Closet encounter

Did Jodie Foster come out of the closet, or didn't she?  This was the question posed by news sources after the Golden Globe awards ceremony, and it was a strange question, given that a coming out isn't exactly that difficult to divine.

Fox News headlined its coverage with this teaser:  “Jodie Foster hints at being gay,” and segued into the question:  “So is she, or isn't she?  That was the question on Golden Globes' watchers minds, on two totally separate topics, following Jodie Foster's rambling speech Sunday night”.

The New York Times was likewise equivocal, saying “Like a 50-year-old who ends a marriage, takes up flying lessons, grows a beard or moves to Umbria, Ms. Foster publicly acknowledged, kind of, that she is, as anyone who cared already assumed, gay.”

The local papers were too lazy to do their own analysis, so they just carried the newswires' accounts of the coming out.  Philippine Star carried AP's story, which began with this observation: “Jodie Foster came out without really coming out.”

The consensus apparently was, part of Jodie's toes were still hooked to the doors of her luxurious Hollywood closet, which seemed odd to me, because how difficult is it, really, to say “I'm lesbian?”  I mean, if you're trying to say it, shouldn't the merest whisper, the vaguest of admissions, already count as a coming out?

This merited a closer investigation.  I hadn't been able to catch the televised ceremonies at all, whether live or replayed, so I had to scour the ever reliable web for transcripts and clips of her acceptance speech.

Here's part of what she said:  “Seriously, I hope that you're not disappointed that there won't be a big coming-out speech tonight, because I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago, back in the Stone Age; in those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends, and family, co-workers, and then gradually, proudly, to everyone who knew her, to everyone she actually met. But now apparently I'm told that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance, and a prime-time reality show.”

Did that seem vague to you at all?  That sounded like the crashing open of her closet doors, at least, to me.  Not only that, but Jodie also acknowledged her lover, (who is, in case you're still not following, a woman by the way,) by saying this:

“There is no way I could ever stand here without acknowledging one of the deepest loves of my life, my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love, but righteous soul sister in life, my confessor, ski-buddy, consigliore, most beloved BFF for 20 years, Cydney Bernard. Thank you, Cyd. I am so proud of our modern family, our amazing sons Charlie and Kit, who are my reason to breathe and to evolve, my blood and soul. And boys, in case you didn't know it, this song, like all of this, this song is for you.”

Love of her life? Partner in love?  Co-parent?  Our modern family? After saying all these, that's still not a coming out?

There's too much denial going on, which might have been expected from Fox, maybe, as it's a land of closeted right wingers, but the legitimate press?   What did they want?  What were they expecting?  Does one have to say the “L” word to come out?   If a person tells you “this is my life partner,” and trots out someone of the same sex, do you really have to wait for him to concurrently say “I am homosexual” before you can confidently conclude he is of the gentle, fairer sex?

So yes, Jodie Foster is out.  Super.