As mentioned in the article - this seems to be a newer (better) trend of “coming out” by simply mentioning a long-term same sex partner, without making a big deal of it. Matt Bomer from White Collar and Jim Parsons from Big Bang Theory also used this approach of “no big deal, them’s the facts”.
My own opinion is that this is a fair and honest approach - it really is nobody’s business, but at the same time, nothing to hide - so if asked, you simply acknowledge that you are/were in a committed relationship with a same sex partner and there you go. No big deal and life goes on. Sort of the way it should be - and nice to see this happening in a manner that treats sexual orientation as one facet, but not the sole facet, of a person’s life. Perhaps publicists will now realize being openly Gay or Lesbian is not the kiss of death for their client’s film/stage/TV career.
Agreed. I would love to see the day when one’s sexual orientation is no longer assumed, and “coming out” is an archaic term; something gay people used to have to do. I think statements like these go a long way toward advancing that day.
yes, well done. It’s certainly better than like when that policitian announced “I am a Gay American” at a press conference, that was just cringe-inducing.
I don’t know if I agree with the characterization of the trend. It seems that the trend is really about stars living their lives as openly gay in the same way heterosexuals live as openly straight. It’s not a subtle way of coming out, it is living openly without making a point of announcing it. Maybe the difference is small, but I think it’s not the same as pretending to be heterosexual then coming out later by mentioning a same-sex partner. Both seem to be happening but the media gets more mileage from saying someone came out.
I think it just shows the evolution of how far we’ve come. It used to be a ground-breaking, career-altering announcement. Now, it’s just something that is. You don’t have to tell come out as Jewish, it can be observed by whether you go to a synagogue. You don’t have to come out as vegetarian, it can be observed by what you order at a meal. Same with being gay or straight.
Yea, I agree. “Coming out” used to mean going from actively hiding your sexuality to living openly as a homosexual. It was a big deal because twenty years ago, large numbers of gay people actively hid or repressed their sexuality. “Coming out” meant not doing that anymore, often with severe repercussions to their careers, family lives and, further back, risking possible legal trouble.
Now that the social and legal consequences of being gay have diminished, far fewer people are ever really “in the closet” to begin with (though certainly some still are). The phrase has taken on a sort of weirder meaning of “somewhere in the press, an article has been written that points out that a celebrity that was already openly gay is, in fact, gay”.
So I’d say celebrities aren’t really changing how they’re coming out, so much as “coming out” doesn’t really (necessarily) have the same meaning it used to.
As a Catholic meat-eater who’s been to a handful of sinagogues and heard “oh, I didn’t know you were vegetarian!” or “when did you become a vegetarian?” too many times, I’d like to point out that those are sort of hints. Assuming that anybody who lives with a person of the same biological sex is gay or that someone who lives with a person of the opposite biological sex is straight is as stupid as assuming that someone who orders spinach lasagna is a vegetarian; by those standards, every students’ flat is an orgy.