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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Sex / Conflict of Interest / Savage Love "Dan Savage: The First Gay Celebrity"

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 9:18 AM

We here at the office prefer to refer to him as "Gay Jesus," but Mark Oppenheimer's take on Salon (and in an e-book) is all right:

Dan Savage is a public-radio personality, a leading anti-bullying activist, a star of MTV and a prominent tormentor of Republicans. But in the beginning he was a sex columnist. His column “Savage Love” made its debut in the first issue of the Stranger, the Seattle alt-weekly, on Sept. 23, 1991, and soon would change the world of sex advice—a world dominated, at the time, by the relatively timid Dr. Ruth and the once-popular “Ask Isadora.” Now that “Savage Love” is over 20 years old, it’s worth looking back at what the self-described “faggot from Seattle” has wrought.

“At the beginning, it was going to be a joke,” Savage tells me...

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That is lovely. I loved the writer saying Dan took him to "the cafe in the back of the Elliott Bay Book Co., a Seattle institution where other customers nod at Savage hopefully, hoping he will recognize them." The 48-page e-book's only two bucks and has a cover photo we mercifully haven't seen a million times. He closes the book with a line we all can identify with: "Savage isn’t perfect. If he were, I wouldn’t like him at all."

Fellow flying monkeys, let's get to downloading!

Posted by gloomy gus on October 9, 2012 at 9:29 AM

I think of Dan more as the "Gay Apostle Paul" rather than "Gay Jesus." Dickish, wrong on some things, right on other things.

Posted by Chris in Vancouver WA on October 9, 2012 at 9:36 AM

Too bad he couldn't take him to Cafe Septieme. That's where it all started as far as I'm concerned. Who knew that guy serving us lattes and tarts (he exuded intelligence even then) would become a brand? Couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.

Never been jealous of Dan because he earned his success - well, maybe a little envious because he'd done more with his life in 25 years than I'd done in 40. A remarkable guy. Glad he's on my side.

Posted by Bauhaus I on October 9, 2012 at 9:44 AM

"Gay Moses" seems more fitting.

Posted by Urgutha Forka on October 9, 2012 at 10:20 AM

Cults of Personality are so much fun.

not that anyone on Slog will get it.....

Posted by The Gay Jim Jones...(wait..Jones WAS Gay...) on October 9, 2012 at 10:28 AM

Oh, Christ, Mark, why did you have to use the word "trannies"? Shit, meet fan.

Posted by dchari on October 9, 2012 at 10:35 AM

Also, that "first gay celebrity" nonsense had better be a joke.

Posted by dchari on October 9, 2012 at 10:36 AM

@4 - Yes, I can definitely picture Dan reading off of a stone tablet, "Thou shalt not date someone more than 10 years younger than you!"

Posted by Chris in Vancouver WA on October 9, 2012 at 10:40 AM

First "openly" gay celebrity. That at least accounts for the various popes and movie actors.

Posted by J.R. on October 9, 2012 at 10:49 AM

For the record: I had nothing to do with that subtitle. Antinuos is the first gay celeb, if you ask me.

Posted by Dan Savage on October 9, 2012 at 10:58 AM

The words "first" and "celebrity" probably shouldn't be in that subtitle, but "Dan Savage: Gay" isn't quite as compelling.

Posted by blip on October 9, 2012 at 11:46 AM

First non-camp gay celebrity, perhaps? Because there were some extremely famous people in the US and in Britain whose homosexuality was an extremely open secret or even perhaps publicly known - but the ones I'm thinking of (Kenneth Williams, say, and Liberace) were very camp, either because that was their way or for professional reasons.

Posted by Warren Terra on October 9, 2012 at 12:35 PM

Dan Savage- Spokesgay for us all. Keep it up, Dan!

Posted by OutInBumF on October 9, 2012 at 3:12 PM

Look, I know Dan is gay (he reminds us every now and again, lest we forget), but his column, at least, is so much more than that. From Day 1 he's been an advocate of safe, sane, consensual and positive sex. For everybody. And, he's done it on a grander scale than anyone before in my lifetime.

I realize you gay folk are legitimately proud of Dan and his accomplishments, but so are a bunch of straight people. Not to take anything away from his advocacy for equal rights for all of us, but his advocacy of sexual peace and self-acceptance in the face of our very conflicted guilt-ridden culture has been an enormous gift to us all. Even middle-aged and older straight folk.

Posted by Brooklyn Reader on October 9, 2012 at 4:00 PM