While we, at YSS, are overjoyed at this news we are equally disgusted at the behaviour of the tabloid press. There is nothing wrong with announcing that someone is gay, but surely that person should be allowed to come out in their own time, rather than forced out just so people like Rupert Murdoch can make a bit more money. I urge all British YSS visitors not to buy the 'News of the World' in future - its behaviour can only be described as abhorent.

Furthermore, I urge all visitors, whether in the UK or anywhere else in the world, to e-mail your support to Stephen - coming out is not an easy thing to do. I must admit that I have only come out to a few close friends, and this is largely due to the intolerance of the people I am surrounded by. Stephen is in the eye of the whole world, and is sure to some under much criticism, both privately and publicly, simply for being honest about who he is!

You can e-mail your support to him at:

Chad Allen (actor)

Mark Almond (singer)

Tori Amos (singer)

Hans Christian Anderson (writer)

W H Auden (poet)

Alan Bates (actor)

Sandra Bernhard (comedian)

Dirk Bogarde (actor)

David Bowie (singer)

Boy George (pop star)

Kate Bush (singer)

Simon Callow (actor)

Richard Chamberlain (actor)

Montgomery Clift (actor)

Noel Coward (playwright)

Jamie Lee Curtis (actress)

Joe Dallesandro (actor and model)

Ellen Degeneres (comedian)

Stephen Dorff (actor)

Brian Epstein (manager of the Beatles)

Erik Estrada (actor)

Rupert Everett (actor)

Justin Farshanau (British pro soccer star)

Flipper (dolphins are polymorphously perverse)

Errol Flynn (actor)

Stephen Fry (actor)

Greta Garbo (actress)

Stephen Gately (singer - Boyzone)

Sir John Gielgud (actor)

Sharon Gless (actress)

Cary Grant (actor)

Ann Heche (actress)

J Edgar Hoover (former director FBI)

Whitney Houston (singer)

Rock Hudson (actor)

Tom Hulce (actor)

Holly Hunter (actress)

Elton John (pop star)

Grace Jones (actress/singer)

Janis Joplin (singer)

Danny Kaye (actor)

Billie Jean King (tennis champion)

Calvin Klein (fashion designer)

k. d. lang (singer)

Annie Lennox (singer)

Liberace (opera star)

Greg Louganis (Olympic gold medallist)

Cameron Mackintosh (producer)

Madonna (singer)

Johnny Mathis (singer)

Malcolm McDowell (actor)

Roddy McDowell (actor)

Kelly McGillis (actress)

Sir Ian McKellen (actor)

Herman Melville (writer)

Freddie Mercury (singer)

George Michael (singer)

Morrissey (rock star)

Alison Moyet (singer)

Florence Nightingale (nurse)

Kim Novak (actress)

Lord Lawrence Olivier (actor)

River Phoenix (actor)

Iggy Pop (rock star)

Cole Porter (songwriter)

Lou Reed (rock star)

Arthur Rimbaud (poet)

Eleanor Roosevelt (former first lady)

Yves Saint-Laurent (fashion designer)

John Schlesinger (filmmaker)

Antony Sher (actor)

Jimmy Somerville (singer)

Gertrude Stein (writer)

Tchaikovsky (composer)

Tolstoy (author)

Pete Townsend (guitarist of The Who)

Gus Van Sant (filmmaker - My Own Private Idaho)

Andy Warhol (artist and filmmaker)

Oscar Wilde (playwright)

Tennessee Williams (writer)

Virginia Woolf (writer)

Yazz (singer)