so is he gay? possible spoilers

He's from a generation that would neither ask nor tell, so I guess you'll have to read between the lines.

The part of the film was so interesting, it was filmed, staged and set-up in such a straightforward way that I knew what was coming. Had me on the edge of my seat. The filmmaker had no choice but to sit Bill down and ask such direct questions, interrogation with respect-style, because the answers to questions about family, relationships and religion in Bill's life were not getting addressed at all.

Please allow me to dissect and philosophize....When Bill is asked about relationships, he does not answer clearly. I don't even remember what he answered - I think he made some jokes - but he knew where the question was leading. So Bill offered the interviewer almost instant permission to consider Bill's choice of profession as one a gay man would choose back in the day, and at one point in the film, Bill says he was young and had his family to contend with. A family that thought fashion was not manly.

The next question about religion reveals how devout he is. He cannot answer, he is humbled to tears by his emotions. That moment also moved me to tears. I understood that the commitment to his faith is what allowed Bill to trade in the chance of developing a fully self-actualized life of a homosexual and instead devote his life to his work - his love: street fashion. Call it what you want - a trade, a deal, a pact, a vow to something greater than "urges" and suffering through an identity condemned by his religious faith. He made that choice a very long time ago - and in relation to that, now lives an extraordinary life.

His vow - like the one priests makes to their respective faiths, or Queen Elizabeth made to herself and her kingdom - is like religious devotion to his work and gave Bill power to control his "urges" - which he acknowledges people have and manage the best they can - and it also kept him like an angel-child who never grew up but remained a Peter Pan figure: asexual, full of spirit, humor, and ageless at his age. No sexual identity whatsoever - more like a genderless spirit. Bill's true love is looking at and photographing stylish people - specifically women.

In this way, he is such an evolved individual. So successful, with world-wide reach through his work, his art, his love, his eye.

I don't believe he is gay. While I was watching the documentary today I was wondering all along about his sexual orientation (way before it was discussed). Throughout the film I got the impression that Bill is asexual. He seems so disinterested in that particular area. His laughter is childish and has that purity quality to it. I loved it though how he stated "I am human though". So touching! I really liked this documentary; so full of life! People this amazing are very rare, but watching the documentary I realized how scared I was by the fact that the man has no personal life whatsoever. He's like a machine in way; like a transmitter connecting trends with people. He's more than a photographer; he's the medium in itself.

Hard to say. As an untrained armchair psychoanalyst, I get the impression that Bill is probably gay, but so profoundly repressed by his religious and other cultural conditioning that he's essentially banished romance and sexuality from his life. That's so reductive, though. I wondered about his sexual orientation throughout the film, but also wondered why I felt so compelled to wonder.

Bill seems to deny sex and romance as significant components of his life, except to the extent that he admits the presence of certain undefined "urges" in his mind. There seems to be something basically and perhaps intrinsically asexual about him, as though his dedication to his passion (clothing and fashion) is so total that it leaves room for little else in his life. He's like a monk - pregnant pause...

His world might seem small when viewed from without, but within its confines, he seems completely fulfilled. The power of sublimation or of faith? And is there a difference?

Like most people so far in this thread, I got the impression that even though he said he is not gay, that is true only in the sense that he is not active. He deals with his urges. He makes an executive decision like never cooking at home, never eating at charity events, and never delving into an active gay life, and that simplifies his life. I, too, felt there was pain in the response to his churchgoing habits. He is very social, and immersed in surfaces, not in murky depths. He is the reporter, the observer.

A wonderful portrait of a wonderful man, very inspiring in his sweet personality and determination, and yet a question mark about the compartmentalized suffering that seems to be there. Keeping busy so you never stop to make uncomfortable inner reflections.

There must be a book of his street pages coming, no? Would be great to see an archive.