It's not a big deal to be gay in 2019. While there are barriers still being broken and work to be done in the civil rights realm, it's not nearly as taboo as it was even 10 yrs ago.

I've seen multiple commercials with same sex couples...explicitly positioned as couples for the ads. Can't say I recall ever seeing a commercial in this realm prior to maybe 3 yrs ago.

D-Wade's son just got tons of support from him and others about his sexuality.

Taylor Swift performed an ode to the LGBTQ community in her VMA performance, having a prominent gay viral rapper on stage.

Multiple pro football players have come out, most recently Ryan Russell.

There are openly gay politicians in office, hell Chicago's Mayor is a black lesbian.

And while yes, there's still that undercurrent of bigotry floating around, LNX coming out as gay at height of his popularity was risky but not as big of a deal had this been 2005 or something.