Margaret Cho is well aware of the scarlet letter her critics have duct-taped to her heart. But for her and the Cho Army, the letter A does not stand for Adulteress, the most vilifying noun of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s day. Perusing the A-list, far more appropriate would be any or all of the following: Activist, Advocate, Altruist, Assertive, Amorous, Ambitious, Accomplished, All-American… a virtual multiple Agasm.

In a recent interview with the Gay & Lesbian Times, Margaret Cho flashed many of these characteristics, and one more: Arresting.

Gay & Lesbian Times: Margaret, if you could imagine someone who never heard of you and you just met, what would you like them to know about you?

Margaret Cho: I would want them to know I am about the idea of giving more visibility to the formerly invisible.

GLT: Excuse me, I understand, but what I meant was what would you like people to know about you?

MC: Oh. That I love dogs.

GLT: What have you got?

MC: Well, I’ve got a German-Shepherd mix, and an Australian sheep dog mix and a Chihuahua named Gudrin.

GLT: Gudrin?

MC: Yeah. Gudrin is the boss.

GLT: Tell me a love story. What is it about your husband that you love?

MC: He puts me so at ease. There is a level of comfort that I didn’t have or really understand before him. In the past, all my relationships were volatile, transitory and intense. With him it’s so different.

GLT: A case of opposites attracting?

MC: Not really. We’re a lot alike in a lot of ways, both of us really driven, both of us generous and hard-working, but he just has such a calming affect on me. It’s perfect.

GLT: Sounds therapeutic. What if Oprah had you as an on-show therapist instead of Dr. Phil? What kind of therapist would you be?

MC: Oh! I’d love it! I would be great! I guess I’d be too permissive. I’m into letting people be as they are. Therapists tend to tell people what to do. I tend to be more accepting.

GLT: If Dr. Phil came to you for therapy, what would you tell him?

MC: Stop telling people what to do! Just let people be!

GLT: Just “being” for you; is there a difference between being rebellious and being revolutionary?

MC: Being rebellious is something personal. Being revolutionary is about where you are in society, who came before you, and what you intend to do with the role you’ve been given.

GLT: You seem truly comfortable as a role model for social revolutionaries.

MC: I am. A lot of people I know who are famous become obnoxious and obsessed with it. I’m able to keep things in perspective because I have a pretty well protected private life and I don’t read my own press, good or bad.

GLT: Your strategy seems to be working for you. Do you have a strategy for aging?

MC: I recently saw Joan Rivers perform. What an inspiration! I enjoy what I do, and can see myself doing this forever. As long as people let me, like Joan Rivers.

For conscripts in the Cho Army, forever isn’t long enough.