No one has the moral obligation to announce his or her sexual orientation to People Magazine.
However, I think it's a cool thing--i.e., admirably bold--that singer and local Raleigh boy Clay Aiken has just done that. His reasoning: he just had a baby (in vitro fertilization with a friend), and he wants to set a good example. "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things," he says in the new issue of the magazine.
Coming out these days might seem like a low-impact decision--if you're not gay, famous, and a born-again Christian. Aiken is all of these, and may lose some Clay-mates, as his fans are sometimes called.
"'We congratulate Clay for making this decision and for setting an example for others and his family,' said Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. 'As we're seeing, more and more gay people, including celebrities, are living openly and honestly, and this has tremendous impact in terms of creating awareness, understanding and acceptance.'"
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5 comments:
I love Clay's singing and I was an avid watcher of American Idol when he was on the show. His orientation has been a rumor for years now, and to his recent revelation, I say....."DUH". And what does it matter? His voice isn't going to change now that he's told it. I do admire his reasons.
Yeah, in a way, it's sort of surprising that it's such big news. But then I'm fairly Chapel Hill-ian.
I didn't know that he is a born-again. That makes the move really bold in my opinion. I did have to laugh when one fan expressed incredulity at the revelation. I mean in vitro? Wasn't that a big clue--if you needed one?
I have a friend who, at age 50, ran around the country as a "Clay-mate" following Clays every move. At the time, she was married(recently divorced) and had two teenage kids. She wrote articles about Clay and took part in all of the websites. When one of our other friends told her that she had heard Clay was gay, I thought she was going to throw something at her! I think Clay's admission is his business, but he certainly led a whole bunch of crazed, puppy-eyed female fans astray in thinking they had a chance. It's all about the illusion, isn't it? I wonder how this is going to effect how his women fans are going to feel about him. Very bold move on his part to finally come out, both financially and career-wise.
I agree, Mamie and Debbie. I think it's bold. And it's bold for anyone in dealing with their own parents.
Clay A. did have a lot of people thinking he was straight. He may have thought so too at some point.
I did some work for a few years with a gorgeous guy who, I was sure, had a crush on me. Turned out he was gay. Practically, it didn't matter; since I was married the whole time. Still, I was crestfallen to think I'd been wrong about his interest in me.
And then, war story #2, I had a long-ago boyfriend of about a year who resurfaced decades later as editor-in-chief of Out magazine. That was a stunner, but it turned out to have been late-breaking news for him as well.
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