Because marriage should be sacred, you know, like the one Tiger Woods is in, the New York State Senate has voted down marriage equality. On the same day, People (December 14, 2009) is out, featuring a fabulous four-page spread on Meredith Baxter's coming out, including images of her posing with longtime partner Nancy Locke: 

In keeping with the marriage-equality theme, Baxter's daughter Mollie jokes of her oft-married mom, "I'm a supporter of gay marriage, but it's nice to know that she can't get married again right now!"

Unlike Rupert Everett's nasty comments about coming out as an actor, Baxter's are more thoughtful:

"You don't know what kind of information is going to go into the decision to cast or not cast you. It's hard enough to get a job. Why make it harder?...I looked at the research that's been done when people know someone who is gay or lesbian; they tend to have a more supportive, positive attitude toward gay issues. So, what I want to say [to people] is, 'You know me. And anything that you vote on that is going against gay rights, that affects me too, in case you want to think about that."

This perfectly sums up why coming out is vitally important, and why simply being out is enough of a political act in and of itself that no one need to be expected to cheerlead at every gay event.