Barry Manilow Speaking Openly About His Sexuality

In a recent People interview, singer Barry Manilow has spoken about his being gay openly for the first time. I thought it was especially interesting reading another piece that put his identity into context:

If it seems impossible that Manilow never addressed his sexual orientation, especially after news of his wedding broke, consider that the same year that his career began to take off—1971, when he started working with Bette Midler—an organized gay rights movement was still in its fledgling stage. Only a couple years before were the Stonewall riots. People noted that he took pains to misdirect attention from his relationship with Kief—Manilow went to live with a “once-rumored love interest,” Linda Allen.

He said in the interview that he thought he would disappoint his fans if they knew he was gay. Though the significance of Manilow officially coming out might not be as relevant to people in our generation, I think it's interesting to wonder what it would have meant if he had been openly gay at the beginning of his career, and what it means for him to come out now.