These types of covers used to be the exclusive domain of "The Advocate" and maybe Lance regrets going mainstream because his interview was not well received by gays. In it, he called himself and his friends "Straight Acting Gays" and said he had no interest in becoming an activist.

The Advocate interview, which is on newsstands Dec. 18, shows a man who has matured a great deal since that People cover and chalks up some of his comments made then to naivete and is well-aware of the backlash it caused.

Towleroad.com posted some excerpts today and here is some of it:

"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...When most people come out, they deal with it out of the public eye, and they start getting educated about it. Me, I had 24 hours to say what I had to say on a subject that I had no clue about... It was a very normal phrase among my circle of friends—and they’d always say, 'You’re such a SAG'—a straight-acting gay. So I reveal that to People magazine, and it looks like I created this phrase and [that] I’m trying to start this movement that you should be straight-acting if you’re gay. It’s just dumb!...I knew last year that when I came out, if I said, 'OK, I’m going to lead every parade and I’m going to speak at every engagement,' half of the community would say, 'Screw you! Who are you to come out and start speaking for every-one?' That’s why I held back and was like, OK, I said my piece now; I’m just gonna lay back and get way more educated about myself, about the community, and not pretend I know what I’m talking about.'"

By the way, Lance looks really cute on the Advocate cover. A lot of his photos are not flattering so I was surprised when I met him at an event last year, at just how good looking he is in person. The Advocate cover captures that.