# Lance Bass comes out of the closet on the cover of People **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094 "2006-07-26T15:24:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/61 "2006-07-27T01:13:10Z")
[QUOTE=Danalan] Lance Bass paid someone to publicize his coming out. The actors and celebrities in People, Us, and all the other celebrity journals pay someone to keep them in those journals. [/QUOTE] Don’t celebrities come out in The Advocate anymore? Is that passe now? Maybe The Advocate turned him down. He _is_ looking a bit ragged these days. ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/62 "2006-07-27T01:27:44Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Yet they can convince their pre-adolescent minds into believing the fantasy that he was somehow “available” to them when they thought he was straight? Those girls need a splash of reality. Celebrities not going to be “available” to them no matter what. [/QUOTE] Well, clearly _you’ve_ never been a pre-adolescent girl then… 😃 Seriously, it’s a normal stage of development. Too young to do what their hormones are stirring in them, they fantasize about “safe” people - realistically unavailable so there’s no chance of actually having to “do it” but it in a way fulfills the emerging needs that they aren’t quite sure what to do with. Been there with three daughters (well, me too, but it was waaaay back when Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy were H-O-T!). The oldest, it was New Kids on the Block; the next one had it for NSync and Back Street Boys; the youngest - Good Charlotte. Just today, she showed me a Teen Magazine in the grocery store and she was pissed because someone “stole” her man. She’s getting old enough now to laugh at herself, though. It passes, they get over it and when they do and move on to reality, you yearn for the days when it was just a poster on the wall that they were thinking about. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/63 "2006-07-27T01:35:06Z")
[QUOTE=Danalan] The one from People magazine… With the cover photo… Right? 😕 Did I say sociopath? Did I say abnormal? You’re twisting this into some sort of vendetta against… something. I’m just pointing out the truth. The fact that this is an interview for People magazine, with a cover shot and special photography, means that the whole thing is for publicity. That doesn’t make it evil or twisted, that’s just the way celebrity works. These people aren’t in the “news” because “People want to know”. They’re in the news because they want to be in the news. The reason for this is financial. They make their money from their celebrity. Lance Bass paid someone to publicize his coming out. The actors and celebrities in People, Us, and all the other celebrity journals pay someone to keep them in those journals. They bank upon that celebrity to get TV and movie roles, and to inform people about their albums, books and other products. Hey, I think it’s great that he’s out, and I hope his TV pilot is a hit. I hope he and his celebrity boyfriend have a great, long-lasting relationship. But I don’t mistake a “news” article in People with reality. He’s not coming out to ease his mind, or for spiritual reasons. Those things may be true, but they aren’t the whole truth, nor the reason he’s coming out in People. [/QUOTE] +1 Regardless of the “okay-ness” of him choosing to come out (more power to him as a person), this smacks of a PR play, not much more. Bottom line - who really cares? I find it amusing merely from the “boy bander titillates teeny bopper girls but chooses boys - and never really surprised anybody” angle… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/64 "2006-07-27T01:45:51Z")
[QUOTE=Salem] Well, clearly _you’ve_ never been a pre-adolescent girl then… 😃 Seriously, it’s a normal stage of development. Too young to do what their hormones are stirring in them, they fantasize about “safe” people - realistically unavailable so there’s no chance of actually having to “do it” but it in a way fulfills the emerging needs that they aren’t quite sure what to do with. Been there with three daughters (well, me too, but it was waaaay back when Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy were H-O-T!). The oldest, it was New Kids on the Block; the next one had it for NSync and Back Street Boys; the youngest - Good Charlotte. Just today, she showed me a Teen Magazine in the grocery store and she was pissed because someone “stole” her man. She’s getting old enough now to laugh at herself, though. It passes, they get over it and when they do and move on to reality, you yearn for the days when it was just a poster on the wall that they were thinking about. [/QUOTE] Bobby Sherman? David cassidy? I would’ve figured you were into Victor Mature, Tyrone Powers, and Bing Crosby. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/65 "2006-07-27T01:46:22Z")
[QUOTE=Danalan] The one from People magazine… With the cover photo… Right? 😕 [/QUOTE] No. This one: [http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=entertainment&id=4365921](http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=entertainment&id=4365921) I saw this article (or some version of it) about a week and a half ago. It was linked to in the word “Here” of my post. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/66 "2006-07-27T02:09:44Z")
Well good for him. He seems like a nice guy, but I saw him on celebrity Millionaire and he was unbelievably stupid. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/67 "2006-07-27T05:24:48Z")
[QUOTE=Ensign Edison] I provided a link to an article to answer the first question. As for the second, because gay teenagers have this pesky tendency to kill themselves a lot. Every little bit towards reducing that figure helps, y’know? [/QUOTE] Yeah, I can see how knowing a washed-up former boy band singer is gay would restore some gay teen’s will to live. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Seymour\_Gams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Seymour\_Gams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seymour_Gams)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/68 "2006-07-27T05:38:57Z")
The last thing we saw him on was in the background of Kathy Griffin’s show (like that wasn’t a giant flashing light) and all of a sudden he is front page news. There is no way you can’t take this as being about publicity. I think it is great when stars come out (for the already mentioned sucide problem with gay teens and because it gives gay teens someone to look up to) but the timing of this is all too suspicious. I get his whole bullshit about not doing it while in the band because it could have ruined the careers of his friends but how long have they been broken up? I know a few other members of N\*Sync did solo albums but I am pretty sure he didn’t, so I don’t know what career of his could have been affected. On that note I think it is bullshit when stars don’t come out because they don’t want it to ruin their career. Wow, apparently money is more important than who you are. :rolleyes: By the way if anyone didn’t know, grass is green and fire burns! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/69 "2006-07-27T13:00:57Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] Yeah, I can see how knowing a washed-up former boy band singer is gay would restore some gay teen’s will to live. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Do you really not grasp how it works, or are you just pretending to be this ignorant? ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/70 "2006-07-27T13:09:56Z")
Is it wrong that my first thought was, “Great. Now the slashers and the fanboys have more to wank about.” Lance Bass provided the voice of Sephiroth, a pretty boy/bad ass character with a lot of history and fans, in the Kingdom Hearts series. He actually did a pretty good job with the part. Plus, it was fun to pretend to beat up Lance Bass. I’m the biggest geek ever. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/71 "2006-07-27T13:12:26Z")
[QUOTE=Ensign Edison] Do you really not grasp how it works, or are you just pretending to be this ignorant? [/QUOTE] To clarify, of course this single event is unlikely to specifically save a life. It is the cumulation of such events, and the gradual acceptance of gayness in popular culture, that helps. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/72 "2006-07-27T15:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=Ensign Edison] To clarify, of course this single event is unlikely to specifically save a life. It is the cumulation of such events, and the gradual acceptance of gayness in popular culture, that helps. [/QUOTE] Helpful, IMHO - the first statement did seem over the top. The intent (making coming out more acceptable) is of course a good thing… ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/73 "2006-07-27T16:13:15Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] Well, it does give him another 15 minutes of fame, or at least 15 seconds. Now, if it turned out that he was really a woman and having a lesbian affair with Brittney Spears after duking it out with Federline on Sunset Blvd at 3am (who had to go to Cedar Sinai, details not released)…that would be interesting. At least for a moment. 😃 [/QUOTE] I’m with you-this smells like a publicity stunt-maybe he figures that this 9coming out) might buy him some good press and extend his career a few years. he might also be able to make money by giving interviews, etc. never underestimate the value of publicity! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/74 "2006-07-27T16:49:04Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Wasn’t he supposed to go into space or something a few years ago? Maybe he could still pursue that. Make history being the first out astronaut. Astron-out. Whatever. [/QUOTE] Asstronaut? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/75 "2006-07-27T17:39:45Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Asstronaut? [/QUOTE] Wow, over a full day before the first ass joke. I admire everyone’s restraint. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/76 "2006-07-27T17:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Wow, over a full day before the first ass joke. I admire everyone’s restraint. [/QUOTE] Well, it is only Lance Bass. Really not worth the effort. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/77 "2006-07-27T21:00:34Z")
Lance Bass was gay, young, rich and got to share a dressing room and close quarters with Justin Timberlake. Meanwhile Anne Frank died in a concentration camp. There is no God. QED. As for Anderson Cooper, if I were him I’d wait until coming home from the Middle East before coming out (not that I think there’s any danger). He’s a really cute guy in some ways but in others he just looks so inbred that he could bleed to death from a minor shaving injury (even though he’s not- his mom’s an umpteenth generation Knickerbocker and his dad was of Mississippi tenant farmer stock so he’s actually a mixed-breed). ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/78 "2006-07-27T22:50:44Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Wow, over a full day before the first ass joke. I admire everyone’s restraint. [/QUOTE] These days, I think of it more as an MXC joke/reference, myself. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/79 "2006-07-27T23:44:29Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] Well, it is only Lance Bass. Really not worth the effort. [/QUOTE] But there are a couple that are just hanging there right over the plate. Lanced Ass, for instance. Which, you know, brings up another point. Lance and Reichen both strike me as big ol’ bottoms. So I’m kind of worried about the longevity of the relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094/80 "2006-07-27T23:50:31Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] But there are a couple that are just hanging there right over the plate. Lanced Ass, for instance. Which, you know, brings up another point. Lance and Reichen both strike me as big ol’ bottoms. So I’m kind of worried about the longevity of the relationship. [/QUOTE] Having never seen Reichen before I couldn’t comment on his bottomness. Having dated a guy who was totally in love with all of them and thereby seeing more of nsync then I ever wanted to, I agree about Lance. (I’m so glad he got over that) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-bass-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-the-cover-of-people/366094.md?page=5)