CNN reporter Anderson Cooper has come out publicly. He did so in an e-mail to Andrew Sullivan. The whole letter is worth reading, but to me this is the quote worth sharing:

I have always been very open and honest about this part of my life with my friends, my family, and my colleagues. In a perfect world, I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business, but I do think there is value in standing up and being counted. I’m not an activist, but I am a human being and I don’t give that up by being a journalist.

It shouldn’t be news that a person who is in the public eye is gay. It shouldn’t be something they feel they have to conceal out of professional or personal fear. It shouldn’t be worth thinking about any more than whether or not they’re left-handed or have hazel eyes. It isn’t anyone else’s business.

The fact that it still is and is still news is something that we may get over as more and more people feel that it doesn’t matter, it shouldn’t matter, and the people who think it matters don’t matter any more.