"bon vivant" really means "gay"

A while back, a friend of mine said he was waiting for the day when I showed up on Gawker.
Well, that day has come. Sort of. My piece on Michael Musto was mentioned on Friday.
(Gawker gave the Blade another nod today, oddly enough, making fun of one of our ads.)
Though I was overall pleased with how my brief Musto profile came out, there was a lot of stuff I had to cut for space. Pasted below is the rest of the interview, in case you're curious.

Me: How old were you when you started the column?
Musto: Three.

You’ve been in New York your whole life?
Yes. I couldn’t exist anywhere else. I couldn’t even go for a week or so. It’s really sad.

I read that you said that you were socially retarded. Does that work to your advantage?
It helps to be socially retarded. I’m so passive, and so unable to communiciate, that I sort of act as a sponge. People come up and start unloading themselves.

Do you hate being interviewed?
Again, I crave it and yet I’m uncomfortable with it.

Were there periods where the column was more gay and less gay?
Whether it’s blatantly gay or not, the gayness underlines every syllable, because that’s part of who I am. I hate it when people say, “I hate being identified as gay.” But why? Would you hate being identified as Italian? They never would say that.

But I don’t think you have that label.
I’m more often “outrageous gadfly” or “man about town,” “bon vivant.” But those are all euphemisms for “gay.”

The interviews I’ve read with you never talk about your personal life. Why is that?
I don’t have that much of a personal life. My career and my column are intertwined with my personal life.

How do you know a good party?
You know it the second you walk in the door. You know if you want to go back home immediately or stick it out for at least 10 minutes. It doesn’t have to have celebrities. It’s a fun mix of people, good energy, cool people. By now I’m pretty intuitive just by looking at the invitation if it’s something worth going to or if it’s something beyond the D List.

Sounds like reading tea leaves.
Yeah, it is. I can tell by who’s throwing it, the location, the day, the time, open bar.

Do you drink?
No. I usually drink Diet Coke.

Are you dating anyone?
I don’t date. I’m married to Jesus.

Further reading: Musto's personal narrative on the changing face of NYC's underground.