Withering Glance: The Year in Gay

Rick Nelson and Claude Peck dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, etiquette, culture, relationships, grooming and more.

CP: From Webster to Waunakee, Wisconsinites caught up with Minnesotans on the whole "let's throw a fabulous gay wedding" thing this year.

RN: I know. My favorite tweet on the subject read something like, "Gay marriage ban overturned in Wisconsin the same day as the Cher concert in Milwaukee. Coincidence?!" The house-afire spread of marriage equality across the U.S. has got to be the Year in Gay's top story, and I was especially delighted when neighboring Curdistan opened up on the "I do" front.

CP: What else makes your list of the most notable events on 2014's LGBT calendar?

RN: You mean besides realizing that the world went from GLBT to LGBT? That probably happened eons ago, but I just noticed.

CP: The world of binge-worthy TV put the "L" out front via the boundary-busting prison lesbian jamboree "Orange Is the New Black." The second season's heartbreaking Poussey/Taytee plot line was the best thing on TV all year, and that includes "The Normal Heart."

RN: Still, "The Normal Heart" deserved its Emmy for best television movie, although Matt Bomer and Jim Parsons were robbed in the supporting actor category.

RN: The otherwise unwatchable "Days of Our Lives" earned an A for the sweetly done Sonny Kiriakis-Will Horton wedding. Oh, and when Mitch and Cam tied the knot on "Modern Family," 10.2 million viewers tuned in. Your thoughts on HBO's "Looking"?

CP: Like a gay-male "Girls," but less interesting. In movies, Benedict Cumberbatch deserves the Oscar nod he'll surely get for playing World War II code breaker Alan Turing in "The Imitation Game."

RN: Can't wait to see it.

CP: A better gay-themed movie, IMHO, is "Love Is Strange," with John Lithgow and Alfred Molina.

RN: I loved how millions of gay men suddenly discovered the NFL as they followed defensive end — whatever that is — Michael Sam on his quest to become the first out gay professional football player.

RN: A total page-turner. Another first? Country singers coming out, in the form of Ty Herndon and Billy Gilman.

CP: The black gay coming-out drama "Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet" at the Guthrie? So good. Skater Johnny Weir in Sochi for the Winter Olympics? Gayer than a treeful of parrots.

RN: Rather than going all, "Yep, I'm gay" on the cover of People magazine, Apple CEO Tim Cook broke the news in staid Businessweek. His money quote — "So let me be clear: I'm proud to be gay, and consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me" — should be tastefully embroidered on iPad covers everywhere.

CP: Agreed, even if it seems to have gotten Cook officially uninvited to Russia, a mark of honor in 2014.

E-mail: witheringglance@startribune.com