True Blood, True Colors as Actress Anna Paquin "Comes Out" as a Bisexual

Award-winning actress Anna Paquin, best-known for her roles in The Piano and HBO's hit series True Blood, announced that she is bisexual. In a public service announcement for singer Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Fund, Paquin appeared with several well-known celebrities to announce that they "Give a Damn" about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (frequently shortened to LGBT) rights. Did Anna Paquin make the right choice by "coming out?"

Many celebrities over the years have announced their homosexuality. Just days ago, singer Ricky Martin came out as a homosexual on his personal Web site. Kim Zolciak of the Bravo reality television show Real Housewives of Atlanta has also recently made her sexual orientation public.

Some other highly notable celebrities that are openly gay or bisexual include funnywomen Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell, actors Alan Cumming and Angelina Jolie, and musicians such as Sir Elton John and David Bowie. Gossip hounds would have you believe that for every openly gay member of the entertainment industry, there are four or five taking great pains to live a double life. Whether this is true or not is anyone's guess, but it's easy to see why famous people wouldn't want to share their sexual orientations.

One of the largest struggles within the LGBT community is the ability to lead a normal life. Homosexuals are often discriminated against - despite such practice being illegal and immoral. "Gay" themes are the source of ridicule, scrutiny, or stereotype. Gays, lesbians, the bisexual and transgendered are made well-aware that they are "different" from other people. Many people are disowned outright by their family or friends based on their orientation, and lots of others stay "closeted" throughout unhappy lives just to appear "normal." If being gay is difficult for the average person, imagine how rough it must be for people living their lives in the public eye.

On the other hand, celebrities get to live in a bubble. The media can lambast them all they want, but with access to round-the-clock security and their status as a person of high profile they may enjoy a better quality of life than the average LGBT person. Violence and hate crimes are still unfortunately common against the gay community. According to the same PSA Anna Paquin was featured in, hate crimes are committed every hour. Gays are certainly not the only group that are victims of hate crimes, but they're often portrayed as one of the groups (like the obese or illegal immigrants) that it's socially acceptable to discriminate against. Living behind the velvet rope might just spare celebrities a lot of the struggles that "everyday" gays or lesbians encounter.

Anna Paquin isn't shaking the foundations of the world with her statement of bisexuality. She is currently engaged to her True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer, in a heterosexual relationship. This may "cushion" some of the potential backlash surrounding her statement. To some, this may make her seem more "normal" than if she was also announcing a lesbian relationship. In general, I think admitting to bisexuality rather than full-on homosexuality is probably easier.

It's unclear whether male or female celebrities have it harder when it comes to coming out. Whatever the case, recent years have seen many admissions by notable people that they are, in fact, homosexual. Perhaps this is a testament to how far society has come, but we still have a long way to go. The fact that Anna Paquin's admission is headline-making news attests to that. What someone does in the comfort of their own bedroom, so long as it's legal, isn't anyone else's business.

For my part, I applaud Anna Paquin for choosing this venue to announce her bisexuality. The media circus surrounding this bit of news will raise the profile of the "Give a Damn" campaign and the True Colors Fund. Rather than making the admission in a self-serving interview or other media vehicle, she has chosen to speak out while standing with other celebrities committed to making a difference in the treatment of the LGBT community.