I Had No Idea Suze Orman Is a Lesbian
Suze Orman is a lesbian. I’m not sure how Nina called it over a year ago. Suze just seemed like a New Yorker to me. But I even got that wrong. It turns out Suze is from Chicago.
Anyway, I’m proud of homegirl for coming out to the New York Times rather nonchalantly. Though, I do want to make a preemptive defense of one thing she said: “I’m still a 55-year-old virgin.”
Let’s call off the dogs and think about this woman’s role for a second. She’s a financial guru for a largely straight audience, and some of them could be considered conservative. Suze is such a direct woman about money, and often uses the term you; so wouldn’t it be fair to say she meant to say, “I’m still a 55-year-old-virgin [in your eyes, straight people].” It seems that was the case to me.
Each time a prominent LGBT person in the media comes out of the closet, they pave the way for more “out” LGBT people to come to the forefront as well. In one fell swoop, Suze made a straight audience understand that they have more in common with gay people than they think. It’s another step in the right direction for acceptance.
Thank you, Suze.
Be sure and catch Nina’s post, Paula’s post and Rich’s post on Suze Orman coming out.
YESSS! I love the look on people’s faces (especially the conservative, church-going types) when they realize they have something in common with us queers. Like, blood that’s red, perhaps? Great post.
Erin,
But there’s the rub, isn’t it? Church going folk can be conservative on some issues, yes, but finance people can be conservative on others. John indicates that Ormon herself can be read this way. My own person philosophy about money is way different than Orman’s is, so my general reaction to her is mixed. Glad she came out though. The whole point of being Queer is not that we are all the same and not that we are all some group of eternal victims, either. So, in the end, I guess it’s quite alright that I tend to very much disagree with her views about the role of money in our lives.
Yes, we can have red blood in common with social conservatives and we can have a love of hard cold cash in common with them too. Not saying Ormon advocates the latter when she tells us to have the courage to be rich but there are enough people, gay and not, who do have this in common with other kinds of conservatives and that’s not something I would, say, personally take pride in. LGBT respresentation should get out there but we might not all love every dimension of what we then see. And that’s OK!
It surprises you she’s a lesbian? I’m not surprised at all. She never mentions in her books that she’s married the way that every other annoying personal finance writer does. “Look at me! I’m rich AND MARRIED!” They don’t call them smug marrieds for nothing. She lived in Berkeley, CA when she was a waitress. I don’t know exactly why that says something to me, but having worked in Berkeley and lived in the Castro, there is something about her that has always pinged my gaydar. Maybe, like Nina, the haircut was the tipoff.
I’ve only read the 9 Steps and her Yahoo Finance articles. I’ve never seen her on TV.
If she annoys me, it’s because she’s always annoyed me with her overly tan skin and big teeth. (Fake tans, as a rule, on anyone, is creepy. Think George Hamilton as vampire.)
If she pleases me with her advice, it’s because she has very good advice.
*shrug*
She doesn’t look Dru-ish to me. Oh well! :-p