Got gaydar?

Believe it or not, there was actually a time when gay men were forced to hide their sexuality and flamboyancy from the entire world. It wasn't as accepted as it is today. (Although we still have a reeeeally long ways to go, let's be real).

Some men hid it rather well. Others...well, let's just say it was blindingly obvious, but the world was too naive to put two and two together.

I'm showcasing a few of those men in a feature I'm calling, "You really didn't know HE was gay?!".

George Michael

Teenage girls were obsessed with George Michael in the 1980s. Like, they literally swooned at his concerts. They dreamed of marrying him. They wanted to rip his clothes off and jump him.

...and that was AFTER this video came out. I cannot fathom how teenage girls saw this music video and still didn't realize George Michael was the biggest sun-tanned gaylien pop music ever produced.

This music video is not just George Michael telling people he's gay, he is basically screaming it from the rooftops. He's begging you to know the truth.

And yet millions of unsuspecting love-struck girls still wanted to sit on his face and thought he'd like it.

Liberace

Liberace's sexuality did not cross the minds of wholesome 1950s audiences. It never even occurred to them that Liberace was gay. They thought he was just...theatrical.

The Midwestern musician was obsessed with high fashion, his physical appearance, and putting on the most spectacular show on earth. For nearly 20 years, he was the highest paid entertainer in Hollywood. He was a diva.

Although to be fair to his confused fans, Liberace did try to dispel the homosexuality rumor for years, even going so far as to publicly count all the ways he thought women were so fabulous. But the media had its suspicions.

In the end, the now-deceased superstar was officially outed by Betty White last year. During an interview, the actress admitted not only had Liberace been the biggest queen in the world, but she had often been his "beard" to distract the media from finding out the truth.

Rock Hudson

Let's see what we have here: a super hot rich successful gym nut who has a heart of gold, a designer wardrobe, and oozes with sexy charm? Yeah, if Rock Hudson met an average woman today, she would already be suspicious.

But Rock was an actor. A good actor. Even one of his closest friends and co-stars, Doris Day, claimed she had no idea he was gay. His bff Elizabeth Taylor, however, wasn't left in the dark. His true heart was shielded by numerous publicity shots of him out on the town with gorgeous young starlets. Ironically, the public assumed he was quite the womanizer.

In a desperate attempt to preserve his wholesome masculine image, Universal Studios hastily arranged his marriage to a young secretary, terrified newspapers would reveal his elaborate hidden gay lifestyle.

In an odd turn of events, it was the Daily Mirror which revealed his true nature. In 1985, the tabloid revealed proof that Rock had been arrested before he was famous, at 27-years-old, for having sex with a man in a London bath house. What's even more shocking is that the tabloid was all ready to produce the story when it happened in 1952, but decided not to publish it. The Daily Mirror literally saved Rock Hudson's career before it even started.

I doubt the publication would show the same respect today, right?


I adore all three of these men and while it pains me they had to hide who they were to the public, it does amuse me that most people genuinely did not realize these guys were gay. I mean, really.

Anyway, I'm proud to live in a world that seems to be heading in the right direction, despite attempts from ignorant people who are trying to stop the inevitable: equality.

Everyone in this world deserves respect, despite their ethnicity, race, religion, or sexual orientation.

I'll get off my soapbox now.