Openly gay actress Meredith Baxter considered coming out gay in a newspaper ad.

Baxter headlined a panel Saturday on gay stars in Hollywood at Outfest, Los Angeles' gay and lesbian film festival.

Also on the Coming Out In Hollywood panel were openly gay Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman, actors Doug Spearman (Noah's Arc) and Jonathan Slavin (Better off Ted) and director Don Roos (Opposite of Sex).

Bragman has built a career out of helping celebrities come out of the closet. The first client he helped was actor Dick Sergeant in 1991. He's also behind the recent self-outings of Chaz Bono as transgender and country singer Chely Wright as lesbian.

In talking about her December coming out, Baxter said celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and tabloid The Enquirer gave her the final push she needed, but added that she had already considered coming out in a newspaper ad.

“I was sort of entertaining the idea,” she said. “I thought I might put an ad in the paper, kind of like a little birth announcement that would say, 'OK, I'm gay – Meredith.'”

Baxter added that she was already on the path to coming out when photographs of her and partner Nancy Locke traveling aboard an all-lesbian cruise surfaced.

The Family Ties mother came out gay on NBC's Today Show and told host Matt Lauer that she's been dating women for the past seven years.

Source: Greg in Hollywood.