Have you ever been surprised to learn someone was gay?

Guillermo Diaz. Had only seen him in "Half-Baked" and "Weeds" at the time and was surprised to learn he was gay when I googled him.

Jonathan Bennett. Not quite the same but remember seeing him in "Mean Girls" and hoping he was gay and was pleasantly surprised when I found out he actually was.

Raymond Burr ... from the old Perry Mason & Ironsides shows (as well as the original American version of Godzilla).

Will "Grandpa Walton" Geer.

My partner.

Gregg Alexander

Ellen Corby (Grandma Walton) and Spring Byington (December Bride)

Where do I start?

Helen Hunt.

Helen Hunt??

Spencer Tracy, though it is still just a rumour.

John Mahoney of "Frasier", who did such a wonderful job of playing the gruff dad.

David Hyde Pierce, not such a shock.

Yes, Gregg Alexander surprised me as well.

Gregg Alexander always pinged - that wasn't surprising at all.

Meredith Baxter - now that one came out of nowhere.

Robert Reed

Dan Butler, also from "Frasier." What was it with that show?

I am NOT gay!

Daniel J. Travanti. I recently came across a 1966 episode of Perry Mason while flipping channels and he was guest starring there with Raymond Burr. I never imagined he was gay when he was on TV in the 80s.

I keep reading about Paul Newman and how it was so widely known that he was gay that no one even bothered to mention it. Huh??!

Travanti? Where have I been? He's a little surprising at first, but not so much when I think about it.

Sherman Helmsley (George Jefferson) shocked me.

Daniel Travanti has such a friendly, sweet face.

Johnny Weir. I always thought he was just another macho skater who liked glitter on his costumes.

My mom.

Steve.

St.Vincent

The singer-songwriter or the actual saint, r23?

George Takei

B.D. Wong

Robert Reed

Ellen Corby and Will Geer

U.S. Rep Mickey Micheaux (D-ME)

Suze Orman

Thomas Robert

Do we actually know Gregg Alexander is gay?

I just Googled Gregg Alexander gay and this thread was the first thing that popped up.

The former, Annie Clark.

Bruce Vilanch and Harvey Fierstein. I never would have guessed.

Half of St Vincent's fans are guys who think she'll be the perfect wife, just look at some YouTube comments lmao.

[R18], Sherman Hemsley shocked you. Really? He pinged all the way to Uranus, and back again in time to screech, "Wheezie?!" (Yeah, it's those shrimpy, whiney, sarcastic ones that always make me think, "Oh, yeah. He's straight.")

And he doesn't spell his last name like the Queen Of Mean. That's a whole different situation.

Yes, really, R30. I assumed Hemsley was playing a character on a TV sitcom.

Dick Sargent

Robert Reed

Raymond Burr

NPH

Meredith Baxter. I've watched her on TV since about 1970 and never a whiff of lez.

I wasn't surprised about NPH because he and his bf David Burtka were "outed" on the DL years before NPH said he was gay in an interview

Alan Bates and Raven Symone

I don't assume people are straight until there is much evidence, so I never have this problem OP.

Our dad

Echo r36.

I can't think of any one who has come out where I had to 'readjust' my perceptions of them.

Some of you, on the other hand, have a serious lack of gaydar.

Wanda Sykes

Portia de Rossi

Jessica Simpson's dad. I thought he had incestuous thoughts the time he commented on her boobs. Apparently it was a decoy as he really lusted after her hubby, Nick Lachey.

Henry Kissinger. He has done a masterful, if unnecessary, job hounding women for eighty-some years to cover it up.

What can you tell us about Kissinger's same-sex dalliances, R42? (I have no reason not to believe you, but he always had good taste in women).

Did I see B.D. Wong on someone's list. Ms. Wong has chiffon written all over her body.

R43 All I ever heard was that the dick was a huge disappointment.

One person and one person only.

I was in Air Force ROTC in college and our cadet wing commander came out his senior year (I was a sophomore). Since Don't Ask Don't Tell was still in effect when it happened (early 2000s), he had to pay back all the money the Air Force had given him for school.

The guy wasn't that attractive, but he was really cocky...which made him kind of hot. I heard he ended up getting fat :(

Wasn't Harvey Fierstein who said he assumed everyone he met was gay until they told him differently?

Three-time National Bronze medalist in Figure Skating Matthew Savoie.

Now we all assume figure skaters are gay.

But Matt juggled grad school with his skating. Was very unassuming on and off the ice. Just did his job, his training, his school-work and rarely spoke to the media. Nothing gave off the vibe he was gay.

Then after graduating from law school he announces to Advocate he is getting married to a fellow male law student!

[italic]This[/italic] Matthew Savoie, R48? If his visage isn't the epitome of gayface, then there is no such thing as gayface.

For R43, the Rouchies used to give Kissinger a hard time...this happened a while ago.

"LaRouche targets usually don't bother responding to such theatrical accusations. However, a LaRouche follower once baited Kissinger so mercilessly that his wife, Nancy Kissinger, nearly throttled the woman. The Kissingers were at Newark airport in 1981, en route to Boston, where Henry was to undergo triple-bypass surgery, when a LaRouche activist shouted insults at Henry such as, "Is it true that you sleep with young boys at the Carlyle Hotel?"

Nancy Kissinger took the woman by the throat and asked, "Do you want to get slugged?" The woman pressed charges, but a judge acquitted Nancy of misdemeanor assault."

Daniel J. Travanti, Guillermo Diaz, Raymond Burr. Not because there was any reason why they couldn't be gay (not playing that stereotypical game shit) but because the news, when it came to me, seemed so random. The same is true about John Goodman, although that's never been confirmed, has it?

But Kissinger is a pedophile/ephebophile then, no? Any stories or rumors about adult men?

Raven Symone definitely blew my mind

Oh yes, many including:

Ellen, Richard Simmons, the guy from Big Bang theory, the weather guy on good morning America, and most importantly Clay Aiken

John Gielgud

Dirk Bogarde

Rupert Everett

R54 = Helen Keller

Earl Holliman

On discovering DL many years ago I was most shocked to discover that every good looking actor to have ever existed was secretly gay.

Various metal singers.

I was shocked to learn Greg Proops is straight, I thought I remembered hearing him say otherwise.

I don't recall being shocked by anyone being gay. I'm sure I've been mildly surprised but I can't remember by who.

Meredith Baxter Birney. I had absolutely no idea.

Seeing the photo documentation on Google of George Bush Jr's kink/obsession with rubbing bald men's heads, his face bearing a strange mixture of childlike/gay glee - an indication of his hidden sexuality - was surprising to me.

I'm convinced Bush is a closet case myself r63 and have no doubt that Gannon was in the White House to service him. Anyone else in that cesspool of an administration would have been able to fuck somewhere else. Even Bush's post presidency artwork (self portraits in the shower and poodles? really? what straight man would paint that) point to the gay. As horrible a person as he is he is our first (or second after Buchanan and his "Aunt Fancy") gay president.

Steve was no surprise actually.

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

Surprised by Melanie Griffith being a bisexual. And one that likes pre-teen girls (Tatum O'Neal).

What about the George HW Bush White House? There was a child sex ring there. The reason I mention this here is in relation to the W rumors -- the gay prostitute they gave press corps. credentials to has long been rumored as one of the kidnapped children molested in HW's WH.

Allegedly W had a longtime gay lover he'd have threesomes with. The woman that was a part of this arrangement later outed Bush, then ended up dead under mysterious circumstances.

My father .........

r20. ROTFLMAO!

R60 I've only heard Greg Proops mention he's straight once in a stand-up routine, but it doesn't seems he has the need to prove it. I never got a vibe from him either way. I thought if anyone on the Whose line cast was gay, it would be Brad Sherwood.

Greg Proops is straight and married a long, long time. He's always talking about his wife in his podcast (I've been listening to it for as long as it's been on). She's a gorgeous lady. He grew up near San Francisco, and is a giant pothead. He's also amazingly culturally literate, and knows a shit-ton about sports. Total post-modern renaissance man.

I would never, ever, ever have guessed. A friend and business associate kissed me passionately out on the balcony of room 3101, top front corner of the hotel tower you all will recognize.

We went on to have a sweet occasional affair over the next few years of his business visits to Honolulu.

R61 Neither did she

Cheryl and Julie

I knew NPH was "like me" when I watched the pilot of Doogie. I just knew. And I didn't know "gaydar" was even a word yet.

Benedict XVI

Ed Asner

{quote]The singer-songwriter or the actual saint, [R23]?

Apparently, it's St. Vincent's Hospital.

I know he's married and all-respectable, but Sam Waterston has seriously "butched it up," as we used to say, since his very early roles. The picture is from "3"

If it's true about Ed O'Neill, him.

Rock Hudson

Nate Berkus. The first time I saw him he was on Oprah, talking about losing someone in the tsunami, this was ten years ago. I had no idea who he was or what he did. I hadn't watched long enough for him to say it was his partner, a man. I remember being a little surprised.

Slutty one-hit wonder Samantha Fox.

Rick Nelson, gorgeous talented Ricky Nelson. Rumor has it he liked pretty Hawaiian boys in his latter years.

Lee Majors: was he just gay to get started in Hollywood? Get head to get ahead?

David Soul: survived as a male hustler on Hollywood Boulevard? Really?

Frank Gifford & Jack Kemp: would love to see the home movies

Vince Edwards aka Ben Casey

Can anyone confirm the rumors about LL Cool J? It would be a waste to look that good naked and not be ambisexual!

What about pro athletes who would stun you if they came out?

John Sebastian from the Lovin Spoonful.

Alexander the Great

Dumbledore. When I read that I almost expelliarmused.

Ed Koch! I just thought he was asexual and soooooo unattractive.

Mike Bloomberg: is her or isn't he?

Keith Hernandez of the Mets

The beautiful Raoul Esparza from Law and Order

I'm just now finding out that the guy who directed The Wizard (Todd Holland) is gay.

Mo Rocca

Country singer George Jones.