There Is Only One Way to Come Out On a Magazine Cover
We're still reeling from the bombshell news that singer Clay Aiken is gay. We keep returning to the picture of his revelatory People magazine cover and pleading to unknowable gods for an answer. Why??? And— Wait a second. Haven't we seen this picture before? The cocked head, the casual yet frank declaration, the curious hair? Um, yes! Yes we have. On NSYNCer Lance Bass's People cover two years ago and comedian Ellen DeGeneres' big Time cover ten years ago. Same exact head position, nearly the same hair, and Clay and Ellen even have that little extra "Yes" or "Yep"—that same sheepish sense of "yeah, I know you knew, I'm just sayin' so it's out there and all." Bass didn't get one of those folksy affirmatives because, we suspect, he was still laboring under the illusion that people weren't sure about his sexuality. Or maybe People magazine was. Gay rumors dogged him, to be sure, but not in the same way that they followed DeGeneres and Aiken. So is this the way to come out on magazines? I mean, straight dudes would never do that head tilt, right? Oh, and where in the heck is Lindsay Lohan's cover?