When Lance Bass announced to the world that he was gay it was a major deal. Back in August of 2006, the LGBT community had a huge hill to climb for equal rights. Although they still have a long way to go, a lot has changed in terms of equal rights. When Lance Bass’ face was splattered on the front of People magazine stating “I’m Gay” he was clueless about the LGBT community. That said, in hindsight Bass would have changed how he came out.
Talking to Wonderwall , Lance Bass, who is a prominent figure in the LGBT community now, explains that time was of the essence, and a small window was given to him back in 2006.
“Looking back on my coming out, it was definitely a different story. It was very rushed. If there was one thing that I could take back, it was how rushed it came out, but that wasn’t up to me.”
Lance Bass explained just how much he’s aware of the struggles within the community. According to Bass, this changes the way he feels about how he came out to People magazine .
“I had 24 hours to do it. I would love to have had a chance to sit down and figure out a way it could really hit in a positive way to change people’s minds [about LGBT people].”
Bass continued to explain the differences from six years ago:
“At the time, I wasn’t involved in the LGBT community and I was uneducated with what the issues were and what was going on at the time. When the story was at its height, I could’ve had some really great ammunition to support the LGBT community.”
The changes in the LGBT community are parallel to Lance Bass’ personal changes. When he came out, he was snapped with boyfriend Reichen Lehmkuhl partying it up. Now, he has settled down and is engaged to boyfriend Michael Turchin.
