I did like Rendezvous With Rama, though the three sequels were progressively worse (and rather woke). But I'd heard that he didn't really write the sequels; just lent his name, copyright, and some ideas.
I was just going from the list of dead past presidents of SFWA, to answer the question of, “Who died and left these lunatics in charge?” There were plenty of great female SF writers. Up until Jane Yolen, though, (who thankfully is still alive) they seemed to be more interested in complaining about how the organization was run than in pitching in to help run it.
Clarke was gay, yes, but he was never in your face about it. Try to imagine what 2001: A Space Odyssey would have been like if he’d decided to forget about the monoliths and HAL and all that and instead had concentrated on the homoerotic tension between Dave Bowman and Frank Poole during that long and lonely voyage to Jupiter.
As for other famous SF writers who were gay: there were plenty, and some would surprise you. But it’s not my place to out them.