It's about time Lance admitted he's gay.

No, not Maggie's beloved Lance Armstrong.

Katie's beloved Lance Fish. AKA Lance Bass. Now it makes more sense though.



Lance Bass, the former 'N Sync heartthrob, reveals that he is gay, in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE. "I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys' careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was gay), it would overpower everything," says Bass, referring to bandmates Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake. "I didn't know: Could that be the end of 'N Sync? So I had that weight on me of like, 'Wow, if I ever let anyone know, it's bad.' So I just never did," he says speaking about his sexual orientation for the first time with PEOPLE. Now, after years of keeping his personal life private, the Mississippi-bred, Southern Baptist-reared Bass, 27, is publicly revealing what he first shared with his friends, then his shocked family. "He took years to really think about how he was going to tell everyone," says his close buddy Fatone, 29, who was the first 'N Sync bandmate to find out Bass is gay. "I back him up 100 percent." Adds Bass's longtime pal, actress Christina Applegate: "I've always accepted him as who he is. It's about his own serenity at this point." "The thing is, I'm not ashamed -- that's the one thing I want to say," he explains of his decision to come out. "I don't think it's wrong, I'm not devastated going through this. I'm more liberated and happy than I've been my whole life. I'm just happy."

The interview goes on to confirm that Lance is in a "stable" relationship with Reichen Lehmkuhl and that he is in the process of developing an Odd Couple-like TV show with his N*Sync bandmate Joe FatOne where Lance's character will be gay. I think it's awesome that Lance has finally come out of the closet. If more actors and actresses came out and admitted their homosexuality then the stigma would be lessened with each revelation. I mean compare the reaction to this (which I'm sure will be fairly big, with lots of Late Night jabs and jokes, and maybe some lost Nysnc fangirlies) to the likes of when Rock Hudson came out...or even more recently Ellen. At least these days he knows that this alone doesnt mean he can't still have a career. The fact that he was in Nysnc is what pretty much takes care of that, haha. Anyways, it's a brave thing to come out like this in a major publication, so I wish him luck... but a dude who can score a hottie like Reichen is pretty lucky already.

Next we gotta get Clay Gayken to finally come clean ;)