Gabriel Rotello earned a bachelor's degree in history at Knox College. He is a film producer, journalist and author. His controversial and best-selling 1997 book Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

He founded OutWeek Magazine, and has been a guest columnist for Newsday, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Out Magazine, The Village Voice, The Nation, and The New Republic.

Rotello is openly gay; he co-produced the Cinemax documentary Party Monster, which won an Emmy award; the series Vinyl Justice for VH-1; and the feature-length documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye, which won the Audience Award at the Newport Film Festival.

He is a senior producer for the television company World of Wonder. He produces the documentary series "100 Greatest" for VH-1, and is writing Wisecracker: The Life of Billy Haines, a documentary for American Movie Classics on the life of the first openly gay movie star.