HomoQuotable - Josh Barro

"There are a lot of teenagers for whom, unlike Will Portman or me, coming out entails risk of familial rejection, homelessness and violence. There is a reason organizations such as the Ali Forney Center, which provides housing and support to homeless LGBT youth in New York City, need to exist. Making public policy less anti-gay will help these youth but arguably more importantly, demands for social acceptance of gays and lesbians at the elite level trickle down into mass attitudes and make it less likely that families will reject their gay children in the first place.

"At least half the members of the Senate still oppose gay marriage, and they are, by and large, a fecund bunch. That means there are more Will Portmans out there waiting to announce themselves. Republican Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who appallingly once took to the Senate floor with a photograph of his 20 children and grandchildren to brag that there are no gays in his family, might well have gay descendants that he doesn’t even know about. They owe it to the rest of us to follow Will Portman’s example and make their existence known." - Bloomberg economics writer Josh Barro, saying that Will Portman wasn't necessarily brave to come out to his father, but instead fulfilled his obligation to other gay kids.