Category: Coming Out

Former RNC chair, GW Bush campaign manager: ‘I’m gay’

LGBTQ Nation • Thursday, August 26, 2010 • Filed under: Coming Out, Newsmakers • Comments (0)

Ken Mehlman, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and the campaign manager who helped win a second term for President George W. Bush on his anti-gay marriage platform has announced that he is homosexual.

Mehlman

During his tenure as chairman of the RNC, the party’s strategists encouraged state referendums banning same-sex marriage, but Mehlman now says he wants to become an advocate for gay marriage.

“It’s taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life,” Mehlman said in an interview with Atlantic magazine.

“Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I’ve told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they’ve been wonderful and supportive.

“The process has been something that’s made me a happier and better person. It’s something I wish I had done years ago.”

Mehlman is widely considered one of the key architects of the Bush-era Republican election machine that exploited anti-gay prejudices to motivate its conservative base. His revelation comes after years of speculation, and to date is the highest-profile national Republican figure to come out as gay. Continue reading…

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Country music singer-songwriter Chely Wright comes out

LGBTQ Nation • Monday, May 3, 2010 • Filed under: Coming Out, Featured, Music • Comments (2)

Wright's "Lifted off the Ground" cover

Country music singer Richell Rene “Chely” Wright has come out.

In an interview with People magazine, the “Shut Up and Drive” singer revealed her sexual orientation, and said she had previously resisted the urge to publicly address her homosexuality because she didn’t want to be the first country star to do so.

“There had never, ever been a country music artist who had acknowledged his or her homosexuality,” she said. “I wasn’t going to be the first.”

But now Wright has changed her tune.

“Nothing in my life has been more magical than the moment I decided to come out.”

The singer-songwriter, who has won both an Academy of Country Music and a Country Music award, will later this week release her memoir, Like Me, as well as her first album in five years, Lifted off the Ground.

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Christian musician Jennifer Knapp comes back, comes out

LGBTQ Nation • Sunday, April 18, 2010 • Filed under: Coming Out, Music • Comments (0)

Knapp

Jennifer Knapp, the former Christian music singer, whose last album “Way I Am” was released in 2001, has come out as a lesbian.

According to CNN:

After selling about a million records and winning at Christian music’s prestigious Dove Awards in 1999, the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter simply vanished in 2003 — leaving fans wondering where she had gone. There were countless theories as to why Knapp checked out, including the possibility of illness.

But this week Knapp burst back onto the music scene with news of a comeback and a coming out. Her new album will be released in May, and she has revealed that she has been in a same-sex relationship for the past eight years.

Knapp said she realizes that some fans will now view her earlier work with lyrics about inner turmoil as evidence of the struggle between her beliefs and her sexuality. But she says she has always struggled as a person of faith to be the person she wants to be, and her sexuality was only a part of that, she said.

“I would rather be judged before God as being an honest human being,” Kanpp said. “If I am in any way unpleasing in his sight, I can only hope and pray that he gives me the opportunity to find who I am supposed to be.”

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Why Ricky Martin matters — to me… and maybe a few other boys

LGBTQ Nation • Tuesday, March 30, 2010 • Filed under: Celebrities, Coming Out, Music, Views & Voices • Comments (2)
By Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano
hairspray & fideo

There’s been a lot of commotion regarding Ricky Martin’s recent coming out statement on his official website. As with most things in life these days, I learned about the news on Facebook.

So, I immediately posted about the news as well and quickly joined in the jubilee of queerness and pranced about the office like a middle school-aged boy who accidently touched hands with his classroom crush. I even committed the blasphemy of comparing the news to that of Health Care Reform and the release of Apple’s iPad (insert sound of angel choir here).

And then, of course, there was the storm of cattiness that followed the news. As a queer Xicano, I admit that sarcasm is built into my genetic code. The survivor of four Christian-themed religions and 500+ years of white supremacist occupation, I find humor, irony and disbelief in most things. Still, yesterday I just wanted to celebrate.

I agree that the fact that Ricky is gay is not all that shocking. Queer men and not long speculated or asserted that he shook his bon bon far too well to be straight. Plus, for us jotos/maricones/patos, there was the added benefit of dreaming him up queer, which somehow put us that much closer to his arms.

Still, as the catty remarks continue, as people boast about how they knew and think he should have done this 10 years ago, or sassy queens dismiss the news as inconsequential, I say, look beyond our borders (geographic, cultural, and age-based) and take a minute to honor the fact that for many, Ricky’s coming out is groundbreaking, perhaps even life-saving. Continue reading…

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Ricky Martin comes out: ‘I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man’

LGBTQ Nation • Monday, March 29, 2010 • Filed under: Celebrities, Coming Out, Music • Comments (3)

Ricky Martin has come out in a posting today on his official website:

“Today is my day, this is my time, and this is my moment. These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.”

Martin ends his post with, “I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.” Continue reading…

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Sean Hayes comes out: ‘I am who I am’

LGBTQ Nation • Monday, March 8, 2010 • Filed under: Celebrities, Coming Out • Comments (0)

It’s been four years since Will & Grace ended it’s eight year run on NBC, and now Sean Hayes, who played gay sidekick “Jack McFarland,” finally reveals he is gay, in what the Advocate calls “the interview you’ve waited 12 years to read.”

And while Hayes finally opens up, he never quite gives a “Yes, I’m gay” soundbite.

“I am who I am,” Hayes told the Advocate. “I was never in, as they say. Never.”

But offering a few choice words for the gay press, including The Advocate — which long criticized his silence — Hayes dismisses any notion that he should have come out sooner.

“Nobody owes anything to anybody,” he says. “You are your authentic self to whom and when you choose to be, and if you don’t know somebody, then why would you explain to them how you live your life?”

Continue reading…

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Meredith Baxter signs book deal to write her memoirs

LGBTQ Nation • Saturday, December 26, 2009 • Filed under: Books and Authors, Coming Out, Entertainment • Comments (0)

Meredith Baxter, who recently came out on national television, will soon be writing a memoir about her personal and professional experiences.

The Broadway Books imprint of Crown Publishing Group announced it has acquired a yet-to-be-written, yet-to-titled memoir by Baxter, who “will present a fully realized portrait of her life as an actress, mother of five children and grandmother, and will candidly discuss her fight with breast cancer, her 19 years of sobriety, entrepreneurship and her decision to come out,” the publisher said, according to The New York Times.

Baxter, best known for playing Elyse Keaton in the 1980′s sitcom “Family Ties,” recently made her public admission, “I am a lesbian,” in an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC’s TODAY show.

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Gareth Thomas: ‘It’s time to tell the world the truth — I’m gay’

LGBTQ Nation • Friday, December 18, 2009 • Filed under: Coming Out • Comments (0)

Rugby great Gareth Thomas stunned the sporting world this week, and has publicly come out as gay.

The married 35-year-old Cardiff Blues player, who in 2007 became the first ever Welshman to win 100 caps for his country, admitted he had been suicidal at times as he hid his sexuality from his wife, his team-mates and the macho world of professional rugby as a whole.

In an interview with London’s Daily Mail, Thomas said, “It’s ended my marriage and nearly driven me to suicide. Now it’s time to tell the world the truth — I’m gay.”

Thomas reveals that he told his wife he was gay in the summer 2006, and following a match in Cardiff later that year, he broke into tears in the changing room at the Millennium Stadium. It was at that time he confided to Wales coach Scott Johnson that he was gay, and that keeping his true sexuality a secret was destroying him.

“I was like a ticking bomb. I thought I could suppress it, keep it locked away in some dark corner of myself, but I couldn’t.

“It was who I was, and I just couldn’t ignore it any more.

“I’d been through every emotion under the sun trying to deal with this.

“You wake up one morning thinking: “I can handle it. Everything is fine,” and the next morning you don’t want anyone to see your face, because you think that if people look at you, they will know.

“I’ve been through all sorts of emotions with this, tears, anger and absolute despair.”

Today, Thomas is a supporter of the NSPCC (the UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children), and told the Mail he doesn’t want desperate young people confused over their sexuality, or worried about any other issue, to suffer in silence, as he did for almost 20 years, too terrified to tell anyone.

More than 3,500 boys call NSPCC’s ChildLine about their sexuality each year.

“I don’t know if my life is going to be easier because I’m out, but if it helps someone else, if it makes one young lad pick up the phone to ChildLine, then it will have been worth it,” said Thomas.

Read the full interview and article at the Mail Online.

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‘Family Ties’ mom Meredith Baxter: ‘I am a lesbian’

LGBTQ Nation • Wednesday, December 2, 2009 • Filed under: Celebrities, Coming Out, LGBTQ Life • Comments (0)

Meredith-Baxter-comes-out-on-'Today'For seven years, actress Meredith Baxter has been hiding a secret.

Now Baxter, who played the devoted hippie mom constantly butting heads with her conservative kids on “Family Ties,” is making a public admission.

“I am a lesbian and it was a later-in-life recognition,” she told Matt Lauer on the TODAY show.

“Some people would say, well, you’re living a lie and, you know, the truth is — not at all. This has only been for the past seven years.”

Baxter, 62, though anxious, decided to come out on national television after her sexuality became tabloid fodder.

“I’ve always lived a very private life,” said the actress, who’s never even had a publicist. “To come out and disclose stuff is very antithetical to who I am.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Baxter says that her relationship with men was complicated, and it took her decades to understand why.

She says she has been with her current girlfriend, Nancy Locke, a contractor she met through mutual friends, for the past four years. Because Locke is openly lesbian, their relationship has not been kept a closely guarded secret.

Now that she is coming out, she also sees herself as an advocate for gay rights.

“This is a political act, even though that’s not what it feels like to me,” she said. “If anyone knows someone who’s gay or lesbian … they’re less likely to vote against them to take away their rights. I can be that lesbian you know now …”

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Coming out: Brendan Burke’s journey, a story of love and acceptance

LGBTQ Nation • Thursday, November 26, 2009 • Filed under: Coming Out • Comments (0)

Brendan-and-Brian-BurkeThe son of former pro hockey player and current Toronto Maple Leafs General Mnaager Brian Burke has come out publicly as gay — and Burke has come out just as publicly in support of his son.

ESPN sports columnist John Buccigross tells Brendan Burke’s story in a poignant second-person narration, inviting the reader to put himself into Brendan’s shoes, while describing this young man’s journey into self discovery.

An excerpt from the article:

“Your dad thinks through everything. Dad is big, confident and continuously radiates a persona that is rough, gruff, unrelenting and unapologetic. He has a cold, expressionless poker face straight out of a Clint Eastwood movie. Yet, he does this all with the most subtle of Irish smirks that says there is more behind this thick skin.

And there is.

He calls you “Moose” because you have always been a big kid. He cares very deeply about you and your happiness. You say he has always been there when you needed him. And he has a great sense of humor. Imagine that.

But on this night in 2007, you are petrified of your dad. Because you, Brendan Burke, at 19 years old, are about to tell your dad, Mr. Testosterone, that you are gay.”

In a statement in the article from the elder Burke, “I had a million good reasons to love and admire Brendan. This news didn’t alter any of them.”

While Brendan came out to his father two years ago, his story only reached national attention recently following a USA Today column on gay slurs. Brendan read the column and decided to tell his story.

Read the full article at ESPN.com.

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