It's been quite a year for The Advocate. Not only did the news mag celebrate it's 40th year and a new, controversial design, but now they're celebrating their 1000th issue.

And, as you can see, they decided to put Lance Bass on the cover. But, like a true champ, former boy bander Bass rationalizes popular skepticism:

You know, every community is hard to please. Our community is very fickle. It’s a touchy community because it’s the last civil rights movement we have left here in America. So when someone new like myself comes along and says off-the-mark things, yeah, I can see how people would get pissed.

The performer also gabs about former love Reichen, saying, "We've already established that Reichen is someone who wanted the fame and the spotlight…" Touchy?

While some of us may doubt Bass' validity as a cover boy, homo-journos Sean Kennedy and John Cloud duke it out over where we queers stand…

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We knew there would be an outcry over Harry Potter character Albus Dumbledore's outing, but we didn't really see this one coming. Time homo-journo John Cloud thinks JK Rowling needs to stick the Hogwarts headmaster back in the closet:

Dumbledore himself never saw fit to come out of the closet before dying in book six. And I feel a bit like I did when we learned too much about Mark Foley and Larry Craig: You are not quite the role model I'd hoped for as a gay man.
…
Why couldn't he tell us himself? …We can only conclude that Dumbledore saw his homosexuality as shameful and inappropriate to mention among his colleagues and students. His silence suggests a lack of personal integrity that is completely out of character.
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Dumbledore had not a single fully realized romance in 115 years of life. That's pathetic, and a little creepy. It's also a throwback to an era of pop culture when the only gay characters were those who committed suicide or were murdered.

If only Dumbledore were real and could tell his side of the story. We're sure it would all make sense.