Best. Gay. Decade. Ever. (December 23, 2009)

COMING OUT IS STILL A BIG DEAL, BUT THINGS HAVE CHANGED
If Adam Lambert proved nothing else, it's that the sexual orientation of celebrities still matters. Hence all of the intense speculation by gay and straight folks while Adam sang his heart out on American Idol.

But remember the similar controversy that erupted during the first season of AI back in 2002 when Jim Verraros' online journal mentioning he was gay suddenly disappeared? And how about the rumors that dogged Clay Aiken pretty much from the first moment he competed in the second season up until he finally came out in 2008?

Those same rumors swirled around Adam as well, but unlike the gay-baiting which had flowed fairly freely during the previous seasons of AI, the homophobic jokes pretty much dried up on the show and it was clear that both Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell were very much pulling for Adam.

Additionally, the discussion about Adam's sexuality also took place in the mainstream — including an EW cover — and unlike with past contestants, the buzz about Adam possibly being gay didn't seem to hinder him at all. Indeed, it even gave him a certain cachet and made him the most talked about AI contestant by far.

And unlike poor Clay who denied, denied, denied for years, Kris Allen had barely been named the winner before we knew Glambert was going to officially come out on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Even more significant, the twenty-seven-year old Lambert had never really been in the closet as anyone who saw the pictures online of him macking with another guy could attest. The only reason the issue hadn't come up sooner was because by the time anyone cared enough to ask the question about Adam's sexuality, AI rules didn't allow the contestants to do any solo interviews for that portion of the competition lest they have an unfair advantage when it came to the voting.

And now we have the very talented, very out and very out spoken Lambert making countless year end best lists and racking up all kinds of honors including being named our Musician of the Year. Consequently, I'd say it's pretty much impossible not to conclude that when it comes to coming out publicly, things are much better now then they were ten years ago.

Next page! Which celebrity's coming out had the biggest impact this decade? Me? No, I came out way back in the 90s! Oh, you said Neil? Sorry...