometime ago someone mentioned that she is lesbian .

[LynneSin]

29. So is this my fate in life - if I'm a woman over 40 and single then I must be gay?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Napolitano

(btw, I'm single and over 40 but straight)

[Ganja Ninja]

32. I don't know why it is that someone that is straight and never marries

is always thought of as gay. I'm over 50, straight and single/never married. I think we're the one's with the most self confidence not to give into family and peer pressure and end up in a bad marriage or a string of bad marriages. I love being single. I make all my own decisions and never have to put up with any complaints for them. I do what I want, when I want, without argument.

[LynneSin]

34. There's a difference though - you're a man

Being a 'bachelor' is not as much of a negative as being a single woman over 40. I'm suppose to be out there being fruitful and multiplying. And let's face it - we've seen the same kind of comments when it's come to Janet Reno, Condi Rice and now Janet N. Perhaps some or all of these women are lesbians but the fact that they are over 40 and single, this conversation always comes up as the big discussion.

[Drunken Irishman]

42. My aunt was in her 40s when she married for the first time.

I think many of us in our family just assumed she was gay. We didn't say anything or question her, but it was just always in the backs of our minds.

[crispini]

52. Over forty, short hair, doesn't wear a lot of makeup = OMG LESBIAN!

At least in the mind of some maroons. Like it's any of their business anway. :eyes:

[Sebastian Doyle]

30. What about James Buchanan?

Well he was a President, but that's the leader of the cabinet, right? And his nickname was "Betsy". Draw your own conclusions.....

[Drunken Irishman]

43. Or Lincoln.

:O

[baldguy]

31. Well, there are those rumors about Condi....

[RFKHumphreyObama]

33. There's no conclusive proof of this

Why is it that single women over a certain age who aren't maried are thought of as being gay?

And it is Napolitano BTW

[genna]

35. I've never heard that Napolitano claim she was gay. If she is and she hasn't said so, why OUT her?

I grew up with Barbara Mikalski as my state's senator. I always thought she was gay but she never claimed she was.

One Republican woman tried to run against her and claim she hated men. Mikalski's response was my father and brothers would be very surprised to hear that. As far as I know, she never said she wasn't gay.


I always wondered why gays passed in heterosexual society without committing to who they are. It aggravated me going through school with the few who were and didn't say anything. It took my sister to explain how outing a gay person was similar to outing a black person passing for white while/when black people could count on being lynched.


As an aside in this day and age, I haven't figured out why Bob Barr won't check his lineage and identify those in his family tree who are black. But hey, maybe there are still more benefits for passing for white and tolerating people who don't want to deal with blacks as a whole.


I think the same thing is true for Napolitano as it has been for Mikalski, why should she have to proclaim her sexual identity to appease the rest of us? Isn't it better to allow for the entire community of self identified GLBT and those who won't identify to instruct the rest of us what the politically acceptable thing to say is? I think we can all draw the conclusions we need to draw based on what we have before us, but the community itself can tell us how to frame the issue in public discourse.


What say you, GLBT?

[Drunken Irishman]

41. I don't like outing gays who are in the closet unless they use their power to hurt the gay community

And from what I've teld, Napolitano has not done that.

[blondeatlast]

44. OP. OP; Aunt Bee has fried chicken 'n biscuits;on the table and Miss Ellie's

over; where are yoooooooou?

[Rockholm]

45. Wow. You ARE a busy little beaver, aren't you?

[ronnykmarshall]

48. Very busy.

Two flamebait threads so far.

Time to warm up the pizza oven.

[Rockholm]

49. I'll make the popcorn.

[racaulk]

46. I'm of the mind that if someone says they're not gay, they deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Pontificating as to whether or not she is a lesbian serves no purpose.


ETA: You spelled her name wrong.

[FLAprogressive]

47. I think you're thinking of another Janet.....n/t

[blondeatlast]

50. I LUV DEM: first illiterate Ccabinet member?

Dittoheads haven't come a long way, have they? :eyes:

[Cali_Democrat]

53. How the hell would you know?

:eyes:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

55. Pizza has been served!

[racaulk]

56. Finally!

See ya, troll! :hi: