Oh…that’s a shame. 
Virtually every “news” item about celebrities is a product of the celebrities public relations team. The reason for the People cover is mentioned in the article:
That’s the whole reason – it’s not peace of mind, it’s not angst, it’s not comfort, it’s not bravery. Coming out is a publicity stunt.
So unlike every other human being on the planet, famous people can only ever have one reason for doing something?
In what way do you believe that going public about being gay usually helps someone’s career?
Oh, come now. You were what, 9 to 11 years old when *N Sync (or *N Suck, *N Sex, whatevah) were popular? There is an entire subset of the female population in my age bracket, and probably a fair amount in yours too (I mean, you’re only like four years younger than I am, so it’s not like a generation gap or anything) who will be utterly heartbroken to learn that Lance is forever unavailable to them. I mean, what good is he as fantasy material if you know he’d rather have some dick (ahem)? Oh, who am I kidding, when has that ever stopped anyone?
By the way, that is one scary picture. Dude looks cross-eyed.
I thought that Anderson Cooper was out of the closet, only that CNN hustled him back in once he started getting high-profile. And then they nailed the closet door shut, just to be sure.
… and I’m almost certain I learned this on the SDMB, so a Search may be in order.
And so it was. 
His music was our first clue.
This was such a shocker.
Yeah, well, steroids, don’tcha know. The folks at People® must have been giggling when they wrote that line about him being “Southern Baptist-reared.” 
I don’t care who Lance Bass boffs. The only thing that ever irritated me about him was that he and the other N-sinkers were able to make a fortune out of being pretty. :rolleyes:
(bolding mine)
I don’t want to know…but I bet in your mind, Joey does have a fat one.
Feh. Call me when JC Chasez comes out. 
Did you see the pic? Pretty? He looks like a cartoon lizard that just swallowed a wasp.
ArchiveGuy, that was a great video.
When it’s an “exclusive for People magazine” publicity interview, with a photographer, and a cover shot, yeah.
When you’re a C-list member of a defunct boy band who’s “developing an Odd Couple-inspired sitcom pilot with Fatone in which his character will be gay.”
That’s not the news item I was referring to. I was talking about the one linked to in my post.
How is it that under those circumstances, normal human psychology ceases to function and people become single-minded robots with nothing but fame as their motivation? I don’t deny it may be among the reasons, but to insist that these people are sociopaths or otherwise intensely abnormal seems very strange to me.
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.
That, and the chance to print Fatone’s quote about “backing [Bass] up 100%.” 
Thanks for the lecture and all Danalan, but you didn’t say he could have other reasons besides publicity. You said that that was his ONLY reason. I said people have more than one reason for doing things, and you continued to deny that this was possible in the case of a celebrity acting in part for publicity. No, you don’t use those words, but again, humans are humans, and they don’t suddenly stop having non-fame-oriented feelings when they begin to seek fame. You’re describing someone pathological, not a normal human being. Of course publicity is one of the reasons people go public with things. There are others, and I see no reason to call Mr. Bass a liar or cynically insist that any concerns not related to his job must not actually be compelling for him.
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.