What is your definition of gay icon? Can someone who is not a film/tv/rock star be a gay icon?

What is your definition of gay icon? Can someone who is not a film/tv/rock star be a gay icon?

The article includes an athlete and a comedienne.

...and a fictional character. This article doesn't include any gays, as far as I know. It's mostly just people who look fabulous in front of cameras. It reads like self-parody.

Who said the article needed to include gays? It's not about gays, it's about gay icons.

So what's your point?

The point is that this list looks like it was created by someone who works at the E Channel and feeds into a stereotype. Don't gays admire anything other than celebrity? Most definitions of the word "icon" mean a representation, so this is more accurately a list of gay idols.

I don't see what the big problem is. No one's saying these are the ONLY people ALL gay people admire.

But ask a good number of young gay people and the people on this list are quite popular.

If young gay people are really that shallow, I'd prefer not to ask.

What's shallow about finding a certain comedian funny? What's shallow about having a personal connection with someone's music?

An ICON transcends all boundaries. To say a Gay Icon is required to be GLBT is discriminatory and is an insult to the entire Gay Liberation movement- which strives to promote equality, not segregation. Some people on this list may be superficial, some have spent their entire lives perfecting their talents. Some have made great strides within their careers to promote GLBT equality. I'd read up on each of their histories before making a judgment on whether or not they are "worthy" of being a Gay Icon.

If icons are supposed to be role models then what this list is saying to me is we should all be straight. Disgusting!

Disgusted,

Are you willingly choosing to be ignorant and make inept comments? It would appear that this list is comprised of folks who are not completely GLBQT, but support GLBQT unconditionally, which is something we need to see more of.

I've always considered an Icon someone I'd look up to as a role model, or someone I'd admire, be they gay or straight.

Having been out and proud, (and everyone on this website knows it) I was taken aback by the choices here and a little saddened. Except fpr David Beckham (for his athletic ability and level head) and Jake for his intelligence-not his fictional role- I don't see a single one I'd call an icon gay or otherwise...

... especially Timberlake, whom I consider a shallow and superficial "boy band" hustler who depends more on looks than talent, and will continue to use his gay following to sell CDs and then dump them.

Marky Mark Whalberg did the same thing with his patented "six pack" always on display, but always badmouthed gays, because it wasn't "street" to admit he liked those fans. I'll give him credit for apologizing and then performing with Elton John at the Queen tribute... thosugh grudgingly. Mark talks now not about how many millions he made off his gay following, but how he was creeped out when asked to do a screen test for the lead in Brokeback Mountain.

Most of the "icons" in this article, Like Whalberg did before he became an actor, "use" their attractiveness like a straight man who hustles gays for money.

Maybe because I saw the damage done by Donna Summer (Who I couldn't stand) who had all the queens a twitter, then came out on the 700 Club as a born-again christian who felt sorry for all of us after we made her a millionaire several times over.

How out and proud Elton John-the most successful entertainer gay or straight missed this list is beyond me, considering he's had multi top ten hits in every decade he's performed in from the 60s on.

How Heath Ledger didn't make it is a total crime, considering how much he invested into his role, and then became successful as a gay icon because he respected our admiration, not pushed it aside as a joke to his friends like others listed here have. I've lost count of how many of them have used the put down "Oh that's so Gay" as in insult, and made it popular.

Neil Patrick Harris the star of CBS hit "How I met your Mother: whom most of us know as Doogie Howser MD. He was never "in" the closet, and was proud, level headed and a little surprised with all the fuss when someone outted him just recently.

Mark Bingham The gay ad executive-professional soccer player, who led the charge against flight 93s hijackers on 9/11, but was pushed into the historical background as just another passenger on the jet that crashed.

Martina Navratilova a household name in the world of sports and Tennis along with Billy Jean King

Esera Tuaolo veteran of the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, and Atlanta Falcons.

Voted fourth in "Total Sport's" 10 Toughest Men Of Sport list, popular Australian gay rugby star Ian Roberts came out in 1995 while still currently at the top of his macho game. He'd played front rower in 85 games for South Sydney, over 100 in Manly, and at the age of 23 was the highest paid rugby league player in the world. Now his acting career has made him a celebrity, and an admired one at that.

I guess I don't mince around enough, and my wrist isn't limp enough to understand the choices in this article, particularly the women. Why anyone would want to be like them is beyond my simple brain.

Anyone of the above tops my list above shallow Timberlake and the superficial girls.

But that's only my opinion.

Well Jet, considering you're too old to really identify with most of the media created by the choices on the list, and the fact that you've exposed yourself as a borderline racist in the past, I don't think your opinion holds much water here.

Christina for instance, has been praised by many out gay men, including acclaimed director John Cameron Mitchell, for her inclusion of images of gay people in her Beautiful video, and her Stripped album for example, is full of lyrics that appeal to gay men and women who are coming of age.

But that really was a nice dig at feminine gays there. Glad to know you walk around with a feeling of superiority because your wrists are firmly in place.

Orion, I'm certain that Jet didn't even take the time to actually READ the reasoning for the choices. Maybe he needs a new pair of bifocals.

I think the problem is how Jet defines "icon" is not the definition I had in mind when writing this article.

This definition is pulled right from the dictionary.

"One who is the object of great attention and devotion; an idol:"

And under each name, I tried to explain WHY those people gained such attention.

You named a bunch of gay people who you admire, and that's great. But that's not what this list was supposed to be about. Elton John is not a RISING gay icon. He's been around for decades.

Neil Patrick Harris is gay. Not a gay icon.

How can Mark Bingham be a rising gay icon, when he's not even alive anymore?

All in all, I think you misunderstood what this list was supposed to be (maybe because you didn't read it? not sure), and I'd suggest if it upsets you that much, that you write one yourself.

You don't know shit Orion, my grandfather on my father's side was black and my grandmother on my mother's side was an Iroquois Indian.

Don't presume to know me enough to call me a racist [Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor].

Try this Chris

As for my eyes, I'm having Diabetic Rhetenopathy surgery today in 45 minutes, I'm just waiting for the cab.

Would someone please explain to me how I could've given anyone the impression that I was a racist?