At the same time, dozens of underground gay publications dish about closeted gay celebs with impunity. And the on-line gossip channels buzz with speculation, some well-founded, most not: Just check out the Celebrity Talk! folder in America Online's Gay & Lesbian Community Forum. Closeted performers dread the impertinent questions posed by fans on services like AOL and CompuServe, which have fast become required stops on publicity campaigns.

The waves of cyberspace are unlikely to play host to a proliferation of coming-out parties anytime soon; it's a step that remains charged with emotion — especially for the well-known. But don't expect secrecy to rule either. An agent told Dan Butler, who plays the aggressively heterosexual Bulldog on NBC's Frasier, that he would hurt his career if he went ahead with The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me ... , his one-man Off Broadway show about being gay. But Butler says there's been little fallout. "I've never made a secret of it," he says. "You should live your life as if change has happened. That's the only way it's going to happen."

(Additional reporting by Gregg Kilday)

Originally posted Sep 08, 1995 Published in issue #291 Sep 08, 1995 Order article reprints
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