Tennis legend Billie Jean King is mighty proud that NBA player Jason Collins had the courage to come out as gay less than two weeks ago (29 April).

But King, who came out as a lesbian towards the end of her career, wants people to remember a baseball player by the name of Glenn Burke who was openly gay to his teammates, coaches and team owners in the late 70s and early 80s - and suffered badly for it.

Burke played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland A's but retired from the major leagues at the age of 27 after just four seasons.

Former Roseanne star Sara Gilbert shared with viewers of the CBS daytime show The Talk that she is now engaged to rock musician Linda Perry.

Gilbert, one of the five co-hosts of the popular program, said the proposal from Perry came as a complete surprise and was done in elaborate fashion during a picnic the couple had in a park.

Here is her description of what happened:

The national board of the Boys Scouts of America on Wednesday (6 February) delayed a decision of whether or not to end its controversial ban on gay members and leaders.

The BSA said in a statement that 'after careful consideration and extensive dialogue' within the organization along with outside comments, the board concluded 'that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership policy.'

US President Barack Obama's historic call for gay and lesbian equality during his inaugural address Monday (21 January) led to kudos from many gay celebrities.

Neil Patrick Harris, the openly gay star of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, proclaimed Obama's speech 'brilliant' in his Twitter account.

'Inspiring stuff,' Harris tweeted. 'I’m very proud to be an American.'

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association unveiled the nominations for its Golden Globe Awards on Thursday (13 December) and they included some nods for LGBT artists and characters.

Among them are Jim Parsons, the openly gay actor who stars on the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory. Parsons was nominated for best actor in a comedy or musical television series. 

Parsons won the Globe in 2011 and has also won two Emmys for his portrayal of the straight character of Sheldon Cooper.

Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge, a gay couple already known to some elevision viewers from their reality show The Fabulous Beekman Boys, won the CBS reality show The Amazing Race on Sunday (9 November) and its $1 million first prize.

The couple were unexpected champions since they failed to finish first in any of the previous 11 legs of the competition which included trips to Spain, France, Bangladesh, Russia, Turkey, China and other countries before the finish line in New York City.

Most new television sitcoms would love to have the ratings achieved by Partners starring Michael Urie, David Krumholtz, Sophia Bush and Brandon Routh.

But for CBS, the number one broadcast network in the US, 5.5 million viewers is not enough and show about a pair of best friends - one gay and one straight - has been canceled.

'Thanks for the love and support!' Urie tweeted to fans Friday (17 November). 'Partners will always have a special place in my heart.'

On Sunday night's episode of The Amazing Race on CBS, life partners Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge barely managed to stave off elimination from the reality show competition.

The couple, better known as The Fabulous Beekman Boys because they have their own reality show about life on their farm in upstate New York, took to Facebook Monday (29 October) to address why they have not been as visibly affectionate as some of the other couples in the race.

When Sara Gilbert was a teen and one of the stars of the classic sitcom Roseanne in the late 80s and much of the 90s, it was not known then that she was a lesbian.

But when the actress made her debut on the CBS daytime show The Talk just over two years ago, she was open about her personal life and has been ever since.

So on Friday (19 October) in recognition of the worldwide Spirit Day against LGBT bullying, Gilbert and her four co-hosts wore purple on the air.

Ugly Betty alum Michael Urie returns to series television on September 24 with the premiere of Partners, a CBS comedy about childhood friends - one gay, one straight - who work together in an architecture firm.

Urie plays the gay man while David Krumholtz is the straight friend. Both have significant others who are a regular presence on the series and they are played by Brandon Routh and Sophia Bush, respectively.

American Psycho writer Bret Easton Ellis has slammed CBS sitcoms Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, dismissing them as ‘crap’.

After his rant about gay actor Matt Bomer, Ellis began tweeting about gay actors playing straight characters on television.

‘Feel complicated about Neil Patrick Harris on How I Met Your Mother – central joke being that he’s a gay actor playing a womanizer,’ he said.