May 7, 2009 | Celeb Watch

M*A*S*H man comes out

David Ogden Stiers has come out. Who is Stiers? He played uppity Major Charles Winchester on the hit TV comedy M*A*S*H back in the 1970s, and later worked on Disney projects doing voice over work..

"From the late 1980s until about seven or eight years ago, you would find certain individuals coming up to you, me, and advocating the position that since we were doing family fare that it would be best were the actors to maintain a certain palatability to parents," Stiers said, trying to explain why he hadn't come out before now. "These parties likely had heard rumors or harbored suspicions about me and wanted to make sure no embarrassing incidents were forthcoming."

Now he wants to find everlasting love, and staying in the closet just isn`t helping.

Stiers adds: "I could claim noble reasons as coming out in order to move gay rights forward, but I must admit it is for far more selfish reasons. Now is the time I wish to find someone and I do not desire to force any potential partner to live a life of extreme discretion for me."

Does he still have the uniform?

M*A*S*H star comes out [KJHR]