Editing Lance Bass (section)

===Sexual orientation===
[[File:Lance Bass Outwrite.jpg|upright|left|thumb|Bass in [[Atlanta]], Georgia, October 2007]]
Bass [[came out]] as [[homosexuality|gay]] in a cover story for ''[[People (magazine)|People]]'' magazine on July 26, 2006.<ref name="Gay" /> There had been considerable media speculation about his orientation due to numerous [[paparazzi]] snapshots of him at [[gay bar]]s and nightclubs, most notably during the preceding [[Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day]] weekend in [[Provincetown, Massachusetts]].<ref name="Privacy">{{cite web| date = July 14, 2006| url =https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=2189570&page=1| title =No Privacy for Lance Bass at Gay Bar| work =ABC News| access-date =July 28, 2006}}</ref> Celebrity gossip blogger [[Perez Hilton]] had also been posting items on his website about Bass's orientation since September 2005,<ref name="Perez">{{cite web| date = July 27, 2006 | url =https://www.today.com/popculture/did-gossip-blogger-out-lance-bass-wbna14065223| title =Did gossip blogger out Lance Bass?| work =Today|access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> and New York [[gossip column]] ''[[Page Six]]'' ran a blurb on July 12, 2006, that reported a sighting of Bass at a gay bar with his then-boyfriend, Lehmkuhl.<ref name="Privacy"/> Bass's publicist, [[Ken Sunshine]], chose to release the story exclusively to ''People'' magazine, who bumped actor [[Johnny Depp]] off that week's cover in favor of Bass.<ref name="Advocate Interview">{{cite web|author=Buchanan, Kyle|url=https://www.advocate.com/news/2007/12/14/why-wasn39t-year-lance-bass|title=Why Wasn't This The Year of Lance Bass?|date=January 15, 2008|work=The Advocate|access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> In his coming out interview, Bass stated,

{{blockquote|The thing is, I'm not ashamed{{snd}} that's the one thing I want to say. 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.<ref name="Gay"/>}}

Bass's announcement received a large amount of media attention. The American public's reaction was generally positive, with Bass receiving "overwhelming support" from many teenagers and young adults who grew up listening to 'N Sync.<ref name="Reactions">{{cite web|author=Orzeck, Kurt |date=July 6, 2007|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1537282/it-is-ok-to-be-gay-fans-voice-overwhelming-support-for-lance-bass/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016220424/http://www.mtv.com/news/1537282/it-is-ok-to-be-gay-fans-voice-overwhelming-support-for-lance-bass/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 16, 2015|title='It Is Okay To Be Gay': Fans Overwhelmingly Support Lance Bass|publisher=MTV News|access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> However, Bass received criticism from the [[LGBT]] community when he referred to himself and his friends as "[[straight-acting]]" in his ''People'' interview, stating, "I call them the SAGs{{snd}} the straight-acting gays. We're just normal, typical guys. I love to watch football and drink beer."<ref name="Professions">{{cite web|author=Vineyard, Jennifer|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1537155/nsyncs-lance-bass-reveals-hes-gay-im-not-ashamed-i-dont-think-its-wrong/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140614044124/http://www.mtv.com/news/1537155/nsyncs-lance-bass-reveals-hes-gay-im-not-ashamed-i-dont-think-its-wrong/|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 14, 2014| title='NSYNC's Lance Bass Reveals He's Gay: 'I'm Not Ashamed ... I Don't Think It's Wrong' | date=July 26, 2006| publisher=MTV News |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> This comment angered some members of the LGBT community, who believed that Bass not only implied that [[effeminate]] gay men were not 'normal', but further enforced unneeded [[stereotype]]s.<ref name="Reactions" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.advocate.com/politics/commentary/2006/09/25/myth-straight-acting|title=The myth of "straight-acting" |access-date=May 13, 2022 |author=Rice, Christopher. |date=September 25, 2006 |work=The Advocate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930153701/http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid36685.asp |archive-date=September 30, 2007 }}</ref> In a 2007 interview with ''[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]'', Bass called his comment a "mistake" and noted that he was unaware of the negative implications surrounding the term.<ref name="Advocate Interview" /> Bass stated, "Every community is hard to please. Our community is very fickle. It's a touchy community because it's the last [[civil rights]] movement we have left here in America. So when someone new like myself comes along and says off-the-mark things, yeah, I can see how people would get pissed."<ref name="Advocate Interview" />

Bass found himself in the midst of further controversy later that year when he, along with then-boyfriend Reichen Lehmkuhl, was awarded 2006 [[Human Rights Campaign]] Visibility Award on October 7, 2006.<ref name="Southern Voice" /> The ''[[Washington Blade]]'' printed a guest editorial from a longtime HRC supporter who claimed that neither recipient had done enough to deserve the award and that The Human Rights Campaign was simply capitalizing on Bass's fame to sell tickets.<ref name="Award 2">{{cite web|title = Bye! Bye! Bye! to Lance's Award|last=Foster|first=Randy.|work = The Washington Blade| date = September 8, 2006|url =http://www.washblade.com/2006/9-8/view/columns/foster.cfm|access-date = September 27, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070918234150/http://www.washblade.com/2006/9-8/view/columns/foster.cfm |archive-date = September 18, 2007}}</ref> The Human Rights Campaign stood by Bass and defended his award, responding to critics by saying, "Bass is the biggest music star since [[Melissa Etheridge]] to come out, and maybe some people think HRC should just ignore these moments of cultural significance, but his declaration did initiate a positive, national conversation that continues today."<ref name="HRC Defense">{{cite web|title =Award To Lance Is For Visibility, Not Activism |last=Snider|first=Mary.|publisher = Human Rights Campaign| date = August 12, 2007|url=http://www.washblade.com/2006/9-15/view/letters/soundoff.cfm|access-date = September 27, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071013110447/http://washblade.com/2006/9-15/view/letters/soundoff.cfm |archive-date = October 13, 2007}}</ref>