Hope, yes -- but prepare for the worst
It is a tenet of faith within our community that coming out -- one person at a time -- will change the world. Certainly refusing to live a lie is good for the soul. But we also believe that our honesty will convert those around us, encourage them to rethink their fear, bigotry, ignorance. Or at the very least, embarrass our opponents into silence. (What a charming rationale.)
So we go out of our way to find gay connections to those we consider public homophobes. I've heard tell of a Canadian journalist who spent large chunks of time (unsuccessfully) seeking the rumoured gay prostitute son of Toronto police chief Julian Fantino, who was accused of orchestrating a "gay witch-hunt" back in the early 1990s when he ran the cop shops of London, Ontario.
American Vice President Dick Cheney was and is asked about his out daughter (and she's hounded by queer media who demand she denounce her dad because his very presence supports a nasty administration). Now there's Maya Keyes, who's
come out in The Advocate.
Father Alan Keyes is a loudmouth far right Republican who, according to his daughter, believes that "family values" means cutting the dyke out from the family.
Maya's courageous coming out has clearly not changed her father. The formula doesn't always work.