More than a year after disclosing he is
gay on the cover of People magazine, Clay Aiken spoke out on
gay rights at a fundraiser in North Carolina. He was joined by
former Family Ties star Meredith Baxter, who recently came out
lesbian.
Both celebrities spoke Saturday at the
Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) We Are All Made Of Stars
fundraiser. HRC is the nation's largest gay rights advocate.
“We have a great deal of more work to
do,” Aiken said. “Our time is now, and it's about damn time.”
Aiken, 31, became an overnight pop
sensation in 2003 when he came in second on Fox's singing competition
American Idol.
Baxter, who came out last December on
NBC's Today show, joked about her public coming out.
“It's a very strange thing to do this
official coming out to the world,” the 62-year-old actress told the
crowd. “To tell you the truth, I've never heard of a straight
person do that. They just make you guess. They drop hints, some
innuendo, the way they walk.”
“I owe a major debt of gratitude to
Tiger Woods,” Baxter added. “He quickly took me out of the news
cycle.”
Baxter then turned serious, describing
“don't ask, don't tell,” the law that forbids gay troops from
serving openly, as government approved discrimination.
“When our government discriminates
against gay soldiers, then our citizens, our everyday folks, are
given a federal validation to harass their gay neighbors,” she
said.