Well Golly--Gay "celebs" are falling out of the closet right and left.

Gomer Pyle, Jennifer Garner's "Alias" dad, Kyle XY, Jodie Mel Gibson made me nuts Foster...these are just four of the celebrities who have come out of the closet in the past month.  It seems like every other day, a new celebrity comes out as gay and it's not considered that big of a deal.  This is certainly a major step forward from the days when Ellen coming out was met with confetti and derision.

While Ellen deserves a good deal of credit, Neil Patrick Harris (star of a hit network series), Matthew Bomer (star of a hit cable series), Zachary Quinto (star of multiple hit series and a mega motion picture), and Anderson Cooper, the veteran blue-eyed journalist, have all come out with all four men's careers not dying, but thriving.

I was very critical of Cooper, who was known to be gay by everyone, for not coming out sooner.  And sure enough I was shamed when he did because he said he stayed in the closet because of his assignments in foreign countries where known homosexuals are put to death.  He didn't want to put him or his film crew at risk.  This is certainly the most plausible excuse I can think of to stay in the closet I've heard.

So I've reevaluated my stand on celebrities coming out.  Foster said it in THE craziest coming out speech I have heard that celebrities should get their right to privacy.  I'm still on the fence.  The reason you are a celebrity is because people want to see you and fork out money for whatever product you are shilling.  If you don't want to be a celebrity, become a cop or teacher (two professions in which the pay is pitiful in relation to the importance of their jobs).

 

So I don't quite buy the privacy of celebrities unless the paparazzi puts lives in danger (i.e. Princess Diana).  And Ms. Foster, there is a reason that "The Beaver" and "Carnage" were bombs--it's because they sucked.  Still, they made a little chump change based on your name, but fine works they certainly were not.  And I won't get into the pseudo celebrity that is the Kardashian (and I'm not proud that I didn't have to spell check that name).



However, I've tempered my tone on celebrities coming out of the closet.  While it's thankfully becoming less and less of a big deal, every person who does it has a very personal story.  Take for instance the student, seen in the above video, who came out in front of 300 members of his school.  His father said his son's speech "took more guts to do than anything I have ever done in my life."  Cue my rainbow-colored tears.

So, with that in mind, I applaud the celebrities who have come out and paved the way for others to do the same because in doing so, the closet is slowly but surely being emptied for storage of old ideals that should certainly go in the closet to stay.