It started out with celebrities such as Ellen Degeneres, Melissa Etheridge, Elton John, Leisha Hailey, Angelina Jolie and Drew Barrymore.
Now the closet doors have been sprung wide open.
With such actors and actresses as Neil Patrick Harris, Clay Aiken, Megan Fox, Nikki Reed, Madonna, Nelly Furtado, Paris Hilton, Brittany Spears, Fergie, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Pink, Lance Bass, Tila Tequila, Sara & Tegan Quin, and Lindsay Lohan – more and more people, celebrity or not, are openly admitting to being either gay, lesbian, bisexual, or to having had, at one point, a relationship with someone of the same gender – and it seems to be happening more now than ever.
So why is there this sudden up rise of young people coming out? Is it a fad? Has the media glamorized homosexuality? Or, is it the celebrities? Has being in the limelight, as well as being ‘out and proud‘ granted the lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender individuals of this world a sense of freedom to be ‘out and proud‘ themselves?
In the movie Mona Lisa’s Smile, Julia Roberts presents a slide show to her class. She asks of one picture, “Is it art?“:
“Art isn’t art until someone says it is.” one student says.
“It’s art!” Julia Roberts says.
“The right people.” the student replies.
Maybe, not unlike the student’s observation in Mona Lisa’s Smile (“until someone says it is.‘) and maybe, until, ‘the right people’ say it – maybe people feel bound to keep their preferences, opinions, and views to themselves…that is, until Megan Fox or Lady Gaga says it’s okay.
Why is it, that people with any sort of appreciable status have such impact on our lives?
Since 2008, I have had over TEN, yes, TEN people come out of the closet it to me – three of which confessed to having once had a crush on me.
In my opinion, and this is just me, I believe that eight of the ten people who came out to me are probably straight. Otherwise, maybe Freud was right – maybe everyone is bisexual.
It is my earnest belief that half of the people who are coming out of the closet in recent days, just like half the people who dye their hair green, flip the bird at police officers, and take every picture giving that stupid horned hand signal, are all just trying to send this same message: “I’m different.”
But you’re not.
You, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Osbourne, Courtney Love, every person from the bands Simple Plan, Sum 41, Blink 182, and those two Madden Brothers – are exactly the same!
But that’s off topic.
The point is. I’m sure that there are people who have come out of the closet and are genuinely gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender, but for those of you who aren’t: if we fight so hard to make it possible for all people to have right to freedom of speech, and if we all long to be in fact, free, why give up the opportunity?
If you’re secretly straight, I challenge you – be bold! Come out of the closet.
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