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One Day at a Time actor Glenn Scarpelli came out on VH1's Top 100 Greatest Teen Stars this past February. Scarpelli, who currently owns the Sedona NOW Network with his boyfriend, left the business not long after getting the career-making role on One Day at a Time.

He recently told AfterElton, “I really left acting, specifically so that I could gain some privacy and anonymity [to] explore my own sexuality. I didn't know how to be out and honest about it at that point. I love[d] acting, but it wasn't important enough to sacrifice being in love,” he says.

VH1 did not pressure Scarpelli to come out, and his coming-out received no negative press.

Why are the aftermaths of former teen idols' outings so important? Because if their wholesome reputations weren't ruined by coming out, it's a sign that Bass and future gay teen idols' standing with their fans won't be either.

England has seen more gay teen idols than America. But it hasn't all been smooth sailing for them either.

In 1999, Boyzone member Stephen Gately told the Sun he was gay, after hearing a security guard was trying to out him. The Sun actually made it seem as if Gately was just dying to confess, and they were trying to talk him out of it.

Many UK reporters supported Gately. Occasionally, however, one would make a homophobic remark, such as Tom Brown of the Daily Record, who wrote that girls “should have guessed they hadn't a chance when [Gately] said … ‘he missed his teddy bears'.”

Gately eventually left Boyzone and started a solo career. According to the Mirror, he was dumped by his label, Polydor, in 2001, due to “poor single sales.” Whether that was the real reason is debatable: One of Gately's singles reached as high as number 3 on the UK charts.

The next idol to come out was Will Young, winner of Pop Idol (the English version of American Idol). He made his announcement in 2002 to the News of the World. Being gay is “totally no big deal, just part of who I am,” he said. Young, like Gately, was pressured into making his confession.

Before he was outed, a false rumor spread that a publicist had access to one of Young's former boyfriends, who desired to out him. As another publicist told the Independent, “[The papers] could have used that [false information] to persuade Will that this was the right time [to come out].”

After Young came out, the Evening Standard noticed that he wasn't being marketed as heavily as his former Pop Idol competitor Gareth Gates, a straight male singer.

But the good news is that for the most part fans in the UK seem to have accepted gay idols.

Will Young was able to hold onto his female fans after coming out, and he continues to be popular. His latest album, Keep On, hit number 2 on the UK charts.

Boyzone band member Ronan Keating told an Internet chat group that Gately's fans “backed [Gately] 100 per cent” and that Gately's outing “has increased our fan base. We have gained more fans than we've ever had and our gay audience is bigger than ever, so it's turned out great in the end.”

Westlife singer Mark Feehily, who came out to the Sun in 2005, seemed to have the most positive experience of all. Sun reporter Victoria Newton told the Observer that she interviewed Feehily “with his full cooperation, and he was really happy with the outcome.”

A search on findarticles.com turns up few stories on Feehily's outing, suggesting it was not that controversial in England. Westlife continues to be enormously popular today.

With luck, Lance Bass will remain as popular as Feehily and Young. (Bass also has a reality/comedy hybrid in development for the fall.) But even if Bass loses his much of his popularity, he will have further paved the way for other queer teen idols to come out in the future.

That's no small thing.

Visit Chad Allen at ChadAllenOnline.com and Glen Scarpelli at SedonaNow.com

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