Politics | 05/06/2009 1:50 pm
MASH Star David Ogden Stiers Comes Out
David Ogden Stiers came out of the closet so that he can find some love.
© Getty Images
David Ogden Stiers, made famous for playing Major Frank Burns on MASH, has come out of the closet. In an interview with the website Gossip-Boy.com, Stiers says he hasn’t always been comfortable talking about his personal life, but felt that now’s the right time:
I wish to spend my life’s twilight being just who I am. I could claim noble reasons as coming out in order to move gay rights forward, but I must admit it is for far more selfish reasons. Now is the time I wish to find someone and I do not desire to force any potential partner to live a life of extreme discretion with me.
Stiers also explained that he stayed in the closet for so long because he feared occupational backlash: "Even though many have this idealistic belief that the entertainment industry [is] gay friendly. For the most part they are, but that doesn’t mean for them that business does not come first."
You can read the entire interview over at Gossip-Boy.
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Another crack report, WOW.
He played Charles Winchester in MASH…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ogden_Stiers
Thank you nan…WOW, do you employ actual humans, who read their copy before they post???
This must be, the slowest of slow news days. John McCain’s mother gets a thread; and now a David Ogden Stiers ‘discussion?’
Back to topic…why, exactly is this news? He’s gay; he’s ‘out of the closet’ (is there still a closet???). Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Yawn.
There is so much else to report on.
Colin Powell and Noonan on the state of the Republican party? Microsoft laying off an additional portion of their work force yesterday? Unemployment not likely to improve until 2010?
You are right…. who cares if "Charles" is gay… glad you’re, David, finally honest about this, but WOW? It’s SAD when your post hits are declining and your loyal supporters are forced to comment on the sexual orientation of someone who hasn’t done anything to note in almost twenty years.
Aside from the fact that I’m not sure how having entertainment articles in a general-interest online magazine is such a horrible thing, you’re uninformed concerning Ogden Stiers career. As a voice talent, he’s done some very important work over the last twenty years.
But what if he hadn’t? It’s not like celebrities aren’t re-discovered and re-celebrated for nostalgia’s sake all the time. In his case, his fans span generations down to pre-schoolers who don’t even know he’s one of the actors in their favorite animated films.
If nothing else, is it really such a hardship to learn that somebody’s actually happy?
nanchan,
I feel that if Wow reports on such insignificant so called news peices, we will somehow become desensitized to this issue.
OMG!!! WHO GIVES A DAMN! Why should anyone care who he or ANYONE else has sex with? It is this sensationalism of the gay agenda that makes the public shy away…we don’t want to KNOW.
Who less than 1% of the population, has sex with is NOT NEWS. Propaganda….more like it.
We don’t have an Agenda. We just want equality. He explained very clearly why he came out and it was a noble and loving reason.
As for "less than 1% of the population." Oh dear, you are way off. We are everywhere, in every walk of life.
However, I absolutely agree with, "Why should anyone care who he or ANYONE else has sex with?" You are absolutely right, who cares. I don’t either. However, as an American citizen I want the same rights as everyone else. Not special rights or extra rights, just equal rights. Like marriage and the 1,138 Federal Rights associated with it.
Gays have equality, to say that they don’t is misleading. You have opportunity to secure all of the rights that any other American has.
As Tammy Brice, an openly gay advocate and radio talk show hosts says, Traditional marriage is for heterosexuals, civil unions are for gays.
Equal but different. You have yours and we have ours.
His "coming out" is akin to a public therapy session. Sex should be private matter.
I wish I lived in the reality where LGBT people have equality — it must be heaven!
Marriage equality exists in only five (but still five — and I repeat it because I know it’s got to hurt) states. You can still lose your job in states across the country because of who you are (but, admittedly, not in any of the states worth living in). You can be the best, most qualified soldier in the military and still be discharged because of who you are (and then get re-hired by the military in a civilian capacity afterwards, as if that makes any sense at all). And all that’s just for starters.
But you must know all of this, right? I mean, everybody does. It ain’t news.
Tammy Bruce, not Brice (who I had to Google), is, it turns out, a notorious nutcase who’s made a career out of saying stupid stuff. Surely you don’t take her seriously? It would be a shock if anybody did.
One professional neo-Nazi does not speak for the entire LGBT community. Here, let me put it in boldface because I know you like that: Millions of LGBT people disagree with Tammy Bruce. For that matter, so do millions of non-LGBT people. Marriage equality is for everyone, bigotry is for losers.
As to Ogden Stiers, he’s a celebrity and he was being interviewed and there are people who actually care what he has to say. As to sex, I hope you don’t flaunt your heterosexuality by wearing a wedding ring, for instance, or by having children. Sex should be a private matter.
And no need to put scare quotes around "coming out". That’s been a perfectly normal phrase for the past forty years. Just like being gay has been perfectly normal for the past forty years, too. And someday very soon, the LGBT 10% of the population will also be perfectly equal.
Well Kurt…I have already posted about the typo…but regardless, Miss Bruce is only a "nutcase" to those far left winged liberal loons that don’t agree with her…so it goes…I guess that you must be shocked, as she is quiet successful.
So typical…your name calling and extremists labeling…nothing new here….demonizaton of opinion 101.
You obviously only listen to those that share your special interest views…but do not be mistaken, many, many do not support gay marriage, many are in fact gay. There are moderate and conservative gays that have not gotten the media attention that the far left wing gay activists have. It is a shame, as the left does not speak for the rest of them. But the media being what it is, panders to the far left.
Gays have equal rights, that they don’t is BS. Maybe if some didn’t flaunt their private life all over the place, who would know, or who would care?
Gays have civils unions, heterosexuals have traditional marriage. Traditional marriage is not the end all…the far left gay agenda will not be satisfied until gay sex is taught in schools….perfectly equal…huh??
That is 100% false. Let’s list a few of the indisputable biggies.
Marriage - Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships are not equal to Marriage. Marriage provides 1,138 Federal Rights that Civil Unions do not. Marriages are also protected by Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution. Civil Unions are not.
Hospital Visitation -Same sex partners are not considered family and are often barred from visiting their loved ones in the hospital. My Uncle and his partner have been together for 40 years. They are now elderly. If my Uncle gets ill and requires hospitalization the only family he has knows for most of his life could be barred from visiting and caring for him while in the hospital. Kelly, imagine if you where told you where not allowed to visit your husband of 40 years because you’re not family. How does that make you feel?
That is just two examples of the many thousands of inequalities and injustices the LGBT Community faces every single day. We don’t want special or extra rights. We want our Constitutionally Guaranteed Equal Rights.
For you to say I have equality and I am being misleading is ugly, disgusting, ignorant and extremely insulting to me.
Well Rebecca…you said it…I didn’t…
Gays can get living wills, stipulations to who visits, who is power of attorney, etc. So stop it…there a legal avenues for gays to protect property, visiting rights, ect.
They just aren’t all rolled up in one package…but the access to those rights can be had. There are heterosexuals that do not decide to marry, and they manage to get the proper papers in order….
It is misleading.
You’re ignorance is mindblowing. I fell sorry for you.
Nothing you wrote about provides any of the RIGHTS that married people receive. Tell me, how can a Same-Sex couple file as married on their Tax Returns? They can’t. What if they have a Civil Union in one state but they move to another state. The civil union is not recognized because it does not have the protection of Article IV, Section 1 of the U.S. Constituion. Finally, who can afford all the legal costs associated with what you propose. All those things that are handed to you we have to hire lawyers for and even then it does not provide any equality and no guarantees.
You have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about!
Well Rebecca…I guess that all of the moderate and conservative gays that agree with me are "mindblowingly ignorant"? I think that they know what they are talking about. You would like to make this a "Kelly in Texas" debate…so sorry…its not.
There are many gay couples that have civil unions and manage to cover all of the important "rights" that you listed. The cost is not astronomical…so that doesn’t wash either.
Perhaps you should scream and yell at those gay couples that "they have absolutely no idea of what they are talking about". They disagree, they are happy and protected legally. They do NOT support gay marriage.
States have laws that reflect the will of the people that live there. That is what makes this country so great. If marriage is so vitally important to someone, then there are states in which they can reside. That’s a fact.
I feel sorry for the moderate and conservative gays that are not heard above the din of the far left wing liberals. They have their opinions and they are not radical with their words or demands, making the gay lifestyle more acceptable to main stream Americans.
Ya know Kelly, and I am being absolutely sincere, I wished you lived near San Francisco. I would invite you to visit me for the weekend of SF Pride. I would take you to the events that I work at and introduce you to loving couples and you’d get to know them personally. Then, on the day of the Pride Parade you’d be on the back of my Harley riding down Market Street as we lead the Parade with some 400 other motorcycle and the whole of the Parade following.
During the weekend you will see how hard I work and the long hours I put in. You would meet my friends and you will see they are just like you. I bet there are some you will even miss. Then, before you head home I will ask you your thoughts and I bet that, no matter how slight, your opinion will change and you will open your heart and mind to the fact that we are exactly like you and should share in the same rights.
It’s one thing to tell me your feelings online, it’s another to look me in the eye and repeat them after I have opened my home and my heart to you, after you’ve met so many dozens of LGBT people and made new friendships.
My sister has dibs on riding with me in this year’s Pride Parade but she will not be riding if her and her husband finally conceive my neice or nephew. If we should be so blessed and she is with child and you feel like flying from Texas to San Francisco, then my offer still stands. No opinions will be forced upon you and I would introduce you as my dear old friend and I will just let you look and listen, watch and learn and form your own opinions.
If you’re worried that I’m some big Bull Dyke that will intimadate you don’t worry. I am not. LOL. I am big, 5’ 11", but thin and blond and very femme so you won’t feel uncomfortable being around me in public.
Have a wonderful weekend.