Coming out is a means of redefining oneself, of claiming membership in a lifestyle and a social order with distinct values. Chief among these values is honesty.

My reasons for declaring a sexual preference had to do less with the pursuit of personal freedom than with the lust for pure shock value.

I wore a woman's antique fur jacket to my high school junior prom.

If there is a gay uniform, the differences are in how each man coordinates the details: the brand and cut of the jeans, the design of belts and boots, the haircut, the number and size of earrings.

As anyone who is gay will confirm, being that way is not something you become, it is a set of emotional and physical responses that just are.

David Bowie and Boy George created a safely contained theatrical expression of gay style.

One result of An American Family was that I became a gay role model.