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Ricky Martin: Is He Or Isn’t He?
 10
May 2007- Recently hitting the entertainment news circuit is that super,
sexy, hot, and latin superstar Ricky Martin, has come out in defense of one of
the members of the new Mexican music group RBD. While RBD has been reaching a
high level of success in the United States they have also been in the news
lately as Christian Sanchez, one of the groups singers recently publicly said he
was in fact gay.
Ricky Martin was recently in
Mexico City preparing for his upcoming ’Black and White’ tour, when he told the
Associated Press he sympathized with Christian Sanchez saying ’Life is too short
to live closed up, guarding what you say,’...Christian ’has to be free in many
aspects. I wish him much strength.’
Martin himself has been the
subject of worldwide speculation that the "Person of the Year" in 2006 by the
Latin Recording Academy, is in fact also gay. While making this apparent defense
of gay pop stars to come out of the closet, Martin has continued to avoid
commenting on his sexuality. A few years back on her Oscar night special,
legendary journalist Barbara Walters asked Martin if in fact he was gay, the
former Menudo front man and former soap opera actor (as Miguel Morez on "General
Hospital") Seemed a little nervous and had a hard time answering. Walters could
obviously see this and said "You know, you could stop these rumors. You could
say, as many artists have, ’Yes, I am gay,’ or you could say, ’No, I’m not.’ I
don’t want to put you on the spot." Walters then concluded, "Of course ... if
gay people think you’re gay and straight people think you’re straight, hey, it
means a bigger audience." Martin responded with a simple "Exactly."
This was after a strangely
nervous answer from Martin to Walters, saying, "Well, some, when they, when they
have some -- sometimes, some, some people from the media, when they have nothing
to say, they invent things. I’m not concerned about my reaction. I’m concerned
about my people’s reactions. Like my nieces, they go to school and they start
reading things. My mom goes to the beauty parlor and sexuality and homosexuality
should not be a problem for anybody. I think that sexuality is something that
each individual should deal with in their own way. And that’s all I have to say
about that. ... Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to express, the
rumors. But, Barbara, for some reason, I just don’t feel like it [saying what my
sexual orientation is]. You know, it’s, it’s something so mine. I give it all
when I’m on stage. I give it all in interviews, but you’ve got to keep something
for yourself sometimes, and that’s for me."
In 2005 Ricky
martin told Blender magazine another bizarre fact that perhaps was a little more
about his sex life than some of us wanted to know. He told the magazine "I love
giving the golden shower,"..."I’ve done it before in the shower. It’s like so
sexy, you know the temperature of your body and the shower water is very
different." Many of us were hoping that this was simply due to his limited
understanding of English and he wasn’t really talking about golden showers. That
same year paparazzi style photos were released of Martin and an unidentified
male on a beach looking very much like a happy same-sex couple. There have also
been rumors linking him with openly gay designer and Oprah’s "cutie pie", Nate
Berkus.
Christian
Sanchez and RBD have another connection other then the latin connection to
Martin who had success on "General Hospital" in the US. The group RBD was
introduced to the world and was a part of Mexico’s super popular soap opera "Rebelde."
Sanchez felt being open about his sexuality was the best choice for him and the
rest of the group.
So the question
is if Martin appears to be coming out in support of Sanchez, does this mean
Martin is officially out of the closet and is in fact whispering to the world
that he is a gay man, or is Martin still just playing with us all. If in fact it
is the beginning of a closet door opening, what responsibility if any does he
have to our GLBTI community, and what responsibility if any does our GLBTI
community have in opening our arms to him.
Years ago it
was a very courageous thing for singers, musicians, and celebrities to come out
of the closet. These days there seems to be a bit of a "hold it" attitude for
these very public people. Just months ago Lance Bass of Nsync, was sort of
forced out of the closet, now, Bass is gearing up for the release of his
autobiography "Out of Sync," due out this October, which tells all about his
life, his music, his astronaut training and his sexuality. Most recently new
singing sensation Mika has refused to confirm or deny he is gay, while
Australian Idol star Anthony Callea has said "Yes, I am gay,"..."I have no issue
with my sexuality now, but it’s taken time to become confident with who I am and
happy with who I am..."I’m looking forward to living a life with no barriers and
not having to worry about saying the right thing."
So while we may
or may not really know if Ricky Martin is in fact gay, we do know he is Puerto
Rico’s most successful and all-time top-selling artist and that he is not only
an incredible powerhouse of talent but a very incredible human being.
Ricky Martin
has gone to Washington DC, as The UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador speaking about
human trafficking to lawmakers, which Martin has called "horrendous." The Ricky
Martin Foundation is all about fighting against the exploitation of children and
works towards the elimination of human trafficking, especially trafficking of
children. Ricky Martin recently said ’When you start to work with social
problems, it gets the attention of the media and people think it’s a farce,’ he
said. ’It’s a spiritual search. The philanthropic work helps me write music, and
the music helps me in the philanthropic work.’ He also said how great that more
celebrities are working with charities. Saying ’If this is a fashion, then I
hope a lot more fashions like this come along.’
What I believe
is that while the world could use another superstar role model of coming out
with Ricky Martin. I do feel it is still like all of us, his right to choose if
and when to do so. So the answer to the question I asked above about our
responsibility to open our arms, the answer is simple...yes, we should just open
up our arms and then say thank you, then let it be, and continue to support the
artist he is.
By the way, if
by chance this is Ricky Martin reading this, you should contact me, I would love
to chat...or if you’re looking for a nice guy to... (Ricky you can fill in the
blank). Hey, readers can you blame me?
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