As anyone who is gay will confirm, being that way is not something you become, it is a set of emotional and physical responses that just are.

Coming out involves varying degrees of difficulty that are affected by class, race, religion, and geography.

It was a pleasure to be a gay eyesore.

Perhaps there is no agony worse than the tedium I experienced waiting for Something to Happen.

Gay culture is surviving and thriving. Some activists believe the recent rise in homophobic violence might be a gauge of the success of positive gay images.

As I was coming out of the closet, our car was hurtling over an embankment.

David Bowie and Boy George created a safely contained theatrical expression of gay style.

I am now faced with mortality. Definitely not the most generous move.

I believed I was invincible.

I had been found in a mud puddle at 4:30 in the morning.

I wore a woman's antique fur jacket to my high school junior prom.

My gayness became quietly accepted and, shock of all shocks, life went on.

My reasons for declaring a sexual preference had to do less with the pursuit of personal freedom than with the lust for pure shock value.

One result of An American Family was that I became a gay role model.

Proclaiming a sexual preference is something that straight men never really have to bother with.

Sexuality is a private matter; some believe that broadcasting it destroys the very things that make it sacred.

Coming out is a means of redefining oneself, of claiming membership in a lifestyle and a social order with distinct values. Chief among these values is honesty.

If there is a gay uniform, the differences are in how each man coordinates the details: the brand and cut of the jeans, the design of belts and boots, the haircut, the number and size of earrings.

When you've grown sick of reading and bug-eyed from watching TV, when your friends are all visited out, no words can adequately praise the link to the outside world provided by your parents and family.