But for years, Collins, who came out with the simple line “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay,” was so guarded about his sexual orientation that he even kept it hidden from his ex-fiancée, former WNBA player Carolyn Moos.

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Broussard went on to accuse Collins of not being Christian and "walking in open rebellion to God":

Personally, I don’t believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an openly, like premarital sex between heterosexuals. If you’re openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits. It says that, you know, that’s a sin. If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, whatever it maybe, I believe that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. So I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I don’t think the bible would characterize them as a Christian.

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In the letter, Paulk admits that "many things" in his life changed during his time at Focus on the Family, though his sexual orientation did not.

He goes on to write:

So in 2003, I left the public ministry and gave up my role as a spokesman for the “ex-gay movement.” I began a new journey. In the decade since, my beliefs have changed. Today, I do not consider myself “ex-gay” and I no longer support or promote the movement. Please allow me to be clear: I do not believe that reparative therapy changes sexual orientation; in fact, it does great harm to many people.

I know that countless people were harmed by things I said and did in the past,

Parents, families, and their loved ones were negatively impacted by the notion of reparative therapy and the message of change. I am truly, truly sorry for the pain I have caused.

From the bottom of my heart I wish I could take back my words and actions that caused anger, depression, guilt and hopelessness. In their place I want to extend love, hope, tenderness, joy and the truth that gay people are loved by God.

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Carriker responded that whoever this player is, he will need to feel welcomed in the locker room first and foremost. And more than just his teammates, the NFL's first openly gay player will need support from league veterans:

Odds are somebody out there in the big wide world of the NFL is gay. It’s tough to come out with these things. If somebody comes out, I think it’s going to depend on the locker room. There are certain locker rooms that have veteran leadership more so than others.

And if the player turns out to be a Redskin? "I don’t think it would be a big deal. We have a lot of veteran good guys... good veteran leadership on this team," Carriker said.

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Agema returned to Facebook this weekend to respond to a GOP petition calling for a more inclusive party. According to a release from Grand Traverse County Republican precinct delegate Dennis Lennox, Agema joined the thread and posted: "The real issue is the homosexual community is pushing same-sex marriage which will be taught in schools as an alternative lifestyle."

Another delegate responded: "Our point is that it is one thing to articulate your values but another to be mean about them. Virtuous decorum is symbolic of a principled man of integrity. Let’s keep the smut on the sidelines."

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The advocacy group is known for leading campaigns directed at celebrities. In this case, that meant lobbying Jepsen and Train (who'd already dropped out of the Jamboree) to cancel their plans to appear in protest of the Scouts' policies disallowing gay scouts and scoutmasters.

The Jamboree is a major, logistically complex event held periodically -- the last "Jambo," in 2010, featured an appearance by the secretary of defense, while George W. Bush gave a speech at the Jamboree in 2005.

Contrasting that to the angry reception a taped message from Barack Obama got in 2010, below, the general political outlook of the Boy Scouts is clear. (In the Scouts' defense, Obama had skipped the event, while Bush showed up.)

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I’m as interested in gin parties as the next person — and why, if Julian Fellowes is so keen to show us roaring London, has he refused to let one of the Crawley girls have some fun? — but not when the person going to them is some random character dropped in from a crappy screenplay treatment of one of Evelyn Waugh’s lesser comedic novels. It’s the season finale! Lady Mary has not had a decent storyline since the very first episode of the season. She couldn’t have been making like a Mitford on the London social scene these past few months? Last week Daisy got offered a whole other career. What did she do about it? Who knows! Let’s check in on this Rose character instead!

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But how much better? That's a little more complicated.

Researchers analyzed data collected from 4,135 teens and young adults in England over seven years and found that more than half of those who self-identified as gay reported being bullied at the beginning of the study, with 57 percent of girls and 52 percent of boys reporting being harassed. But that number dropped to 9 percent for gay and bisexual boys and 6 percent for lesbian and bisexual girls by the study's end in 2010.

These numbers are a clear indicator that peer harassment lessens over time -- and that's really good news -- but the study also reveals that things are far from perfect after high school, particularly for gay males. Researchers found that gay men were still bullied four times as often as heterosexual males well into adulthood.

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Various commentators have already pointed out the similarities between the Te’o affair and other information-age scams, from the film-turned-TV show-turned-verb “Catfish” to the story of JT LeRoy, a purported transgender teen genius from Appalachia who turned out to be an adult female New York writer named Laura Albert. And it’s not as if Tuiasosopo was the first man in history to pose as a woman in order to seduce another man – or, on a more theoretical level, to blur the boundaries of sexual orientation. Just looking at recent culture, you have “M. Butterfly” and “The Crying Game,” not to mention the profusion of transgender or “shemale” pornography, which deliberately confuses heterosexual and homosexual desire and is primarily consumed by nominally straight men.

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How did the NFL create the most high-profile (and probably most important post-election year) stage for gay issues? Just this week, former 49er Kwame Harris was outed after a domestic violence dispute with his ex-boyfriend. And today, Connor Barwin, Houston Texans' popular "hipster" linebacker, is set to become the latest high-profile jock announcing his support for gay rights through Athlete Ally, joining Ayanbadejo and a group of other straight athletes  including Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings and Sean Avery, formerly of hockey's New York Rangers.

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It's back. And it's awful.

The measure still prohibits elementary and middle school teachers from discussing sexual activity that is not related to “natural human reproduction” or even acknowledging that homosexuality exists, but new language in the bill would require school officials to tell parents when students are -- or might be -- gay:

The general assembly recognizes that certain subjects are particularly sensitive and are, therefore, best explained and discussed within the home. Because of its complex societal, scientific, psychological, and historical implications, human sexuality is one such subject. Human sexuality is best understood by children with sufficient maturity to grasp its complexity and implications...

A school counselor, nurse, principal or assistant principal from counseling a student who is engaging in, or who may be at risk of engaging in, behavior injurious to the physical or mental health and well-being of the student or another person; provided, that wherever possible such counseling shall be done in consultation with the student’s parents or legal guardians. Parents or legal guardians of students who receive such counseling shall be notified as soon as practicable that such counseling has occurred.

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The news was met with cheers from scouts across the country who have been banned from the organization after coming out, but many conservative and religious leaders are angry about what they see as the organization abandoning its long-standing commitment to biblical principles.

"If that is what the leadership is doing, then I think it will be a sad day in the life of the Boy Scouts of America," Fred Luter, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, told the Baptist Press. "This is a tradition that so many of us across the country grew up in. We were in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in elementary school, and this organization has always stood for biblical principles -- all the things that grounded our lives as a young kid growing up. To now see this organization that I thought stood on biblical principles about to give in to the politically correct thing is very disappointing."

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Harris is said to have beaten Dimitri Geier after Geier poured soy sauce over a plate of rice. The pair left the restaurant, after which point Geier's suit claims that the former NFL player pulled down his dining companion's pants and began shaking and punching him.

Harris has been charged with domestic violence and assault.

Deadspin points out that Harris' sexuality has long been whispered about; the NFL has yet to have an openly gay active player, and, indeed, Harris has not acknowledged his sexuality. It's a particularly uncomfortable way to be outed -- as, given the nature of the incident, there's no skating around whether or not Geier or Harris might have been "friends." (It's rather akin to the allegations against John Travolta last year, in which lawsuits against the star by male masseuses, later dismissed, forced the public to at least consider that which the star had always managed to previously dismiss.)

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The new policy, if adopted, would eliminate the ban from the national organization's official rules, but leave local chapters and sponsoring organizations to decide whether or not to admit gay members.

And this uneven application of inclusivity will be a problem for the organization. In fact, it already is.

Just this week, a Maryland chapter of the Boy Scouts was recently forced to drop an anti-discrimination charter by a regional council, issuing the following statement:

“Due to pressure from the National Capital Area Council of BSA, Pack 442 was forced to remove its Non-Discrimination statement in order to keep our Charter (set to expire Jan 31^st). This Non-Discrimination statement, previously posted here, welcomed ALL families.”

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Approved by a vote of 388-1-1, the law -- pushed by the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church -- would make public events and sharing "propaganda" about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community with minors punishable by fines of up to $16,000.

The legislative definition of propaganda is exceedingly broad, and could mean anything from television shows with gay characters to two women kissing on a street corner. Also on the list? Madonna and Lady Gaga. As reported by Reuters:

Anti-gay propaganda laws are already in place in Arkhangelsk, Novosibirsk and St Petersburg, Putin's home city, where it was used unsuccessfully to sue American singer Madonna for $10 million for promoting gay love during a concert last year.

Although a court rejected that case, a local politician from Putin's ruling Untied Russia party has said he is taking similar action against another singer, Lady Gaga, who is also a defender of lesbian and gay rights.

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“It’s not like I was asking for something that was vulgar or over the top,” Gilbert told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Denying someone the right to put 'gay' on their tag, that’s political. If I want I could get a tag that said 'straight man,' but because it had 'gay' on it, it’s not available.”

Georgia allows other forms of political and religious speech on their plates, like JESUS4U, which Gilbert's lawyers argue is the state favoring one political belief or philosophy over another. All states have a "blue list" of vanity plates that contain banned words, phrases or letter and number combinations, but they vary widely, and are mostly left to the processing agent's discretion.

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“It was really well-written!”

This is the damning charge leveled at Hannah's essay in this second installment of our second season — tragically, by Sandy, the perfect partner who we now learn is less-than-perfectly attentive and, perhaps consequently, a Republican. After a season of fighting for self-expression, Hannah and her girlfriends have learned that self-expression is wonderful, until someone actually notices what you're expressing.

Sandy saying that Hannah's essay “isn't for me,” that damn lacking even faint praise, is the least of it. Marnie, out on the job market, finds her Ann Taylor suits and Revlon-ready features are a complete liability in the art world. (“Where do you ... get a suit like that?” one job interviewer asks.) Jessa's artistry has been entirely stymied by her new, emotionally fulfilling life. (“I'm not used to painting someone I love,” she tells her shirtless, posing husband.) And, unfortunately, Hannah's “open dialogue” with Sandy about her writing quickly spreads into an open dialogue about how they actually see each other. When Hannah decides their political differences are too vast a crevasse for her to bridge, Sandy tells she's the typical white girl who moves to the city and decides to date a black guy. (Finger quotes.) Hannah flies back with the familiar-sounding,“It's ironic, because I never thought about the fact that you were black. I don't live in a world with divisions like that.”

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"How to Survive a Plague" is a nonfiction film — nominated for the best documentary feature Oscar — that depicts the early years of the fight against AIDS, specifically the activism undertaken by groups like the radical movement ACT UP to get attention from an establishment more comfortable turning a blind eye.

There's little enviable, it would seem, in their life-or-death fight. And certainly the environment today for gay men — who enjoy all the comforts straight people presume and enjoy in some parts of the country — is far friendlier. And yet there was a political galvanization during those years, at least judging by the kiss-ins and screaming denunciations of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch in "Plague," that is lacking today.

"When I think about the parallels, the differences — people do have a lot more inside access and everybody’s not going to die. [Causes today are] not going to generate the same enthusiasm," said Siciliano.

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