Apparently Carl Sagan was a closeted homophobe:

“Dear Mr. Derbyshire — If you were not aware, Carl Sagan — Yes, the happy,

life-affirming, turtle-necked, warm-glow Carl Sagan — was also mildly &

tolerantly homophobic.

“Two biographies on Sagan came out in 1999 and both (though one more than

the other) were pained and hurt by some of the comments that would come out

of Sagan’s mouth. My favorite was that Sagan wasn’t convinced that

homosexuality was genetic, though if forced to accept that conclusion, he

wanted it understood that homosexuality was a genetic deformity. Another was

when Sagan discovered that his son was best friends with a homosexual at

school – he told his son that it would be wrong to not be friends with the

boy just because he’s gay, but also wrong not to acknowledge that the boy’s

sexual preferences were not to be approved. … Sagan’s views on

homosexuality left the authors confused because at one moment he would be

saying something very homophobic and at the next arguing for the promotion

of a gay faculty member, etc. What the authors lacked the imagination to

understand is that this is how the mild & tolerant homophobic mind works.

So in addition to Cicero, you have Carl Sagan on your side.”