Is the fat one still fat?

Today's big news is that Lance Bass is coming out -- not of retirement but out of the closet. Who's Lance Bass? Lance Bass is "the gay one" from N*Sync. Aren't they all "gay ones," you might ask. In fact, no they aren't/weren't. As anyone who fell into the horribleness that was turn-of-the-century-boybandedness can attest, each member of N*Sync, in fact, has a unique identity.

• The cute one was Justin Timberlake. Still just as cute.
• The talented one was JC Chasez, my personal favorite.
• The old one was Chris Kirkpatrick. He was more than 10 years older than the youngest member. (He doesn't have a web site of his own. Hmmm.)
  
• The gay one was, of course, Lance Bass, who confirmed our near decade of suspicions.
• And, ironically enough, the fat one was Joey Fatone. How's that for self-fullfilling prophecy?

Now, Lance coming out is big news. Really, even if no one cares about him at all these days, it's still big news. Gay celebrities need to come out, especially if they are trying to pursue the "gay lifestyle" anyway. Little closeted kids seek out anything to identify with to help them understand what they are going through. If they don't have a cool gay uncle like me or Jason (Jason's Room is one of my new fave blogs), then they turn to celebrities like Ellen or Rupert, or characters on TV and in movies like Dawson's Creek's Jack, the many 'mos of the Real World, or the entire cast of the Broken Hearts Club. If they aren't exposed to those elements, then they get depserate and turn to the whack jobs that pop-up on Jerry Springer. Having an openly gay, happy with his lot in life, former pop star to identify with can only be a good thing.

Of course, this also comes back to that classic little N*Sync story from my days at Paramount.