He became orders of magnitude more popular. He was tormented by the pain he assumed any revelation of his sexuality would cause his parents. Subconsciously, he chose to cottage to be arrested and outed by that cop but he handled tge brief homophobic furore well after an initial stumble. Its so sad GM never reconciled himself with his sexual demons and it's sad it took him so long to trust his audience to accept him. 'Accept Yourself'is Morrissey's definitive statement on his inability to endorse his sexuality publicly. Anyone who experienced the horror of a 60s/70s Irish Catholic cultural upbringing on the island of Britain understands and has compassion for his continuing predicament. What's especially morose about it is the fact his family seemingly detached from the prevailing religious orthodoxies and embraced secularism and yet irrevocable damage was already done. Its that Jesuitic 'Show me the boy at 7' memetic programming stuff. There's still homophobic holdouts but the utility of sentiments such as those expressed in 'Death Of A Disco Dancer' are no longer as potent or relevant as they were in the late 80s under Section 28 regimes. Whether or not this entertainer is secretly cavorting with a rugby squad is irrelevant as he has never expressed sexual or gender bigotries as far as I recollect. In fact, his 'dance of the 7 veils' onstage and in interviews needs to be offset by the apparent evidence of him bravely attending a formative 'gay rights' parade in pre-Fame Huddersfield and also an audit trail of him dragged up as a New Romantic Glamazon with a Black female friend. Whatever internal torment he endures, similar perhaps to George Michael, is for him and his analyst-priest-friend-confidentes to resolve. Kind observers should wish him well in his late-in-life lesbian phase.
BB