I'm guessing at Kathy Griffin's next show she'll just come out, say "Clay Aiken" and get lots of cheers and applaus.
I don't really know the guy or anything, but in every show I've seen of her, she made mention of him being gay.

Good luck to him...and better late than never, I guess.

Let's move past the "Oh, I knew it" and the "uh-DUH!" statements just for a moment and bring something to the forefront.

This man was competing for, and was the winner of, a show that by description tries to find the idol of America. The producers of this show see this "America" as a slightly more sexed-up version of America in the 50's... I.E. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some form of pressure, implied or explicit, for him to stay in the closet for fear of endangering his record deals, sponsorships, blah, blah, blah.

All of the readers here who are LGBT, I want you to think hard. Think back to when you came out. Wasn't it the scariest damn thing in the world, whether you admitted it or not? You worried if people would think of you the same way, you worried if your friends would still be your friends. It's a tough thing for a regular, private person to do. This guy is a celebrity, a famous singer. Think about the kinds of things he has to think about in his job. Especially being the kind of entertainer that he is, having arrived where he is how he did, his image is EVERYTHING. The image of a young, non-threatening, attractive American man. That being said, I think it's quite courageous for him to come out at all. I hope it inspires more people to stand up and stop hiding.