Tom Daley and a Far From Ideal World

On a day when the world mourns Nelson Mandela, who did so much to inspire the world by his struggle against Apartheid, I think it would help to consider  another struggle, which has run contemporaneously with the anti-apartheid struggle and the fight against racism - the issue of gay rights.
 One might think that there is no longer anything to discuss on this matter. Gay people are tolerated to a degree that would have been unimaginable when I was a teenager. Unlike many people of my age group, I admit to having had anti-gay prejudices, which the passing decades have eroded. A recent telephone chat with a cousin whom I have not seen for years provides a good example of how times have changed.
When my cousin phoned, like the proud dad and granddad that he is, he told me all about his four children and their offspring. He then told me about one of his children who is gay and in a civil partnership. What impressed me was the way he mentioned this - as if it were perfectly natural (which it is). To his immense credit, he sounded equally proud of all his children (which he is). Shocking though it may sound now, gay teenagers were still being thrown out of the family home by their parents as recently as the 1980s.
Which brings us to the recent "coming out" of Tom Daley. The story is well enough known, without my needing to repeat any of the details. What is of interest is the public reaction. Now, as Tom Daley himself has said, in an ideal world, he would not have needed to make this announcement. Like many people, my reaction was "So what? We've moved on - haven't we?". Gay pressure groups described him as gay, while some national newspapers labelled him as bisexual. Overwhelmingly, though, the reaction was sympathetic. All this pointed to a question which no-one wanted to answer.
The question is: When leading politicians, musicians, actors and fashion designers, etc, can openly declare themselves as gay or bisexual, why is it such a big deal for a sportsman or woman to do the same? Well, I am not going to attempt to answer this, but the homophobic abuse that has been dished out at rugby matches to the gay rugby player, Gareth Thomas, could indicate part of the explanation.
As for Tom Daley, I think that he should be left alone to develop his sexuality in the way (or ways) that he chooses (so should everyone!). However, going public like he has done will not help his case. There has been immense press speculation about the identity of his male date, and Daley may well find that he receives more unwelcome media attention than ever.
There is no such thing as an ideal world, as Tom Daley acknowledges. What may be ideal to one person is not ideal to another. An ideal world to a homophobe is a world without homosexuals; for racists, a world with no people of a different colour. I would not describe my view as "ideal", but  personally, following the publicity surrounding Daley's announcement, I would like to see all of us - not just the press, who only print what we want to read - learning to mind our own business. That would put paid to the awful cult of "celebrity" and "gossip mags". If you don't like what celebs do in private, stop reading about them; if you don't like what your neighbours do behind closed doors, stop squinting through the keyhole. As the Christians said in their perceptive song of some years ago: "This ain't no way to treat mankind" - and the song, incidentally, is called "Ideal World".
Or am I being too idealistic?