And all I ever wanted to be will remain right here with you,,,
This morning, I woke up to my Twitter feed, in which Sean Maher came out via an EW article.
Given a larger glimpse into his personal life than ever before, the actor revealed the names of his two children with his partner of nine years, while discussing how difficult he found life 'in the closet'.
Whether it was because he's part of the Whedonverse or residual Supanova fangirling, I was literally beaming with pride as I read the article on my iPhone, wedged between commuters on the way to work.
There was an outpouring of love and support from friends, writers, colleagues, etc. - it was beautiful. But it also seems to have brought out quite a bit of negativity on Twitter and various comments boards.
Are these homophobes trying to belittle the magnitude of what he's done? Or the complete opposite, lamenting in the fact that he had to do it at all, in this day and age?
While I'd like to believe the latter, I'm not naive enough to think that society suddenly accepts homosexuality just because of recent media coverage (New York legalising gay marriage / DADT being lifted).
Regardless of whether you had already assumed this was the case (as I had), how could you deny that it was an incredibly courageous thing to do after living a sheltered life for so long?
It would be hard enough coming out to friends and family, let alone sharing it with the world - especially in an industry so reliant on public image. And when there is still a huge stigma attached - be it generational, religious or due to common bigotry.
Personally, I can't imagine discriminating against anyone based on their gender, the colour of their skin or sexual orientation. It's a concept I literally cannot grasp, it just makes no sense to me.
Obviously I'm not the best example: I said jokingly over lunch with friends the other week that my child would have to come out as 'straight' - at which point I would break down and ask how I'd failed them.
But I can't think of anything more exhausting than being an actor on and off the screen - trying to hide who you really are for the sake of society or your career. Sean Maher, you brave soul, you magnificent bastard - congratulations!