It's fascinating how many people are keeping their mouths shut on this interesting turn of events.
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Gay? Not NOW, not ever
Giambrone denies report published in weekly mag
By JENNY YUEN, TORONTO SUN
Last Updated: 1st January 2010, 12:22pm
Someone's "gaydar" must have been broken.
At least that's what Councillor Adam Giambrone claims, after NOW Magazine published that he was gay in its issue yesterday.
"There have been rumours out there and that's never been very important to me," Giambrone said. "I work with a lot of people and I go about my life. I don't know if it was an intentional or a joke article, but certainly I'm taking it in stride."
The NOW story, which cheers Giambrone on as becoming the next mayor of Toronto, said the TTC chairman is "young. He's bright. He's gay. And he looks better than any of his challengers so far."
While he hasn't officially thrown his hat into the ring, he told the Sun in November that if and when it happens, he'll announce it on Twitter and Facebook.
He posted his sexual orientation and rebuttal to NOW's piece on his Facebook status, knowing that hundreds of people are part of his social network.
"Easy mistake, given my great relationship with LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning) people/communities and our long-standing mutual support," he wrote as his Facebook status yesterday.
"But so as not to mislead anyone, I should correct the record: I'm not, in fact, gay.
"Sarah, my partner, has taken the news in stride and with good humour and I'm sure I'll never hear the end of it from the LGBTQ people in my life."
'IT WAS WRONG'
NOW changed the story on its website to read that Giambrone is "gay-positive" shortly after Giambrone made the comment.
"It was wrong ... My bad," NOW writer Enzo Di Matteo responded in an e-mail.
Councillor Kyle Rae, who is openly gay, said coming out of the closet won't make people lose votes -- but not being honest about who you really are, might.
"The honesty of who you are is the important part of politics," Rae said yesterday. "There was a fella who ran for city council back in the '90s who put out pictures of himself saying that was his fiancee, and he was gay. He didn't come out for another 10 years, but I think by that time people had forgotten he had run when he was 'straight.' "
DON'T ASSUME
Philip Wong, executive director of Community One Foundation, a prominent organization in the gay community, said people shouldn't assume Giambrone is gay because he might hang around Church and Wellesley Sts.
"The realities of the world is that it's still a challenge for gay and lesbians to be in leadership positions, but that has nothing to do with my comments on Adam Giambrone," Wong said.
"To many people, I'm sure he's a tall, attractive person in a potentially powerful position, so I think people are going to speculate."
Giambrone, for his part, said he's amused "but not surprised" his name would make the queer list in the alternative-weekly.
"People's private lives are their private lives and I think Torontonians for the most part respect that. This is a very diverse city," he said.
"Policy issues, transit questions, those are the important questions. Not whether you have a partner who is male or female."
JENNY.YUEN@SUNMEDIA.CA
