Anderson Cooper coming out as Gay and its impact for us

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I know its somewhat of a stretch...but Anderson Cooper ( CNN host) coming out of the closet with being Gay has really struck me. I have been dealing with the topic of disclosure for some time now with Aspergers within the workplace. I was struck by what Anderson Cooper said: "that … the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible. There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand."


I wonder what peoples thoughts are on the similarities with disclosure when it comes to big personal issues like this.

There are still many closed minded and hypocritical people in the world. The decision to come out as whatever has consequences, but also shows the person coming out to be one with courage and conviction.

Wow, I didn't even know that he came out as gay. Well good for him.

I guess for me personally it doesn't really matter. I don't really care if he is gay or straight.
I am, however, not really big on PDA in general. So when people publicly come out about being gay, im just like .. TMI.

Being aspie isn't like being gay. If you really feel the need to compare it to an American civil rights issue, it's more like being black. You can't usually hide it. In fact, it's not like being black, either. I don't think that a black person has ever had the experience of everyone else suspecting that they are black even though they haven't figured it out themselves.

It makes no real difference. Being gay is not really as much of a negative as it once was and to most people it elicits a giant "Who cares!" response. Plus, to me anyways, it is sort of a choice. You may not be able to choose who you are attracted to, but you can choose how you will deal with those feelings.

I thought he was too good looking to be straight!

But yeah, what he did is a good thing. Of course, he's in the position to come out as anything because he's older, has tons of money, and it doesn't matter what others think. It's the kids in the schoolyard with no support that has to hide their sexuality. It's the kid walking home from school who gets picked on and has no one to run to that could protect him. It's the kid who gets his sexual activity secretly videotaped in the dorm, then the video gets thrown up on the internet. It's the one who live in neighborhoods with ignorant people and ignorant family members who have nowhere to turn to for support. Those are the ones AC is asking awareness for. I commend him.