Patricia Cornwell: the famed crime novelist has kept us spellbound with her fiction. Now she's telling her truth--as a happily married lesbian who's speaking out for equal rights.(PROFILE)(Interview)

Publication: The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine)

Publication Date: 17-JUN-08

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"I'LL TELL YOU SOMETHING VERY INTERESTING," says Patricia Cornwell, fixing me with her Carolina-blue eyes. We're sitting in the living room of a bird's-eye suite on the 53rd floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Manhattan, not far from the author's own Hudson River--view apartment. "Many years ago I was at a dinner sitting next to Billie Jean King, and we were talking about this very issue, about being gay. And I said, 'Well, to me, it's a very private matter; I never deny it if I'm asked, but I don't go around talking about it.' She said, 'Wait until you turn 50. You'll feel different.'

"Well, I'll be 52 in June, and she's absolutely right," Cornwell continues. "I don't know what it is about turning 50, but a lot of things don't matter as much anymore."

Then again, some things start to matter very much. Speaking out for equality, for instance.

"If I went around hiding, maybe life would be easier, or my book sales would be better. But I think for every straight person I've lost, I've probably gotten a gay [reader]. In the early days when this all started coming out, it was, 'Ooh, this could really turn off your male readers.' And you know what I want to say: Do you not know what straight men's favorite form of pornography is? It's women with women, honey! I should have more of it in my books, and if I didn't embarrass myself, I would!

"Ha ha ha ha ha," Cornwell lets out an infectious, lighthearted chuckle--nothing like the laugh that I'd expect from a motorcycle-riding, helicopter-piloting alpha female who delves into the minds of serial killers. In fact, her laugh is downright ladylike. You can almost believe Cornwell would be embarrassed to write sweaty sex scenes for Lucy, the lesbian niece of her famed fictional heroine, Kay Scarpetta. But no matter. Cornwell's like a new convert to the cause of openness; she's not going to be the slightest bit embarrassed to talk about gay pride.

The author of 25 books, including her 15-and-counting juggernaut series of crime novels about forensic pathologist Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell is the kind of literary star who's more or less...

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