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"I have long respected Anderson Cooper as a journalist and public figure, a man who has established himself as a serious person without ever becoming overly serious about himself--and a famous person who has steadfastly refused to compromise his privacy.In total keeping with his character, Anderson has just--eloquently, on his own terms, and with an eye towards the greater good--come out as a gay man. The Daily Beast has Cooper&amp;#x27;s full statement, which isn&amp;#x27;t so much a statement as it is a response to a reporter. But it&amp;#x27;s graceful, and thought-provoking, and absolutely worth a read beyond the takeaway line of &amp;quot;The fact is, I&amp;#x27;m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn&amp;amp;#8217;t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.&amp;quot; Because while Anderson clearly wrote this knowing, as a journalist, that that would be the headline, there&amp;#x27;s much more to what he&amp;#x27;s saying--and it speaks exactly to why we find him so exemplary. He writes: &amp;quot;[I]&amp;amp;#8217;ve begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle. It&amp;amp;#8217;s become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something - something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true.&amp;quot; And he concludes that &amp;quot;The tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible.&amp;quot; This says so much about Anderson: his willingness to put others before himself, his ability to re-examine and change his own opinions, and his devotion to progress. Those qualities--not to mention the fact that he&amp;#x27;s got the best laugh in the whole world and, oh yeah, did we mention that he has a talk show and didn&amp;#x27;t save this news for a ratings stunt?--are the real reasons that, when Anderson writes &amp;quot;I am loved,&amp;quot; we humbly count ourselves among those who make him feel that way. What do you think of this news? More celeb news... Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes: A Look Back at the Whirlwind Romance, High-Profile Marriage and, Of Course, Couch-Jumping Adele Is Pregnant!!!! (Yes, I Really Did Need All Those Exclamation Points!) We Have the Video for Whitney Houston&amp;#x27;s Last Song with Jordin Sparks--You&amp;#x27;ll Laugh, Cry and Want to &amp;quot;Celebrate!&amp;quot; Photo: Wikimedia Commons, YouTube"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2012/07/why-we-love-anderson-cooper-in>