CNN Anchor Don Lemon is Gay, What a Day!

Don Lemon is probably my favorite CNN anchor. You can have your Anderson Coopers and Wolf Blitzers, but there’s something about Lemon’s presence that I find invariably soothing, particularly when reporting on news that makes me want to bash my head into the wall, which face it, is most news these days. He’s charming. He’s genuine.

Don Lemon also proved himself to be unequivocally badass last year when interviewing the frustratingly steadfast supporters of accused pedophile Bishop Eddie Long. Much to CNN’s surprise, Lemon confessed on air that he too had been a victim of pedophilia and that the techniques described by Long’s victims rang very true to him.

A couple of years ago, Lemon appeared on a panel called “The Black Man in the Age of Obama,” at which a publisher approached him about writing an “inspirational book.” It was supposed to be a “little pamphlet” but once Lemon started writing, he found himself writing about his personal life, like his struggles with racism and colorism, growing up without a father and the sexual abuse he suffered as a child.

In Transparent, the 45-year old anchor talks for the first time publicly about being gay. Don Lemon is gay!

Like Rick Welts, the Phoenix Suns owner who came out this weekend, most of Lemon’s colleagues knew about his sexual orientation but he’d kept it a secret from the rest of the world.

“People are going to say: ‘Oh, he was molested as a kid and now he is coming out’, I get it,” Lemon told The New York Times. “I’m scared. I’m talking about something that people might shun me for, ostracize me for.”

After turning in the manuscript for his book to the publishers, Lemon freaked out and said he wanted to take all the personal stuff out. Then he decided against it: “I abhor hypocrisy. I think if you’re going to be in the business of news, and telling people the truth, of trying to shed light in dark places, then you’ve got to be honest. You’ve got to have the same rules for yourself as you do for everyone else.”

Lemon grew up in Louisiana and his Emmy-Award-winning career started in New York City, where the Brooklyn College undergrad worked as a news assistant for WNYW. Lemon moved on to become the co-anchor for Chicago’s NBC5’s 5pm news. Subsequent stints included correspondent work at The Today Show, NBC News and NBC Nightly News. Lemon joined the team at CNN in August 2003. He seems to have not aged since that point.

CNN is supportive of his coming out and he’ll appear on Joy Behar’s show on HLN and on CNN Newsroom today (as a guest).

About the importance of coming out, Lemon says:

“I think it would be great if everybody could be out. But it’s such a personal choice. People have to do it at their own speed. I respect that. I do have to say that the more people who come out, the better it is for everyone, certainly for the Tyler Clementis of the world… I think if I had seen more people like me who are out and proud, it wouldn’t have taken me 45 years to say it, to walk in the truth.”

In the preview of Transparent available on Amazon.com, Lemon dedicates the book to Tyler Clementi, writing:

“I believe that now is the time for all of us to acknowledge, once and for all, that God made some of us straight and some of us gay. I believe that now is the time for all of us to take a stand against the heinous behavior that far too many young people battle on a daily basis simply because of their sexual orientation.”

It seems to be going well so far:

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Riese

Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3164 articles for us.

34 Comments

  1. Someone needs to tell these guys that National Coming Out Day isn’t until October..
    Also I have no idea who either of them are..but – you go Don Lemon & Rick Welts.

  2. I appreciate anyone who signs his tweets. I should start doing that from now on. Sebastian Barr

    • I love that. My mom signs her texts. She must think I have another Mom saved in my phonebook.

      • oh god my dad thinks bbms are legit letters. he begins with dear po and ends with love dad. ALWAYS. like riiight after one another. but maybe he’s just down with the don

        • Yeah my dad signs most of his texts LD (which stands for Love, Dad but being the nerd I am, it just reminds me of debate tournaments). Sebastian Barr

    • William Shatner signs all his tweets, “My best, Bill”. He’s started abbreviating that to MBB, though, which kind of makes me sad.

  3. I really like his rationale behind coming out, ” I think if you’re going to be in the business of news . . . then you’ve got to be honest. You’ve got to have the same rules for yourself as you do for everyone else.”

    Maybe I will start watching CNN again!

    PS. I’m enjoying the rhyming titles for these last two posts.

  4. All I have to say about more public figures/people with influence coming out is: Weeeeee!!!!! :D

  5. Can I say what everyone’s thinking?

    So does this mean Anderson Cooper is going to come out now, too?

    • Huh. I thought Anderson Cooper was out. I guess just he’s never confirmed it, wanting to keep his private life private.

  6. I have never watched CNN so I admit I didn’t know who this guy was until right now, but I have to say, he is like some super cool character from a movie or something. He is so impressively calm and cool in that interview, and I don’t know what I’m talking about here but I think he might also be handsome.

  7. I find his honesty extremely awe inspiring. I think it’s amazing he was able to keep his composure while talking about past abuse in that interview.

  8. I enjoy his reporting. I also enjoy Anderson Cooper’s. Added bonuses are that they are gay. And a half-point bonus for being extremely handsome.

  9. Some LGBT websites were already trying to out him but I’m glad he got to do it on his own terms. I love him!

  10. A while ago I realized that I’d probably (definitely) switch teams for both Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper. It’s sort of a weird, fan-fic-ish thing, I guess.

  11. Whoa, I never pegged him as being gay. Thought never even remotely crossed my mind. That’s crazy. I love Don Lemon! If I were to pick my two favorite anchors, I’d pick Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon. Hmm…

    • I am sensing a deep-rooted similarity between those two.

      …they both work for CNN.

  12. Good for Don Lemon! I admire his bravery. I’m always happy to see the homogays come out because as hard as it is for them to do it, it does make things that much easier for kids coming up now who see them in all these different areas of our society.

  13. My favorite thing about this is he did it because he sincerely wants to prevent gay youth suicides. That is so fucking awesome, I can’t even.

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