Aiken made headlines this week after he came out to People Magazine in an interview that will appear in this Friday's edition.

"I can't raise a kid and teach him how to lie," Aiken said of his decision to come out for the sake of his son, Parker, whom he conceived with longtime friend, record producer Jaymes Foster. As he explained, he and Foster both wanted children, and their options were limited otherwise.

"I can't raise a kid and teach him how to hide things," Aiken added. "I can't raise a kid and teach him to keep secrets. And, at the same time, I also don't ever want to raise him in an environment where it's not OK for him to be exactly who he is."

During his time on American Idol, Aiken said that the first person he came out to was fellow contestant, Kimberley Locke, who kept the secret. "I grew up never caring what people thought about me," he said. "I got picked on relentlessly, for everything...So, when I got on Idol and people were actually cheering me on...there you are in an environment that's more open and more accepting, and an environment where you don't feel like such an outcast."

Aiken sees hope in future generations when it comes to acceptance of people for who they are, recalling the tearful experience of coming out to his mother compared to the almost indifference when he told his younger brother. "I look at people like my brother and his friends who are...I guess, the stereotypical 'tough guy Marines,' who all know and none of them care. And it gives me a lot of hope for the next several years--the next decade--my son's lifetime, where I think most people will be in a different place with their opinions and their beliefs. But, at the same time, my grandmother, my mother--people who are of an older generation--it's not my place to tell them that they're wrong."

Aiken doesn't expect every one of his fans to accept his coming out or know how to process it. "I'm sure that emotions will run the gamut," he said, "from people who already knew, to people who really believed that it wasn't true." Aiken also said that he didn't stay in the closet to help his career -- he wasn't comfortable enough to talk to anybody, nonetheless an audience of millions. "It's taken a while for me to have that faith in society, to accept the fact that people are more accepting and more open-minded and more loving and caring and less interested in your personal life than I initially thought."

More of the interview can be viewed below. It was aired on ABC's Good Morning America on September 25, 2008.