Griffin's sexuality was one of those "open secrets" that seem to flourish in LA. As the Reporter points out, there were even two lawsuits which should have made it clear, including one alleging sexual harassment filed by none other than Dance Fever's Denny Tario, and a palimony suit from a former, er, "assistant." In 2005 he joked to the New York Times that he was a "quarter-sexual... I'll do anything with anybody for a quarter," and told Rolling Stone that if they were inquiring about an 80-year-old man's sexuality, they should "get a life."

Why the media continues to act in collusion with closeted public figures is baffling, but sadly illustrative: when John Jon Stewart asks how everybody in the press could have all gotten it so wrong about Iraq, just look over at the group-think that dictates the media's relationship to gays and lesbians. It's apparently just understood that you don't ask the gays the same questions about their personal lives that heterosexuals will happily discuss in detail, and nobody, anywhere, ever, decides to break that unwritten rule. You want to keep your job, you want access, you want to avoid even the threat of a libel suit, whatever. But just as the media's timidity helped get us into Iraq, it's helping reinforce anti-gay bigotry. So, hooray for the Hollywood Reporter, and for the internet, where stories can't ever really be pulled.