Country music singer Chely Wright
thinks Don Lemon's coming out has saved lives.
Wright, who came out lesbian this month
a year ago, and furniture mogul Michell Gold talked with Lemon in the
Joy Behar Show's green room before he gave one of his first
television interviews after telling the New York Times that he's gay.
Gold and his partner Bob Williams
founded Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, a furnishings company with
sales in excess of $90 million.
Wright and Gold agreed that people
should come out at their own pace.
“Those of us who are safe and able to
come out should,” she told Lemon. “Because when we think about
young people who have roofs over their heads and food put in their
mouths by their parents and feel a community – from their church,
and their school, and their parents – and have everything on the
line, it may not go so well for them.”
“I think you really have to
understand what the environment is that you're in,” Gold said. “If
you're 14 years old and you're in a Roman Catholic or Southern
Baptist home, and your parents and your church are going to just
emotionally beat the crap out of you – you really need to be
careful about that.”
Before he left, Wright called Lemon's
coming out “courageous.”
“It's really important,” she said,
looking at the camera. “Because he today saved lives. He saved
lives today.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this
page.)