First, let me preface this post. This is not meant to offend, condone, proselytize, or make fun of the gay lifestyle. It is simply hopefully discussion provoking commentary, please treat it as such.

Only because I promised a long long time ago to occasionally write about celebrity news do I mention this. Clay Aiken, in the latest edition of People magazine, has affirmed that yes, he is gay. Now this will come as no shocker to 99.99% of the population over 16 years old, but I can imagine his revelation has broken the heart of many a “clay-mate.”

Why would he do this (this is where I tie this thought  to ticketing). Ticket sales for his concerts had been on a downward trend since 2006. He’s recently announced that he’s re-joining Spamalot on Broadway. His career has morphed and his new career will not suffer from this revelation. In fact, it will likely bolster his Broadway fan base significantly. Smart money says his handlers finally gave him the go-ahead for Clay to be Clay.

Ok so Clay was no shock. But I thought this would be a good time to look at five other celebrities who are probably gay, but just not at the point in their careers when they can reveal it yet.

1.      Shepard Smith (broadcaster) – The rumor mill was hot a few months ago that Shep is gay, but the most telling evidence is that when asked about his private life in a Playboy magazine article, Shep responded that he doesn’t” talk about those things.” Really? Seems like pretty straightforward question: “Do you prefer males or females?”

2.      Britney Spears (singer) – She’s kind of a train wreck but seems to be getting her priorities together as of late. Unlike Lindsay Lohan, who is using who-cares-if-they’re-true rumors of her sexuality to stoke the ashes of her dwindling career, Brit will come out soon and announce that she does, in fact, look forward to a lifetime of “putting a Madonna” on more females.

3.      Justin Timberlake and The rest of N Sync (singers, actors) –Come on guys, Lance came out, you can too. Lance Bass came out in a People magazine interview in 2006 and enraged the GLBT community with his use of the term “straight acting gays.”  

4.      Matthew McConaughey (actor, musician)-  Wow, I will catch some flack for this one., but let me present my case. First, he’s not married. Sure, he’s dated the likes of Sandra Bullock, Kate Hudson, and Penelope Cruz.  He’s even got a baby with a Brazilian supermodel. I have one word for you : beards. Let’s not forget also Matthew’s much publicized naked bongo party in Austin. What was not publicized as widely is that he was dancing around naked playing the bongos with a dude (Cole Hauser). I have a lot of good friends, I play a mean bongo, and I have a few drinks from time to time, but there has never been a time when I thought the three should mesh into a naked dancefest.

5.      Tom Cruise (actor) – So much effort has been put forth into convincing the world that Tom is not gay, we have no choice but to believe otherwise. From the barrage of gay-related lawsuits, to the twisted bizarre marriage to Katie Holmes, the evidence is significant. Ask yourself this: why was it easy to believe Tom was a vampire but it is so hard to believe his marriage is real? Answer: His acting was better in the vampire movie.   I have thoughts on why Tom can’t come out, but won’t say them for fear of offending (why start now, right?). I will say that I think it has nothing to do with his career as an actor. And I will leave it at that.

I could go on- there are probably three or four noted country singers, a few pro football and basketball players, and more than one prominent political figure we could add to this list. Who do you think will be next?