Will Claymates accept a gay Clay Aiken: How celebs fare after coming out

People
People

Not so shocking news: Clay Aiken is gay. More shocking news: he actually came out to People magazine. We're not sure exactly what the demographic is of his steadfast fans, the Claymates, but hopefully they won't bail out on him now that the new dad is a proclaimed homosexual.

"I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things," says Clay of his decision to publicly acknowledge his sexuality. "I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."

As someone who is straight, I will never know what it's like to have people judge me based on my sexual preference. What I do know is that when celebrities speak up about gay issues like Ellen, donate money to benefit gay rights like Brad and Angelina, or publicly display their gay relationship like Lindsay Lohan, it can act as a support system to other people who may be coming to terms with their own sexuality, and can hopefully open the minds of others who aren't exposed to or don't understand homosexuality.

We applaud Aiken for his bold move. We hope he follows in the path of Lance Bass, Cynthia Nixon, Rosie O'Donnell, Boy George, David Hyde Pierce, George Takei, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, Ani DiFranco, Elton John, Melissa Etheridge, Rupert Everett, Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Lane, k.d. lang, Ian McKellen, George Michael, John Cameron Mitchell, John Waters, Mario Cantone, Alan Cumming, Rufus Wainwright, the cast of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy and every other successful celebrity who made the incredible decision to be public with their sexuality, which really, isn't even any of our business.

Do you think Clay's coming out was a good move? [People]