Fired gay anchorman Charles Perez will
marry his boyfriend in Connecticut, the Miami
Herald reported.
Perez and Miami accountant Keith
Rinehard said they are moving out of Florida to Connecticut and will
wed on September 27.
“We just want to be normal and not
work in places where they say 'Don't have kids, don't get married',”
Perez said.
Perez, 46, was referring to his very
public battle with his former employer, Miami ABC affiliate WPLG
channel 10, where he anchored the station's newscast. Station
executives fired him last month after he filed a discrimination
complaint with the Miami-Dade's Equal Opportunity Board. In the
complaint, Perez argues that the broadcaster fired him because his
sexual orientation became too public when the details of a domestic
violence complaint against an ex-partner became front page
fodder.
“[Executives] don't want to do
anything that would make an advertiser see you as less family
friendly,” He told gay weekly Edge
Boston. “Though they will never say 'We need to get rid of
the gay guy,' they will say 'We need to go a different direction
here.'”
The couple began dating earlier in the
year, and Perez said he will take his husband's last name.
“On Friday, the 25th,
we're going to Westport, Connecticut. Saturday we're going house
shopping. And Sunday we're getting married on the beach – in linen
and flip-flops,” Perez said.
“We found each other and it's meant
to be,” Rinehart, 41, said. “Friends say it's quite a road we've
had to cover. I don't look at it like that. We're a great team.”