Gabriel Rotello is an author, journalist and documentary writer/producer/director living in Los Angeles.

Since 1998 he has produced and directed numerous documentaries for HBO, Showtime, Bravo, Cinemax, AMC, Vh1 and other networks. They range from Bravo's lighthearted "The Christmas Special Christmas Special" to Cinemax's controversial "Hidden Fuhrer: Debating the Enigma of Hitler's Sexuality." He has also produced and directed a number of documentary series such as AMC's "Movies That Shook The World," a look at the way films have shaped culture.

Prior to coming to TV, Rotello was the founding editor-in-chief of OutWeek Magazine in 1989. In 1992 he became the first openly gay man to be named as a columnist for a major American newspaper, New York Newsday.

He has also been a columnist for The Advocate, and has contributed to The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Out Magazine, The Village Voice, The Nation, The New Scientist and many other publications.

He recieved the GLAAD Media Award as Outstanding Journalist of the Year in 1995.

In 1997 Rotello's landmark book "Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men" was published by Dutton.

His website is http://gabrielrotello.com/

Blog Entries by Gabriel Rotello

Oil Prices and the Media: Why the Blackout on Peak Oil

Posted August 5, 2008 | 03:13 PM (EST)


Every once in a while history reaches a point of real cognitive dissonance.

I'm beginning to wonder if we are such a point right now. I'm referring to the astounding rise in the price of oil over the last couple of years, the concept of 'peak oil,' and the...

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Israel: The Next 60 Years

Posted May 20, 2008 | 03:48 PM (EST)


As Israel turns 60, a new obstacle is emerging to join all the other obstacles to the much-vaunted two-state solution. Namely, the fact that increasing numbers of Palestinians now dismiss a two-state solution in favor of a one-state solution in which the West Bank, Gaza and Israel become a unified...

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Ben Hur, RuPaul and Me

Posted April 9, 2008 | 12:29 AM (EST)


When I was seven I had a huge crush on Charlton Heston, who died this week at 83. The chiseled jaw. The booming basso-profundo voice. The wiry physique. Just My type.

Of course, at seven I had no idea he was going to turn out to be such a...

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Will Smith, Hitler and the Holocaust's Unanswerable Question

Posted December 27, 2007 | 05:40 PM (EST)


Will Smith found himself in hot water last week after making a statement to a Scottish newspaper that Adolph Hitler "didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he...

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If ENDA Doesn't Protect the Transgendered, It Doesn't Protect Me

Posted October 4, 2007 | 05:18 PM (EST)


The decision by the Democratic leadership in Congress to eliminate transgendered people from ENDA, the bill to ban discrimination against gays in the workplace, has ignited a genuine firestorm in gay political circles.

It's heartening to see that LGBT activists are coming out of the woodwork to insist that any...

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The GLAAD Media Awards: Gays Now Welcome to Apply

Posted August 13, 2007 | 03:17 PM (EST)


A few months ago I blogged on this space to criticize the fact that GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, did not allow the gay media to compete for its famous GLAAD Media Awards.

The subject came to light thanks to a letter circulated by here!TV's Stephen Macias,...

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Cheney Pacemaker Shocker: Docs Can't Find Heart

Posted July 28, 2007 | 02:15 PM (EST)


WASHINGTON - Surgery on Vice President Dick Cheney's heart pacemaker was abruptly cancelled Saturday when doctors failed to find the organ in question.

"It's ze damnest thing," said Dr. Mengele von Odduch, Cheney's personal physician and spin doctor. "Ze last time vee looked, his heart was dark, shriveled und cold,...

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The Lies About Tammy Faye

Posted July 24, 2007 | 12:32 PM (EST)


Tammy Faye's death this weekend brought a lot of sadness to the millions she touched, including me. But it also swamped me with a flood of happy memories.

Having co-produced Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato's film The Eyes of Tammy Faye -- a documentary that in no small way...

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Deadly Error Alert: Andrew Sullivan's Latest AIDS Fantasy

Posted July 2, 2007 | 12:21 PM (EST)


I recently blogged on this site to take issue with Andrew Sullivan for his relentless campaign to convince gay men that the AIDS epidemic is effectively over and to get us to stop worrying about HIV -- even though HIV transmission rates among gay men gallop along at tragic levels...

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Andrew Sullivan Declares the 'End of AIDS' - Again

Posted June 25, 2007 | 12:10 PM (EST)


It's Gay Pride Month. That means parades, floats, garden parties -- and more articles by Andrew Sullivan proclaiming the 'end of AIDS.'

It's one of the most shockingly irresponsible claims ever made in the context of gay men and AIDS, and it represents a mindset whose consequences couldn't be...

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The Gruesome Death of Shorty Hall: Indiana's Matthew Shepard

Posted June 14, 2007 | 11:33 AM (EST)


The story of a horrifying murder in rural Indiana has begun making the rounds of the blogs, where it's being compared to the crucifixion of Matthew Shepard.

But the story's twists and turns, as disgusting as they are tragic, have gone largely unreported outside blogs like Daily Kos and...

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Bush's Choice for Surgeon General: A World Class Gay Baiter

Posted June 5, 2007 | 05:20 PM (EST)


President Bush nominated James Holsinger as the nation's new Surgeon General last week.

Dr. Holsinger's big focus is on childhood obesity -- a worthy cause -- and he is so widely regarded in the halls of power that The Economist called him "an entirely innocuous choice" and headlined its...

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The GLAAD Media Awards - Gay Media Need Not Apply

Posted March 22, 2007 | 09:26 PM (EST)


Every year The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) hands out its Media Awards in a star-studded Hollywood gala that increasingly looks like a gay Oscars. But this year a cloud hangs over GLAAD's red carpet. A nasty little secret has come to light that many in the industry...

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The Atkins Study: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

Posted March 13, 2007 | 12:48 PM (EST)


For years, critics of the Atkins diet argued that if anyone ever conducted a study that pitted Atkins head to head with other, more 'healthy' diets, it would prove beyond a doubt that the Atkins regimen of low carbs and high protein (and fat) will kill you deader than a...

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The Oscar 'Memorial' Segment: Gone, and Apparently Forgotten

Posted February 27, 2007 | 05:06 PM (EST)


I know it might sound a tad morbid, but one of my favorite parts of the Oscar telecast is the memorial to industry greats who died over the past year. But this year I noticed a strange omission, and that got me digging around to find out who is included,...

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Nuclear Porn, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love '24'

Posted January 18, 2007 | 02:03 PM (EST)


WARNING: CONTAINS A SPOILER FOR EPISODE FOUR OF '24'

When I was a kid, my parents forbid me to watch a TV broadcast of a movie about nuclear war called "On The Beach.' C'mon, Mon and Dad, I pleaded. It doesn't even show any atom bombs or burned bodies or...

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Bush's Legacy: Dashing Democracy in the Arab World

Posted January 12, 2007 | 02:36 PM (EST)


President Bush was still giving lip service the other night to the fading goal of creating "a functioning democracy" in Iraq and "advancing liberty" across the Middle East. Although his escalation plan is fatally flawed in ways too numerous to count, those goals certainly remain worthy.

Unfortunately, the chaos that...

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Conservative Christians Want Gay Pastors to Come Out. I Say Amen to That

Posted December 21, 2006 | 04:16 PM (EST)


The LA Times has a whopper of an article today about the fallout from the recent gay sex scandals involving conservative Christian leaders like Ted Haggard and Paul Barnes.

According to the Times, Christian conservatives have devised a solution to this wave of embarrassing revelations. Pastors with gay tendencies, they...

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Florida's Post-Foley Media: Asleep at the Wheel, Again

Posted October 27, 2006 | 11:58 AM (EST)


Why are Florida's news media engaged in a conspiracy of silence concerning a core issue in the upcoming election: the truthfulness and honesty of the Republican front runner for governor, Charlie Crist?

For those who haven't heard, the situation is this: Multiple sources have come forward alleging first-hand knowledge that...

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Anna Nicole and Daniel and Us

Posted September 15, 2006 | 01:33 PM (EST)


A few years ago I produced a documentary for Showtime called "Dark Roots: The Unauthorized Anna Nicole." Reviewers called it a scathing, devastating expose of the former centerfold and reality star, but frankly, it wasn't that hard to scathe and devastate. Anna's bad behavior made it easy.

Still, one thing...

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