So Ricky Martin's Gay?

I've been a bit preoccupied with life. Then yesterday, somebody expressed a great deal of surprise that Ricky Martin turned out 'Gay'.
Frankly, I was surprised Ricky Boy took almost two decades to get it off his chest, considering that about fifty percent of his fans suspected it. His sexuality has been one of the worst-kept secrets in the music industry for years!

Now the Puerto Rican pop star  best known for the 1999 single Livin' La Vida Loca, has finally admitted that he is gay.

He explained it was the process of writing his autobiography that prompted him to make the announcement.

"Writing this account of my life, I got very close to my truth. And this is something worth celebrating... Many people told me 'Ricky it's not important', 'It's not worth it', 'All the things you've worked and everything you've built will collapse'. No doubt, the man would find it difficult to face his rather anti-gay Latin Catholic community, so one can empathise with him on that count. 

"Because all this advice came from people who I love dearly, I decided to move on with my life not sharing with the world my entire truth," sais Martin.

The message is that homosexuality is a career-killer when it comes to pop music - that it is more acceptable in the 21st century to be a drug addict like Amy Winehouse or Pete Doherty than it is to be gay.

The music industry in the last 50 years has  supposedly stood for liberalism, equality, individualism, creativity and progression. It is meant to be about breaking down barriers, exploding preconceptions and celebrating a person's right to express themselves in any way that they see fit. Any way, apparently, as long as it doesn't disturb the glorious idyll of the heterosexual lifestyle.

But has the music  industry underestimated the loyalty and intelligence of music fans  by trying to pull the wool over their eyes about their artists' lifestyle choices?

Living in India with the 'G' word quietly creeping out of the collective Indian Almirah and actually sneaking into films .. I would say that the industry is forty percent homophobic and sixty percent hypocritical!

But how does that explain the success of Rufus Wainwright,  Will Young, Beth Ditto, The Pet Shop Boys, Scissor Sisters or the countless other artists who enjoy great sales and critical kudos and make no bones about being attracted to people of the same sex?

When the late Stephen Gately of Boyzone announced he was gay in 1999, fans were expected to throw their hands up in horror. In fact, they rallied round in support. The same went for Will Young, who came out to fans shortly after winning Pop Idol.

The late Stephen Gately

Eight years later Young has had nine top-10 singles in the UK and has been nominated for 10 Brit Awards - hardly the achievements of a man who is loathed for his lifestyle choices. More recently, when Mark Feehily from Westlife came out of the closet, few even noticed.

Will Young

So does anyone care whether their icons are gay or straight? And is it any of our business anyway?

The truth is that fans care about an artists' sexuality just as much as they care how big their house is, who they're dating and what they buy in supermarkets. In the era of celebrity magazines, we are interested in every facet of a musician's or actor's or reality star's existence. Sexuality is just a part of the picture.

By the way, I heard somewhere that Imran Khan is the new Indian Gay pin-up? Now how does his girlfriend take his statement that it's nice to have men admire him as much as women?