A CNN personality has come out of the closet — though not the one some in the media business have long been waiting for.
Don Lemon, CNN's prime-time weekend anchor, reveals he's gay in a new memoir called "Transparent."
According to the Times, which profiled the book, Lemon said "he knew that coming out this way would stir up a degree of comment about other television news personalities, and whether any would acknowledge being gay." Aside from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, there are very few openly gay news anchors on TV.
“I think it would be great if everybody could be out,” Lemon told the New York Times. “But it’s such a personal choice. People have to do it at their own speed. I respect that. I do have to say that the more people who come out, the better it is for everyone, certainly for the Tyler Clementis of the world.”
Clementi was the Rutgers freshman who committed suicide last fall after his roommate filmed a sex tape without his knowledge — a case that inspired the "It Gets Better" campaign, led by celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres, to combat gay bullying.
“It’s quite different for an African-American male,” Lemon added. “It’s about the worst thing you can be in black culture. You’re taught you have to be a man; you have to be masculine. In the black community they think you can pray the gay away … You’re afraid that black women will say the same things they do about how black men should be dating black women … I guess this makes me a double minority now.”
