I'm so tired of the "role model for younger" blah blah blah. It's not the job of the job of these people to be role models. It's the parent's job to be a role model. It's the beat cop on the corner who's a role model. It's the lady next door who lives a clean life, works hard, and always has a kind word for your child who's a role model.
Football players, actors, and any other celebrity of whichever ilk you might name have been given too much power over our kids, simply because we've forgotten how to set examples ourselves. "Stick 'em in front of the TV because I'm tired after a long day at work" etc has become the norm, to the detriment of our society.
Should "alternate lifestyle" athletes "come out"?
The decision is a very personal one, and may make their lives geometrically more difficult. As a civilian, their lives would be in a state of upheaval from such an announcement. As a celebrity, every action isn't judged based on the action alone, but by their preference in a partner. The same can be said about any of those gays or lesbians in our midst. But where celebrity is concerned, they're being judged by hundreds of millions of people. Your neighbor could simply move, and no one in their new town would know. The celebrity? Not the case at all. No. The decision is infinitely more complex where they're concerned.
Besides. What business is it of mine if he's (she's) straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual, hermaphrodidic, or whatever?
Is it really affecting their ability to do their job?
Didn't think so.