Butler has participated in fundraisers for AIDS charities, among them one in his native state of Indiana in 2002 that brought in a record amount of money for the event. He has also done volunteer service, including working as a counselor on the Trevor Helpline, a telephone resource for gay youth in crisis or considering suicide.

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Butler has been in a stable relationship with acting teacher Richard Waterhouse since the mid-1990s. Although they had known each other before, they cemented their relationship soon after Waterhouse lost a former lover to AIDS. At first they felt guilty for falling in love so soon after a bereavement and Waterhouse asked Butler to "slow down" a little. He did and the two have been together ever since.

Butler and Waterhouse were married--albeit without the sanction of the state of California--in a private ceremony in March 1999 on their fifth anniversary together. The families of both men were in attendance.

Butler showed courage by making a public declaration of his homosexuality. He realized that doing so might adversely affect his career, but he bravely took the chance. Happily, his career has not suffered, and he continues to appear in a variety of projects in film, television, and theater.

American television sitcoms have consistently reflected the presence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, often in distorted and stereotyped ways, but occasionally in ways that acknowledge our humanity and complexity.

Although few gay actors have been permitted the luxury of openness, many of them have challenged and helped reconfigure notions of masculinity and, to a lesser extent, of homosexuality.

Candace Gingrich, the half-sister of former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, serves as a spokesperson and Senior Youth Outreach Manager for the Human Rights Campaign.

Widely regarded as the greatest diver in history, Olympic champion Greg Louganis has acknowledged both his homosexuality and his status as a person living with AIDS.

Texas-reared Terrence McNally, whose first play, And Things That Go Bump in the Night, was one of the great scandals of the 1964 New York season, emerged in the 1990s as America's most important gay playwright since Tennessee Williams.

Award-winning actor David Hyde Pierce, best known for his comic performance on the long-running hit comedy television series Frasier, belatedly acknowledged his homosexuality in 2007.