Another Menudo Member Comes Out!

There's (At Least!) One In Every Boy band.

Angelo Garcia, once the youngest-ever member of Menudo and a bandmate of Ricky Martin's, has come out as gay in the pages of the June 8th issue of "TV Notas".

In the piece, he says he's never been closeted: "I'm very honest about who I am, but I don't like labels...people need to understand that someone's sexuality doesn't make the person. I'm more than that, a son, brother a musician..." But I believe he is confirming his identity publicly for the first time on the heels of appearing nude in the gay magazine, ParagonMen.

He says he wasn't surprised when Ricky Martin came out, though he never saw Martin with a man or woman and assumed he was asexual (and no, they never "messed around together as he was 10 when Martin was 18, y'all). Martin had his own private room apart from the others.

Garcia theorizes their manager might have thought Martin was gay and kept him from his impressionable bandmates, or Martin may have had a private room as a perk since he was the eldest Menudo.

As for his dating life, Garcia confirms he has been with famous actors...but coyly won't name names since they're not out. He is currently in a relationship.

In case you were wondering, Garcia is still an active performer (and obviously a bodybuilder who thinks too much of a good thing is never enough—wow).

For Gay Celebs, 'Out' Is A Matter Of Definition

Anna Paquin, who is engaged to her 'True Blood' co-star Stephen Moyer, has explained the thinking behind her surprise decision to come out as bisexual in a gay rights public service announcement this April.

"I'm not someone who endlessly talks about her personal life for no reason, but obviously, as someone who identifies as bisexual, those are issues I really care about," she told Zap2it on Tuesday. "It wasn't like it was a big secret. It was just a cause I cared about and privately supported, but not one that I had ever had an opportunity to speak out about in a way that would be useful."

In a year of coming out stories, some more surprising than others (Sean Hayes, Ricky Martin, Chely Wright), Paquin's case casts light on the constantly shifting politics of how we view celebrities and sexuality.

Like celebrity pregnancies, the matter of whether a gay star is "out of the closet" or not is one of those things that should be black-and-white, but isn't. If a star is openly gay among friends and family but hasn't issued a press release, are they considered "out"?

For years, Neil Patrick Harris occupied that middle ground that so confounds journalists who want to stick a label on people. He would attend public events with his boyfriend, but given that they stubbornly refused to have the word "gay" tattooed on their foreheads, it was hard to know what to call the relationship in print.

Reporters are in a similar situation right now with a prominent singer and actress that often goes to media events with the same lady by her side. But because there has been no press release, respectable outlets will not report what seems to be the blatantly obvious conclusion: That the couple is in a public lesbian relationship. (Needless to say, many blogs and tabloids do not exercise that restraint.)

So are relationships like that, to use Paquin's words, "a big secret"? Hardly anyone was surprised when Ricky Martin came out as a "fortunate homosexual man," but that didn't mean the press could call him that before he made his statement. (In 1956, Liberace successfully sued the London Daily Mirror for implying that he was gay. He won $22,000 in damages because the paper called him "fruit-flavored.")

Clearly, celebrities feel more comfortable coming out in 2010 because it is not the career-ending revelation that it would have been for an earlier generation of stars, like Montgomery Clift (who never came out) and Tab Hunter (who did). However, even gay-rights supporters would probably agree that the world is not yet ready to accept a publicly gay actor playing a heterosexual romantic lead in a Hollywood blockbuster. Sean Hayes's credibility was recently questioned by a Newsweek reporter (who is also gay) for playing straight in a Broadway musical.

From a journalist's perspective (at least this journalist, who is gay), sexuality should be reported on as merely a fact, like marital status or hair color or whether they own a dog. However, a rising star who could potentially lose an eight-figure paycheck if he or she were disqualified from a leading role would reasonably look at the matter differently.

The only thing which is certain is that attitudes toward gay celebrities are changing to be more tolerant. Perhaps the next generation's Anna Paquin won't have to do a PSA about gay rights, because it won't be necessary.

Drew Barrymore Praises Ricky Martin for 'Coming Out'

Drew Barrymore has praised singer Ricky Martin for opening up about his sexuality - insisting his admission will help other celebrities 'come out'.

The Livin' La Vida Loca hitmaker ended years of speculation about his love life last month by revealing he's a "proud homosexual".

And the Charlie's Angels actress has applauded Martin for his honesty, as she believes his story will help other gay stars feel accepted.

She tells Access Hollywood, "My lofty goal in this world is that we can live in a world that doesn’t judge each other, I just want people to be able to live their lives that are true to them. I celebrate what (Ricky) is doing because we have to create a world for each other where acceptance is first and foremost.”

And Barrymore is not the only celebrity to back Martin - openly gay singer Adam Lambert has also voiced his support for the Latino star.

He says, "It’s great to see people like (Ricky) feeling liberated to come out and come forward, and hopefully it will open the door wide open for more and more people to be comfortable with who they are.”

Actress Sofia Vergara adds, "It shouldn’t be an issue any more, but it’s hard to change things. He’s fantastic.”

Colin Firth Says Gay Actors Take a Risk

Colin Firth has suggested that there are "invisible boundaries" preventing out gay actors from taking leading roles.

Firth, a straight actor who played a gay man in Tom Ford's directorial debut A Single Man, said he felt "complicit" in the problem of gay actors losing out on parts.

Speaking at the UK premiere of the film last night, he said: "There might be risks for a gay actor coming out. The politics of that are quite complex, it seems to me.

"If you're known as a straight guy, playing a gay role, you get rewarded for that. If you're a gay man and you want to play a straight role, you don't get cast – and if a gay man wants to play a gay role now, you don't get cast.

"I think it needs to be addressed and I feel complicit in the problem. I don't mean to be. I think we should all be allowed to play whoever – but I think there are still some invisible boundaries which are still uncrossable."

Firth made similar comments in December, when he said that "sexual taboos" in Hollywood were constraining gay actors.

Out gay actor Rupert Everett said in the same month that he would advise ambitious gay actors to stay in the closet.

He said: "The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the British film business or the American film business or even the Italian film business."

Firth has been tipped for an Oscar nomination for his role as gay college professor George Falconer in A Single Man. He won the best actor award for the performance at the Venice Film Festival last year.

Ford, better known as a fashion designer, has said his debut film is about "love and isolation", rather than being a "gay story".

Tribute to a Gay Soap Star: James Mitchell … aka Palmer Cortlandt of “All My Children”

While reading the obituary on actor James Mitchell in the LA Times, there were plenty of surprises to his "All My Children" fan.

The man who played the gruff patriarch Palmer Cortlandt for more than three decades on ABC’s All My Children was 89 years old! He also had the lead roles on Broadway musicals including Paint Your Wagon, Billion Dollar Baby, Brigadoon and Bloomer Girl. James also toured with Chita Rivera in The Three Penny Opera. He had many movie roles including The Turning Point, The Band Wagon, Oklahoma and Deep in My Heart.

And the most importantly surprise was that we did not know he was gay!

On the obituary, at the end of the second paragraph, it attributes the information about his death last Friday to his longtime partner Albert Wolsky.

Mitchell’s last All My Children appearance was earlier this month on the show’s 40th anniversary episode which was taped sometime in December. Palmer was gruff on the outside and could be quite a ruthless schemer in days gone by, but at the core of it was a deep love for his family.

All My Children fans may recall when he first came on the show as the over-controlling father of the beautiful Nina. Once she finally got a life of her own, and moved away, he had a lovely remarriage to Daisy (Nina’s mom) then a terrible one to Cynthia and also marriages to Donna and Opal.

May "Palmer Cortlandt" rest in peace.