Oprah - Gay Around the World

Talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey dedicated her show Wednesday to how it's like to be gay around the world, featuring people like John Amaechi, the first NBA player to go public with his homosexuality, and Manvendra Singh Gohil, the Indian prince who's secret shocked a nation and ripped a royal family apart.

Former NBA player John Amaechi told Oprah that he believes his teammates knew he was gay, but said no one talked about his sexuality overtly. "Basketball teams, sports in general, have adopted the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," he said.

Finally, after years of living a lie, John decided to come out while attending a gay pride celebration in his hometown, Manchester, England. When John saw Sir Ian McKellen, an openly gay actor, riding in the parade, he says was inspired to speak his truth.

"I saw Sir Ian McKellen in an absurdly tight pair of leather pants on the back of a pink Cadillac, and despite how odd it looks as an image, I saw the way people reacted as he waved his flag," John said. "He lifted their spirits. … [I thought] if I could have even a small part of an effect like that, that would be magnificent."

Oprah also had one of the Egyptian men arrested in the Cairo 52 case in 2001 on her show. 28 year old Mazen told Oprah how he was arrested just on suspicion of being gay together with 52 other men and talked about his life in prison and in exile.

Oprah also spoke with Manvendra Singh Gohil, the Indian prince who shocked his family and a whole nation by coming out publicly. Gohil lived a life of royalty, but the prince always felt something was wrong inside. In a 2006 newspaper interview, Prince Manvendra came out to the world. The people in his village were outraged. "It was like an earthquake," he said. "People are so agitated and furious that their prince brought shame to us, to the family, shame to our heritage. Shame to the lineage."

Prince Manvendra said his father, the king, refuses to accept that his only son and heir to the throne is gay. His mother, the queen, took out an ad in a newspaper to announce she was disowning her son and threatened to hold anyone who referred to the prince as her son in contempt. The prince has no regrets about coming out, "I will not regret that because I am true to myself and I'm true to the community, the gay community for whom I am working, so I don't really mind," he said.

Oprah showed how European voters have said it's okay to be gay by electing openly gay mayors in both Paris and Berlin. In Oslo, Norway, 20-year-old Marius Svela wore his army fatigues during the "Mr. Gay Norway" competition. With his military comrades cheering him on, he walked away with the title.

Even in places like communist China, where it is estimated 30 million gays and lesbians live, people are becoming more accepting. Recently, a Chinese television show hired an openly gay host.

In the United States, gay and lesbian parents are raising 4 percent of all adopted children. It's also estimated that there are currently 65,000 homosexuals serving our country in the military. However, civil rights organizations report that in 30 states, employees can still be terminated from their jobs if they're gay.