Hats off to Halford indeed

I am for letting people be whatever they want to be, as long as they don't infringe upon the rights of others.
That's a principle taught to me from an early age, and it's one I continue to teach to my kids.
I am thinking about that principle while listening to JUDAS PRIEST this morning.
Take one look at lead singer ROB HALFORD (center). Oh yeah. He's gay. More importantly: Who cares?
It actually filled me with immense happiness when Halford came out as homosexual, and few (including few in the METAL community) batted an eye.
The thought was: As long as this dude rocks, who cares about his sexuality?
"A lot of homophobia still exists in the music world, in all kinds of music," Halford told MTV when he went public with his sexuality. "I wouldn't say it's any more phobic in metal or rap or whatever this music is that I'm doing now, but that¹s just something that I think we all have to address in our own lives. If we have a problem with it, I think we should seek help and find out why we do have a problem with it."
The song "LIVING AFTER MIDNIGHT" is playing right now in my iPod, and I am thinking:
If homophobes actually listened to this song, they would hear that Halford sings about a topic that's fairly universal for a young man on the town.
"I come alive in the neon light. That's when I make my moves right."
The indie band ATOM AND HIS PACKAGE took a tongue-in-cheek look at Halford's sexuality, in the song, "HATS OFF TO HALFORD."
"I think it's safe to say that many more metal guys are homosexual," the song goes. "This may frustrate the gay community. Why would they want the ugly metalheads available?"
LOL.
Actually, it's rather sad and ironic, I think, that we live in an age when a METALHEAD can come out of the closet but a professional sportsman must keep his real life hidden from his teammates.