Well said. Good question. From a media perspective, gays who come out are thought of as heroic.
I'll offer this:
No matter how many gay-friendly books and articles you read, no matter how many gay-friendly television shows you watch, no matter how many counselors and psychiatrists and pastors and friends and colleagues and activist groups you have surrounding you, repeating the mantra that homosexuality is healthy, wholesome, normal, and natural, you will ALWAYS and FOREVER know in some kernal of your consciousness that homosexuality is a perversion of human sexuality. It will ALWAYS bother you. And so it will take some nerve to come out publicly. Even if the entire world was free of so-called right-wing, hate-filled, homophobic, religious bigots.
Which is why the term GAY is Bullshit