Out Magazine: Promoting the Bullying and Humiliation of Possible-Gays Front and Center

Out Magazine decided to ‘out’ a number of celebrities from their “glass closet” and then throw them on an incredibly distorted 50 Most Powerful Gays In America list to make up for it. Sure, it’s getting Michael Musto a lot of attention for the oversized, hairy balls he wants everyone to thing he must have to ‘out’ entertainers perceived as closeted. I think he’s just a big, gay bullying media whore. See: Perez Hilton.

While the gay community is striving for positive social and political change, people like this are detractors. Sure there is likely a huge, full closet in the entertainment industry and it exists in a social climate where it’s a tad bit easier to be gay than in the past. But if a star doesn’t want to be known as a gay star, they shouldn’t have to. There are plenty of entertainers well-suited and ready to run around Hollywood with a big rainbow flag on a giant glitter float. Coming out is a personal decision that involves individual identity. Instead of forcibly outing individuals, why not channel efforts to increase understanding and tolerance in society or empower them to understand the potential of their influence? This type of gossip gives the unspoken reinforcement that it’s not just ok to point fingers and ostracize the gays - do it nationally and on the front cover while you’re at it. It reminds me of high school - I do wonder how those poor boys are doing.

Being openly homosexual does not give you a magic wand to point out all of the other gays. No matter what way you look at it, treating a member of a group with intolerance is just plain old bigotry. I hear Ann Coulter is free for happy hour...always.

It's About F*cking Time: Gays in the NBA

John Amaechi, a former player with the Utah Jazz and Orlando Magic, has become the first NBA player to come out as gay.

Amaechi will announce publicly for the first time that he is gay on an episode of ESPN's "Outside The Lines" to air Feb. 13, Outsports has learned. His book, published by ESPN Books, "Man In The Middle," in which he chronicles his NBA career and directly addresses the travails of being a closeted professional athlete, will be released the following week.

Amaechi's sexuality has been rumored for years. In an April 2001 column for Outsports, NBA columnist Randy Boyd named Amaechi, then playing with the Orlando Magic, as No. 16 among those in the NBA most likely to be gay.

"Could be that the Nigerian-Brit just operates on a different planet?" Boyd asked in his column.

"But then again, that explanation for his atypical behavior wouldn’t be any fun now would it?"

That atypical behavior included a penchant for designing gardens, listening to opera before games and writing poetry.

In Amaechi's first contact with Outsports in December, he asked with his playful sense of humor, "Why wasn't I higher than 16th?"

Outsports has been tracking this story for the last year, as quiet rumblings in private conversations started to surface, and had agreed to embargo a story until just prior to his first TV appearance. However, speculation that Amaechi was coming out has become heavy in the past few days, with his publicist, Howard Bragman, dropping hints at a Super Bowl week party in Miami about an NBA player coming out.

[source]