M.R.: Liz, you've come out pretty firmly against outing in the past. Have your feelings changed at all?

Smith: I'm not so firmly against it. I mean, I've outed several people inadvertently. I wouldn't do it on purpose, though. I think Kevin Spacey is entitled to make any kind of statement he wants about his sex life, and then he has to live with the fallout from people who are irritated by that, like Nathan Lane, who are going to keep making jokes about it. But people have a right to spin their own myth. There isn't any law that he has to say what kind of sex he has.

M.R.: I think that's true. But the question is whether journalists should be writing things they know are lies.

Musto: That's right. When it comes to gay stuff, we get attacked for reporting the truth. When Esquire outed Kevin Spacey "Kevin Spacey Has a Secret," October 1997, they were crucified by the media and by the entertainment world for it, and ultimately had to backtrack. But I thought they were totally brave. They addressed the gossip about Kevin Spacey. And they had every right to do so.

Smith: Spacey is fairly public in his behavior, so people think they can say anything they want. He's not going to sue.

M.R.: I kept trying to figure out what Kevin Spacey's secret was. Laughter. I know you have very mixed feelings about this whole outing issue, Jeannette.

Walls: I do. I used to be vehemently opposed to it. But my gay friends have taught me that there really is a form of homophobia in avoiding the subject. There's a double standard. Not long ago, there was a high-ranking political adviser who got fired because he kept hitting on the male interns. Nobody reported it, because it would have meant outing him.

"At one party I was standing too close to Skeet Ulrich, and his publicist came like a bat out of hell and screamed, 'Stay away from Skeet!' I said, 'No, I want to stand here and read Skeet's lips!' He bodily shoved me away." -- Joanna Molloy

Smith: Politics is fair game for outing because the results of the hypocrisy are so serious. I don't know if we need to be jumping on a bunch of actors who want to pretend they're straight.

M.R.: But we live at a time when the biggest societal influences are cultural rather than political. Tom Cruise has more of a cultural impact than most politicians, don't you think?

Walls: It's true. Celebrities have become cultural touchstones. As scary as it is, people really do look to stars as moral leaders.

Musto: Which is why I think it is totally hypocritical of the media to stay away from gay sexuality. Gossip reporters will report almost everything about celebrities, but sexuality is off-limits. It's saying that homosexuality is unspeakable, so dirty that it shouldn't even be addressed.

Molloy: I think everyone has a right to privacy when it comes to their sex life.

Musto: Have I been misreading your column? You're such a liar!

Molloy: You're talking about our item on Nathan Lane?

Musto: You're constantly going there and playing around. Nathan Lane is one of many examples. You wrote about Kevin Spacey at some Oscar party with Sam Mendes "enjoying the guys in their Speedos." Do I have to remind you? You not only outed Spacey -- you outed American Beauty director Sam Mendes! Is Mendes even gay?

Molloy: Wait a minute, a man can enjoy a guy in a Speedo and not be gay. Laughs.

Musto: Tell that to the judge, honey.

Smith: I don't agree with you, Mike. Nobody saw Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres in bed.

Musto: They were spotted holding hands at the Cubby Hole, Liz!

Smith: What? Well, lots of women hold . . . Arab men hold hands all the time.

Musto: Yeah -- last I checked, DeGeneres wasn't an Arab name.

M.R.: Do you all enjoy what you do? Do you ever have trouble sleeping at night?

Walls: Love it! Laughs. Can't imagine doing anything else.

Smith: I like it. I've always loved writing about celebrities. I always wanted to know them, and I always wanted to live, you know, in the throes or on the fringes of show business or the literary world. I try to write about all kinds of things, not just show business, not just actors. I am more interested in writers, really.