Trend Alert: Coming Out of the Closet

How is a gay to achieve his lofty aspirations when, every Thursday, there is some New York Times trend piece dead set on raising the bar that much higher? (So what if I'm not big in Japan and can't afford Oliver Goldsmith glasses?!)

But. This just in from The Atlantic. A new trend that everyone can participate in: coming out! In "How Coming Out Became Cool for Celebrities," writer Alyssa Rosenberg highlights the trend of famous people coming out, which is something a lot of us are already ahead of the curve on (minus a multimillion-dollar People cover deal).

Recent examples cited in the piece include Chely Wright, Clay Aiken, Neil Patrick Harris, Chaz Bono, and Out's own cover boy, Michael Irvin, who spoke about his gay brother in our August issue (let's not forget Geri Jewell, people!).

Particular attention is given to Anderson Cooper, who is rumored to come out on his talk show in February. Even though, at this point, this forecast has the same credibility as the boy who cried wolf, Rosenberg posits that Cooper may use the event as a ratings booster. While we understand that, more recently than not, celebrity comings out are leveraged for career reboots, would anyone be even remotely eager to hear Cooper confirm what many already have? Or does his coming-out still have clout? "[I]f he's treating his own coming out story like a commodity rather than a personal journey," writes Rosenberg, "we can act like educated consumers, deciding whether he's setting a positive example or profiting off his safe distance from real-world homophobia."

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