Sorry Daphne, Niles has a boyfriend

David Hyde Pierce is gay. And with that the world breathes a collective duh. The former Frasier star confirmed what pretty much anyone with the ability to take in oxygen had suspected for years when he backdoor outed himself in a recent Associated Press profile.

“Pierce got to Los Angeles in the early 1990s when his partner, actor-writer-producer Brian Hargrove, wanted to write for television.”

The story is accompanied by perhaps one of the least gay pictures of Pierce ever taken. If it weren’t for the vanity-mirror dressing room lights behind him, you’d have nary a hint that he was a mo. In fact, you could easily skim over the discreet outing which comes 22 grafs into the story. AfterElton even called to double check, just to make sure it wasn’t a typo or semantics error. His publicist confirmed that, yes, he meant that kind of partner.

David makes the third relatively high-profile gay male television star to come out in the last eight months, the others being T.R. Knight and Neil Patrick Harris. Side Note to Robert Sean Leonard: Good thing you’re engaged or by the rule of three (that being actors who go by three names/initials) you would be on our gaydar. But Haley Joel Osment, consider yourself on watch.

While I’m all hip-hip hooray for the boys, where -- might I ask -- are the ladies? Oh, ladies? Hello, ladies? Your spotlight and People magazine cover awaits.