Sorry about that Lydia. Regarding the outing of historical figures, the only reason it is important is in the context of how gays and lesbians are generally characterized by many people who see them as aberrant people. I would welcome the day that society in this country no longer puts a stigma on being gay and that is starting to happen. For some reason it bothers people such as yourself as if others being gay or lesbian would harm YOU in some way.
To me, I see the purpose of mentioning orientation connected to historical figures is just for the purpose of showing that people who have contributed greatly to society are a diverse lot. Most were already "outed" historically either because in their time or culture being gay or bisexual was not condemned or if it was (as in the case of Oscar Wilde for example)it was for the purpose of expressing how painful societal rejection of sexuality is when it invades a persons life and penalizes them simply based on who they LOVE.
The reason many public figures choose to be "out" in spite of the potential problems it can cause their career is because they want to see discrimination towards people based on sexual orientation coming to an END.
As I said, I will be glad for the day when it is no longer an issue.

> and she mentioned it, I thought you
> responding to that. I don't think it's an
> important point at all if a person was gay
> or not. Some are saying Hitler was gay.
> Personally I think there is not any evidence
> to support this. I just don't see the need
> to "out" historical figures, I
> shouldn't think their sexual preference
> should be significant towards counting for
> their achievements at all.