HomoQuotable - Nathaniel Frank

"Any step a gay person takes to hide their identity that they wouldn't take to hide the fact that they're, say, Irish, vegetarian or left-handed is probably not a neutral quest for privacy but reflects their own doubt about just how OK it is to be gay. Foster's reluctance to just pull an Ellen ('Yep, I'm gay'), and her tortured speech, with its resentful tone and its ultimate avoidance of the 'L' word, made being gay and coming out seem tortured things in themselves.

"Still, gay people are born with the unique burden of disclosure, one that is supremely unfair. Coming out is never just a single act but a constant obligation if one is to assure that people don't assume that they're straight. We're always encountering new people who won't know, hence stuffing us back into the closet and reimposing the burden of coming out. And for years the world has berated and punished us not only for being gay but for being honest. [snip]  How hard it is to get it perfect. If there's one thing LGBT people should agree on, it's the importance of compassion, and of not bullying our own." - Nathaniel Frank, writing for the Huffington Post.