"Absolutely Queer" campaign (2025)

I was reading about this poster campaign in NY in 1991 where allegedly closeted celebrities were outed. I recognize Jodie Foster, Tom Selleck, Whitney and James Baldwin but none of the others. Can anyone tell me who they are, please? Also, did the campaign ever get any mainstream coverage?

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Gertrude Stein, middle row far right

r1 Thank you! Is that Mel Gibson to the left of Selleck?

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, bottom row far left.

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, bottom row, towards the right

Thanks, guys! I just found the Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta pic:

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Paula Abdul to the right of Selleck.

I love how the only "ABSOLUTELY HET" one is Mel Gibson. Why bother putting him in the mix at all??

Barry Diller next to Merv Griffin next to Jodie.

Why are some Absolutely Queer and some Absolute Queer?

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I think that's Jamie Lee Curtis middle row far left.

The first picture in the bottom row might be Debbie Reynolds playing The Singing Nun.

Paula is gay?

Who's the woman in the first row?

R15 - Oops, nope. She's the only female on the poster spread that's also ABSOLUTELY HET!!

Who is the man top row far right? Looks like he's lighting a cigarette.

Tom Cruise, r18.

R17 Thanks

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It seems the intention was to out people, so Gertrude stein? Seriously?

Early Mel Gibson was so hot

Were there gay rumors about Debra Winger and Mel Gibson? They seem to be correct about the others. I remember seeing a photo of a young Mel Gibson at Studio 54 and wondering. That poster campaign would have been way before his assorted outbursts; he was liked and had a good image at the beginning of his career.

On the linked thread, I noticed a posting by "Zak". Remember Zak?

I don't get the Mel Gibson (het) and Paula Abdul (het) being there. Is it just to be funny?

Queer? QUEER??!

James Baldwin was closeted?

That gay beefcake Tom Selleck being gay is/was not top secret information.

R12 On re-butt-al at his masculinity trial did they show him in his famous Hotpants?

Selleck and The Globe settled out of court before the case went to trial and The Globe published a retraction.

Jamie Lee Curtis? I also didn’t think that Paula or Mel were gay.

On an old gossip site, Paula Abdul was said to have relations with Lorraine Bracco.

God, I thought that pic of Paula Abdul was Bianca Jagger. Time to get glasses.

I thought it was Bianca Jagger, too

Mick Jagger is gay of course Bianca Jagger is gay too!

I remember these posters up in Chelsea NYC in the 1990's this was Act- Up era still. The point was to learn so many were passing for straight . There was also a set of posters for wig wearers! Yes lol! I remember Dan Rather... Tom Sellek was again in that set as well.

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I can only imagine the screeching nuclear hissy fit Tom Cruise had when he found out about this.

Jamie Lee Curtis is straight but supposedly has androgen insensitivity syndrome. Women with that condition are XY so technically biologically male. That would put her under the very broad queer spectrum.

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I remember the posters and I remember Jodie was one of them.

Yes I remember it being shocking, too ,R41

I don't think it got mainstream coverage. I think I read about it in the Village Voice.

Olivia Newton-John is NOT a lez. At best she's bi.

There used to be this sleazy male lingerie shop on Hollywood Blvd back in the 90's owned by these two old perry queens. They had drilled holes in the walls of the dressing room to spy on customers changing. They had autographed pics of celebrities that had visited. The only two that were really famous were Tom Selleck and Jin Nabors. The rest were minor gay celebs or strippers. I'm a huge exhibitionist so loved going there and teasing the old queens.

In the early 90s, even people who are extremely out today, like Rosie O'Donnell, were carefully closeted. I'm so glad times have changed. I still getting used to the fact that we can now marry, and openly serve in the military. I was in the military in the mid-80s, and remaining closeted was absolutely necessary, lest you get a less-than-honorable type of discharge.

Here's that infamous video from Howard Stern...

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Many are still missing....

I don't recall intersexed people falling under the queer umbrella in the early 90s. Queer was LGB back then T often lived as L or G prior to transition. Most T just wanted to blend in as their chosen gender and would avoid the queer scene if the could pass. Intersexed was considered a medical condition. Intersexed people identified as one gender and Just wanted to blend in. I don't know anyone who would have classified them as queer back then. You weren't considered closeted for not sharing medical info with the world.

I remember those posters clearly, Ann B. Davis was one of them, though not pictured here. Up until then I had never thought of Alice as a sexual being.

Ann B. Davis pinged into outer space.

Where is 16 year old Ryan Seefest?

Funny that Ann B. Davis was included, she'd been out of the public eye for a long time by then.

They should do one now on that hypocrite Andrew Garfield. Weepily championing gay rights and taking gay money until it will hurt his chances to put on another Lycra bodysuit and get some of those big straight bucks for yet another shitty superhero reboot.

James Baldwin was as "closeted" a Truman Capote.

Queer meant gay back then R27, but you know that. It was a strong political statement. Now children are trying to co opt it to hide their real gayness. It’s the new way of saying bi, but even more pathetic and cowardly.

I think in the cases of Gertrude Stein and James Baldwin, they were affirming the truth of their previously self-declared homosexuality, which the mainstream press would seriously downplay or outright omit when describing their personalities, talents, and contributions.

OMG!!! I forgot all about those!

Was the same group who threatened to disrupt the Oscars that year? They were upset about how the transgender character Buffalo Bill was portrayed in Silence of the Lambs. Didn't they demand that Jodie Foster confirm that she was gay ahead of the Oscars ceremony?

Jamie lee Curtis is obviously a woman and she's a lesbian

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Shocking!

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James Baldwin was never closeted.

Even if he wanted to be the minute he opened his mouth...

What a bully-pig that Howard Stern is.

And 100% correct back then ....

How could anyone have ever thought Cole Porter was str8?!

It's funny that how much closet case Stern is interested in other's people sexuality and gender

That was so mean to ask Jamie that question in front of kids....

Howard Stern is a prick and so is anyone who ever worked with him.

R75, that would be Paula Abdul (I know, I made the same mistake).

Aren't there lots of rumors about Debbie Reynolds? I have read them on DL.

There were rumors about Debbie Reynolds written into the margins of original copies of the Old Testament.

Good thread, OP, thanks for the reminder, I'd forgotten about this and now I remember clear as day. At the time I was seventeen and living in the Village. Those posters gave me just the right push to come out.

I think Nancy Kulp was another posterette, not that that was a surprise.

r82 idiocy, just shut up

R37 Mick is bisexual, he's slept with lots of women and it is not any sort of secret. Tommy S is bisexual or gay but as someone else wrote it is not any sort of secret.

Who is the woman below Whitney? (And in between Greasers and Baldwin)

R85: At first glance I thought Sylvester, but that wouldn't have made sense.

Whoever it is looks mixed. Sheila E and Pebbles come to mind, but their names don't match the name underneath, which features a surname of similar length to the forename.

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Perhaps they credited her as Sheila Escovedo?

Old, somewhat inaccurate "news".

Why inaccurate?

Middle far left is not Jamie Lee Curtis. It's a two part name, not three part.

What, no Lena Horne?

Have any of them, other than Greg Louganis, officially come out?

Didn't Jodie Foster come out in a weird, passive aggressive way at... the Emmys? Golden Globes?

Merv Griffin came out as mentor to Ryan Seacrest...

Debra Winger is bi-polar, so she probably fucked anything and everything.

Calvin Klein squired a Sean Cody model around town. He's Richard Madden out.

Once upon a time people thought Meredith Baxter Birney wasn't gay/bi.

R61. Notice that Stein and Baldwin are labeled “Absolute Queer,” as opposed to the closeted celebs, who are labeled “Absolutrly Queet,” so I think your thesis is probably right—or they were just sloppy in being consistent. You’re right—Stein was long dead and never particularly closeted (she just lived her life) and Baldwin was open and vocal.

Tom Cruise and Jamie Lee Curtis are NOT on the poster.

Absolute het was about homophobes - which, oddly, paula abdul was reported to be (as a dancer that was hard to believe at the time. ) mel gibson we know about. I believe selleck sued & settled - i believe his case was worded “i don’t live the homosexual lifestyle” not “i’m not a homosexual” (something like that) & the gay community was grossed out when he was in the film ‘in & out’ (larry kramer based the character of winnie on selleck in his book faggots) what else ? This was early 90’s.act up era. I might still have some of the posters. I had a teeshirt or two If this is repeating info already written above then I’m sorry. I think it stopped (outing) about the time the advocate stopped listing people that died of aids. (maybe earlier) as the pc thing happened & people were so fried from all the illness & death.

R114 some were pro gay. Some were homophobes. It wasn’t just outing Remember it was republican presidents & gays were allowed to die. A hetro that was pro gay wAs radical. (Think liz taylor. Think madonna. Etc). Gay = aids

Yeah.. but Mel Gibson is definitely not Pro-Gay so why name him on that poster?

Calling out homophobes. R116 the campaign was larger then the pictures shown. It covered pro gay, anti gay , openly gay people.

[italic]Amen[/italic] got one more year out of NBC just so Thelma could have a baby and prove she didn't used to be a man.

To understand how potent this stuff was in the early 1990s, Fran Lebowitz was deeply offended when asked by Outweek point blank if she was gay. Like you'd have to ask.

I think Jodie Foster was trying to take a "fun" approach to her coming out but it didn't work well because the public know very little about Jodie Foster, she never really showed much of her personality before so it was a hit and miss.

I give Jodie a mild pass. She was in front of a camera by age 3, grew up under public scrutiny (how many child actors fell apart at that stage) was horrifically pulled into the President of the United States getting shot by an unstable misguided fan, (that would be enough to fuck up most people) left Hollywood at that crucial age between child and adulthood to go to school and better herself (her agents/handlers must have thrown a fit) and reemerged as a two time Oscar winner. She never lied, or went on fake dates, never played the Hollywood game, and moved into directing and doing her own artistic projects. Good for her.

She's also friends with Mel Gibson.

I remember hearing about those posters. I think they were more of a LA/NYC thing, more NYC, and I remember reading a bit about it in the Village Voice, Interview magazine type things.

R123. Jodie was friends with Mel before the infamous meltdown. He had just starred in her movie she directed and partially produced when he fell apart. How did she know THAT would happen. One week before her film was to open. Her movie immediately flopped, she lost a shit ton of money and her personal passion projects (a movie about Amelia Earhart, another about Leni Riefenstahl) both got shelved. Now she's too old to play either. So she, once again (hi John Hinckley, how'd that Presidential shooting go?) got pulled into a disastrous situation not of her own making. She became friends with Mel on the set of Maverick, he was charmed by her well known cool intelligence, as she warmed to his good nature and sense of humor (remember Mel actually had a mostly good rep before the meltdown and was well liked by casts and crew). It would have been hard to predict he would blow up in her face. She was also a victim of Mel's outburst and paid dearly for it.

Uh, R125... didn't Jodie continue to defend him and is still friends with him?

Mel Gibson didn't just have an "episode." He didn't spontaneously espouse these views because he was drunk or angry. Try again.

R125 she’s still his buddy. At a recent golden globe show she’s proudly sitting with him. (Ricky Getvais was host)

The one person I remember the most from that "campaign" is not even on the posters. That's Liz Smith. She was the one most mentioned in interviews or news stories about this.

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R126 R128 She didn't make a lot of statements about it. But even Whoopi Goldberg defended Mel saying "He's not racist, he plays with my kids". She was seen sitting at his table, along with Robert Downey Jr. at the Golden Globes. Mel was beloved at one time. Remember when RDJ had his infamous drug problems and no on would hire him. Mel though Robert had talent, should not be discarded and hired him over the objections of the studio for Air America. Of course, RDJ got a second chance and eventually became a huge star. I'm not saying Mel isn't a creep but he was not as bad then as he is now.

Were Liz Smith and Stritch an item?

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There's a picture of them together. That's good enough for DL!

Did Liz give Liza a licking?

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Wow Liza looks great there. Was she off the nose candy or just getting started?

I like Jamie Lee. She's supposed to be kind of a cunt but I like that about her.

At least Richard Simmons is still safe....

Liz smith ate kaye ballard puss. I love kaye ballard but fuck liz. She was the one that made ‘that man’ a thing

I disagree about ONJ . She actually picked up Matt Lattanzi on a road hitchhiking. He was a bit of a nomadic drifter from Oregon. They had an affair and later on pressured the Xanadu producers to bring him on as one of the lead dancers in the film. Later they married. I consider her bisexual.

I think Olivia was just thrown in there cause' she's next to Travolta.

I'm the dame to prove it!

Supposedly Sheila E has been in a relationship with her female manager for nearly 30 years now. IIRC, I read about this in the comments Appolonia's FB post where she flat out called out Sheila E (for milking Prince's fame all these years and pretending that she and Prince were super close friends), and said Prince used to refer to her as "he/she".

This is a still from YouTube but I can't find the video from which it is sourced. It shows up on a Google Image search of "Absolutely Queer"

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Why does Paula look like she has a mustache?

Interesting how Paula and Whitney are given the same tagline: Singer. Trendsetter. Diet Coke Star. Right-On Sister.

Using Whoopi as a barometer that something's okay?

And wasn't Whoopi totally okay with her boyfriend doing black face?