Large Lance

I seem to have underestimated the popularity or celebrity of Lance Bass. I basically consider him a flash in the pan and just one of many boys in boy bands to be largely forgotten, if ever widely noticed.

And the whole "I'm gay!" thing on the cover of People seemed to be big coverage of a non-story. (Anyone else find the layout to have a strange similarity to Ellen's coming out issue? I suppose Lancey wasn't Time material. I don't suppose anyone who reads Time would know who he is. And let's face it, Time and People readership don't have a lot of cross-cover, except in the check-out line.)

But the response among the teen set has been huge. And with the exception of the poor brainwashed kids in Ruralsville, Redstate who misquote the Old Testament, the response has been extremely supportive. And some have even written to a variety of Web sites to say how much this has inspired them to either be more supportive of gay kids in their schools, or to come out themselves. MTV online has reported on the quantity and substance of the comments to their "You Tell Us" Web feature.

But these teen/former teen responses sorta scare me. For example:

"As an 'NSYNC fan for eight years — literally half my life — I was shocked when I heard the news, and I did cry. But even while I was crying, I knew I loved Lance all the same, just in a different way now. I support him completely, and as much as I admired him before, I respect him immeasurably now."

or

"It is a little jarring to see someone I had a major crush on when I was in junior high come out of the closet..."

Really? Did people actually have major crushes on Lance Bass?

Huh.

However, I am not alone in finding all of this hubbub funny. So far my favorite headline is from the British blog Heckler Spray: "Justin Timberlake Pleased About Gay Lance Bass".

As Helena says, "C'mon y'all, that's funny."

Heckler Spray writes:

All the former members of 'N Sync have issued statements praising the courage that Lance Bass has shown by telling the world that he was gay a full five years after anyone had even thought about buying an 'N Sync record. Well, we say 'all of 'N Sync', but only Justin Timberlake and Joey Fatone seem to have actually done it. There were other members of 'N Sync, right?