SUSAN SARANDON IS TIIE BIG SISTER you'd come out to first, and you lmow she'd kick the ass of anyone who gave you a hard time about it.</p><p> The feelings of admisusan SARANDON ration are mutual. "I appreciate and gravitate toward gay men and women," Sarandon tells us. "As a woman I realize the struggle they have had and that they face the same enemy: the establishment.</p><p> And I've learned from them humor in the face of adversity and pride in being different." It's just that mix of in-your-face strength and sly subversiveness that makes the wild, warm-eyed star so appealing.</p><p> And she backs words with actio n. "My early involvem ent with AIDS came directly from the loss of a dear friend who felt the need to hide his illness from everyone," says Sarandon, who soon appears in her partner Tim Robbins's gay-tinged Cradle Will Rock and is developing a TV movie based on the story of gay rights activist-mother Mary Griffith. "This gave me no choice but to speak out." madeleine ALBRIGHT MADELEINE ALBRIGHT IS THE FIRST FEMALE u.S. secretary of state, and as Congressman Bar ney Frank points out, trailblazers strike a chord with gay men. "She puts a serious dent in some of the stereotypes that have been used to put road blocks in women's way," Frank says.</p><p> Any time an other minority gets ahead and gets the job done in a unique and telling way, we all benefit.</p><p> Her ap pearance on this list alone helps negate the stereo type that gay men only care about Audrey Hep burn movies and Madonna THE AOVOr.ATf I ~ I NnHMHR?1 1000 TAYlOR; PARfUMS INTERNATIONAl LTO.; AMOS; MATTHEW MENOELSON /CORBIS; OOLE; REUTERS elizabeth DOLE SAYING EUZABETH DOLE'S SEEMINGLY lllGH VOTE of confidence an10ng our male readers is a sw' prise is an tmderstatement as grand as a certain canyon in Arizona True, before she dropped out of the presiden tial race in October, she had made polite noises about gay support, going so far as to say she wouldn't disquali fy someone for a post simply because he was gay.</p><p> Still, that's a far cry from being proactive on gay issues.</p><p> Per haps the things that endear Dole to some gay men are her talk show-host ability to chrum a crowd and her calm approach to a husband who shares his sexual impotence prob lems with the world.</p><p> Rich Tafel, executive director of the gay group Log Cabin Republicans, says he thinks Dole's crunpaign shut down "because she doesn't have a message," but he adds, "She's a strong figure, and a lot of people respect that. " elizabeth TAYLOR WHO WOULDN'T WANT to be friend the woman who befriended Jan1es Dean, Rock Hudson, and Montgom ery Clift? "And Michael Jackson!" laughs playwright and screenwriter Paul Rudnick.</p><p> Jack son may be straight, but the writer notes that the eternal diva has "befriended every gay male person in history." Larger-than life doesn't begin to describe her appeal.</p><p> She's unlucky in love but ever hopeful.</p><p> She's still one of the most beautiful women in the world.</p><p> She has starred in film classics (Who's Afraid oj Vir ginia Wooif?) and notorious boondoggles (Cleopatra).</p><p> And, of course, she's a hero. "She took great risks early on by linking her self to the AIDS crisis," notes pro ducer Baf1J' Krost.</p><p> Other celebri ties are just following her lead.</p><p> And we'd follow her anywhere.</p><p> THINK OF THE ODDS.</p><p> Oprah Winfrey may be a one-per-Oillrah WHOOPI GOLDBERG WHIPPED INTO OUR CONSCIOUSNESS playing a lady-lover in The Color Purple.</p><p> But the shy role she played to perfection in Steven Spielberg's drama is a far cry from the truth-telling, dirt-dishing atti tude of Goldberg the woman.</p><p> How appropriate then that she has now found success on-<>f all places- her self-produced game show. "Anyone who could make Holly wood Squares not square has a will of steel and a lot of chits to call in," notes Scott Seomin, enter tainment media director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation , which bestowed a wildly eloquent Goldberg with the Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards in April. "She was gay-friendly before it was trendy." Besides, replacing fey Paul Lynde in the center square adds immea sW"ably to her cachet anl0ng gays. son conglomerate today, but early on she was a down-to- .t--<. earth black woman trying to make it on the whiter-than- WIN F HEY white talk tun.</p><p> These days while Springer et al. exploit their guests for freak appeal, we trust Winfrey to tell oW" stories with respect-as she did when she warmly hosted Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche on her show soon after they announced their love.</p><p> Gay men have reason to feel at home with Oprah too. "I've never been able to put my finger on why gay men identify so strongly with black women who overcome hardship ," says Rich Tafel, executive director of the gay group Log Cabin Republicans. "But we do.</p><p> Oprah's not a victim.</p><p> She's taken control of her life.</p><p> And my sense is that for her, the gay issue is a nonissue.</p><p> The way she treats her gay guests, she normalizes it-unlike so many of the other talk shows." Winfrey, who is bringing her brand of enlightenment to the magazine world next year, continues to rewrite the rules.</p><p> THE ADVOCATE 158 I NOVEMBER 23, 1999
