Clay Aiken said 'yes' instead of 'yep': Gay pride in celeb-speak

When “American Idol” winner* runner-up Clay Aiken decided to come out of the closet this week, announcing his homosexuality in the latest issue of People magazine, celebrity watchers and etymologists alike sat up and took notice -– but for vastly different reasons.

Dogged by rumors since entering the public consciousness in 2003, Aiken confirmed widely held suspicions regarding his sexual orientation in an interview with the magazine. Its cover features a photo of the fleet-voiced, elf-like singer hugging his newborn son accompanied by the headline: “Yes, I’m gay.”

Crystallizing the general reaction from the celebrity press, a blog post yesterday from the self-declared “Queen of all media” Perez Hilton blares “Finally!!!!!”

But for word lovers, close readers and celebrity obsessives, the “Yes, I’m gay” headline exists as a subtle tweak on the way mainstream media has historically handled celebrity self-outing.

In 1997, comedian Ellen DeGeneres similarly came out by appearing on the cover of Time magazine. Her headline: “Yep, I’m gay.” The magazine was presumably quoting DeGeneres, then a sitcom star. Nonetheless, such a subtle gradation of language sounds downright folksy contrasted against Aiken’s highly starched “Yes, I’m gay.” (That year “Yep, I’m gay” began to appear on keychains and was memorialized in a song by Jade Esteban Estrada.)

The headline accompanying sitcom star Neil Patrick Harris’ self-outing article in People in 2006 was comparatively verbose: “I am a very content gay man.”

But for former N’Sync member Lance Bass, who revealed his sexual orientation on the cover of People in 2006, less is apparently more. Unlike Aiken, Harris and DeGeneres, his headline dispensed with any sort of qualifiers or subtle, conversational cues and cut directly to the chase, flatly declaring: “I’m gay.”

-- Chris Lee

Photo credit: Associated Press

*CORRECTION: Aiken was the runner-up on "American Idol" in 2003.

Comments

[Ang D.]

Does it matter how you say it, as long as you're proud and secure enough to say that you are? LAT, you'd do better to publish an article applauding those values than to sit here and pick apart people's syntax!

What a waste of pixels this was.

[The Mentor]

Why Am I not surprise?

[Esteban Ayanes]

If Clay Aiken has been denying the gay label for the past 3 or 4 years while it was actually true, then why should anyone believe him now that he asserts he is gay? Evidently, Clay doesn't remember the "Little Boy Who Cried Wolf."

[sam]

Why do people keep calling him an elf? He is 6'1'', pretty big elf, lol

[jim]

"Winner?" Wasn't he the runner up?

[Mandy]

Wow, I thought this article was going to explain what the different wording means. Or how wording it differently denotes a different level of gay pride. What was the point of this?! And "OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S GAY!"