That’s Out Raven

I am of the age that remembers Raven-Symoné more as little Olivia on the Cosby show as the eponymous Raven of “That’s So Raven.” Now be quiet and fetch me my slippers, honey, my stories are on. But old age jokes aside, the former Disney star’s coming out on Friday mattered. It mattered for all the reasons coming out normally matters. Visibility, openness, acceptance, etc. Also, how great is it to have another famous out woman of color? So great. But it also mattered in the way that it happened, not to mention the medium.

Coming out casually is all the rage. The afterthought outing via a short mention in a larger profile in a classy publication (à la Parsons and Quinto) has been the preferred modus operandi of saying “Yep, I’m Gay” in the media for a while now. Recently, more anti-cover story ways of getting your toaster over have also been en vogue. There was the aside in a press release route that Sarah Huffman (a.k.a. Abby Wambach’s, uh, frequent red carpet date). And then yesterday there was Raven coming out via, of all things, Twitter. What do we call that? A twouting? No, that sounds like a strange lesbian fish.

I can finally get married! Yay government! So proud of you

— Raven-Symonè (@MissRavenSymone) August 2, 2013

She been out, momma just didn't have time for bullshit. and I LIVVVEEE "@_BeatrixKiddoo: You better come out sis. @MissRavenSymone"

— Golden Oreo. (@H8teTheeSquares) August 2, 2013

I particularly like that she clarified her coming out tweet with a yes, really, this means she’s actually out, retweet.

To be honest, Twitter as a coming out medium makes a lot of sense. Short, sweet, direct - type 140, hit send, be happy. And it is the epitome of the no-big-deal, still-a-big-deal nature of coming out for today’s celebrities. Also, I think we can all agree that from here on out, “That’s So Raven” is the new “Yep, I’m Gay.”

p.s. Yeah, I know Raven was so about a month late in commenting. But, hey, better late than continually oblivious I guess.