American writer and activist Gabriel Rotello was BOTD in 1963. Born and raised in Danbury, Connecticut, he studied at Knox College and Carlton College, and became a musician, co-founding the underground band Brenda and the Realtones. In the 1980s, he produced the Downtown Divas musical revues in New York nightclubs, alongside LGBT cult figures The Lady Bunny, Holly Woodlawn, Michael Musto and Randy Barbato. In 1988, he joined activist group ACT-UP, and co-founded and edited OutWeek magazine, becoming infamous for the practice of outing closeted celebrities. Many of his staff members became well-known writers and activists, including Michelangelo Signorile, Dale Peck and Sarah Pettit. After OutWeek closed in 1991, Rotello worked for New York Newsday, becoming the first openly gay man to become a columnist at a major American newspaper. He later worked for The Advocate, the Village Voice, Out, The Nation and the New York Times. His 1997 book Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men argued that gay men should use condoms and limit their numbers of sexual partners to bring HIV infections down, igniting a national debate within the LGBTQ community. Supported by Signorile and Larry Kramer, he was condemned by radical activists for promoting sex-phobic and homophobic attitudes. In the late 1990s, Rotello moved to Los Angeles, producing the LGBT-themed documentaries Party Monster about New York clubland murderer Michael Alig, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye about TV evangelist Tammy Faye Messner. His 2010 documentary The Strange History of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, chronicling the US military’s discriminatory LGBT policies, was nominated for an Emmy Award.