CNN anchor Don Lemon has become the
third openly gay news personality behind MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and
Thomas Roberts.
The 45-year-old Lemon told the New
York Times on Sunday that he's gay.
The paper is reporting that Lemon will
talk about his experience in his upcoming 264-page memoir titled
Transparent, now available
for pre-order at Amazon.com.
“I'm scared,” he told the paper.
“I'm talking about something that people might shun me for,
ostracize me for.”
“It's quite different for an
African-American male. It's about the worst thing you can be in
black culture.”
“In the black community they think
you can pray the gay away,” he said, referring to ministries that
believe being gay is a sinful lifestyle like alcoholism that can –
and should – be treated.
Lemon, making a reference to Tyler
Clementi, the 18-year-old Rutgers student who took his own life after
classmates streamed video on the Internet of him having sex with
another man in his dorm room, said out television news personalities
would help end the problem of anti-gay bullying.
“People have to do it at their own
speed,” he said. “I respect that.”
Lemon's coming out arrives a day after
Phoenix
Suns President and CEO Rick Welts announced he's gay.