Over the years there have been a number of celebrities who have been rumored to be lesbians. Let's be honest, I think many of us enjoy playing who is and who is not. However, I have noticed that after reading numerous rumors over the years - or perhaps it was they grew older and more powerful in their careers - many of those rumored to be lesbians eventually come out. Here are a few I can recall:

Lily Tomlin [Various] -- Lily is an interesting woman. She has come out a couple of times over the past few years - daring to use the word gay, but only at GLBT events with a GLBT crowd. So, the word has rarely gotten out to the straight media until the Genre interview this past December.

Martina Navratilova [1980] -- At the expense of losing endorsement contracts, Martina declared her bisexuality to the media in 1980. 1991 brought the painful separation from her partner of eight years, Judy Nelson, ending with an unpleasant suit, followed and reported in detail by the American media.

k.d. lang [1992] -- K.D. finally came out in an interview with The Advocate in 1992. "I think coming out helped a lot for me personally, because living in honesty and living open, and in truth is an amazing feeling and I highly recommend it for anyone. No matter what you're hiding, just let it go."

Melissa Etheridge [1993] -- At the Clinton Presidential inaugural celebration in January of 1993, Melissa came out publicly. Her relationship with Julie Cypher made them America's most popular lesbian couple - unseated four years later by Ellen and Anne.

Chastity Bono [1996] -- Daughter of Sonny Bono and Cher, Chastity faced rumors outing her as a lesbian in The Star in December, 1990. Although her famous parents knew of her sexual orientation, Chastity and the family continued to deny the rumors for five more years. In November, 1996, Chastity was named Media Director for GLAAD.

Ellen DeGeneres [1997] -- Ellen came out with flair both in her self-titled television show and personally in 1997. Though the ratings and response she received personally was positive, Disney withdrew its support and the show died a slow death. Until their break-up in 2000, Ellen and Anne [Heche] were America's most popular lesbian couple.

Billie Jean King [1998] -- Billie Jean finally came out in an Advocate interview in August 1998. King was first outed by her angry female lover, Marilyn Barnett in 1981. Fearful of losing her endorsement contracts, King denied the allegations as an "isolated incident."

Liz Smith [2000] -- In her new autobiography, Who's Talking Now? released in September, 2000, Liz finally publicly outed herself as bisexual.

Prior to most celebrity outings, there are typically rumors in the tabloids. As personal situations heat up, the rumors become more telling, until finally these women were left with no choice but to come out.

Is it wrong? Well, when one considers that the media reports on every aspect of a celebrity's life, it seems wrong to treat homosexuality as a skeleton in the closet, or different in some way than how they treat heterosexual relationships. If it is no one's business, then perhaps all gossip or information about personal relationships should be off-limits to the media.

So... Who will be coming out next? The answer lays in finding out who is surrounded by today's rumors.

Until next time...