Don Lemon: I’m Gay … “It’s About The Worst Thing You Can Be In Black Culture”

Don Lemon, the weekend prime time anchor for CNN, has come out of the closet in his new book “Transparent.”

Lemon has not made a secret of his sexual orientation in his work life; many of his CNN co-workers and managers have long been aware that he is gay. But he still acknowledged that going public in his book carries certain risks.

“I’m scared,” he said in an interview with the New York Times. “I’m talking about something that people might shun me for, ostracize me for…people are going to say: ‘Oh, he was molested as a kid and now he is coming out.’ I get it,” he said.

Not many television news anchors have admitted that they were gay. Rachel Maddow is perhaps the most well known to speak about her sexuality. In fact, a few weeks ago Maddow urged her fellow news anchors to free themselves and come out.

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As far as any backlash Lemon feels, “It’s quite different for an African-American male, 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.”

He said he believed the negative reaction to male homosexuality had to do with the history of discrimination that still affects many Black Americans, as well as the attitudes of some Black women.

[NYT]