A decade after CNN anchor Don Lemon left Philadelphia’s NBC 10, he’s returning to his old stomping grounds this weekend to share the journey he undertook in the intervening years that led to his being one of the nation’s most visible out journalists.
Lemon will serve as a keynote speaker for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association’s convention, a few months after his public coming-out this spring.
Lemon, 45, first began his coming-out process about 15 years ago while living in New York City.
“When I moved to New York, I was surrounded by people who were gay and nobody cared,” he said. “Everybody was just who they were and it made me comfortable to be who I was.”
While Lemon shared his orientation with his family, friends and some colleagues, he never disclosed it to the public as he built his career at stations in New York, Birmingham, Ala., St. Louis and Philadelphia.
“I was worried that people would shun me or ostracize me or wouldn’t accept me,” he said. “I was worried I wouldn’t have a job and that people wouldn’t want to hire me because I’d be known as the gay anchor or newsperson. That fear was extremely real.”
He confronted those concerns head-on this past spring with his memoir “Transparent.”
While Lemon discusses being gay in the book, his orientation wasn’t meant to be the focus, although that was the portion that produced the largest tidal wave of response.
“Being gay doesn’t define who I am but it’s a big part of me and it would have been hypocritical not to include it. But to me it wasn’t a coming-out novel, just a book about my life,” he said. “But, in hindsight, I would have written more about being gay and how you can still have the ability to be successful by being who you are because that’s something that people really grabbed onto.”
Part of the reason his announcement resonated so much, he suspected, was because of the dearth of openly LGBT reporters and anchors.
Since Lemon has now lived his public career both in and out of the closet, he said he can understand why some in his field may be hesitant to come out, although he noted that step is liberating both individually and for the community.
“It’s a personal choice for each person. And anyone dealing with coming out and being LGBT or questioning should know how difficult it is. But then having come out, I think it’s important that as many high-profile people do come out because that can make the situation easier for everyone else. And I can only say that because I’ve done it. I understand the criticism [of closeted public figures] somewhat, but I think we need to allow people their own time and pace to do it.”
Lemon’s personal life was also opened up to his viewers when, last year, he divulged on air that he was a victim of sexual abuse.
The acknowledgement came during his coverage of the Bishop Eddie Long scandal, in which the megachurch leader was accused by a number of young men of sexual abuse. While Lemon said he wasn’t planning on bringing his own experience to the story, he noted the conversation merited his admission.
“I didn’t really think about it until I had members of his church on the air and they were the young people who were really naïve about what an abuser looked like or acted like or sounded like. So I said, ‘Look, you can’t be that naïve’ and then I just said it.”
Covering the Long story wasn’t particularly difficult, though, Lemon said, as he’s trained to remain unbiased and impartial.
While some critics have suggested that openly gay journalists cannot adequately distance themselves from LGBT-focused stories, Lemon said such an idea is inaccurate.
”Everybody has a personal connection to some sort of story,” he said. “If you own a home and have a mortgage, you can still report on the housing market. If you have investments and 401K plans, you can still watch the stock markets. If not, we wouldn’t have any reporters. So I think that’s ridiculous: My sexuality has nothing to do with my objectivity.”
That idea holds true even when Lemon talks to anti-LGBT politicians such as Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachmann.
“I really don’t even think about it when I’m interviewing them. I treat every person the same and if they say something that is an outright misstatement of the facts, I’ll tell them. I’ll call out anybody. And I’ll give anybody praise if they’re right.”
That attitude has contributed to Lemon’s reputation as a no-nonsense interviewer looking for answers free of political spin.
Most recently, he said Sarah Palin and Ron Paul have stood out for their forthrightness — both conservatives, as Lemon noted no Democrats, aside from President Obama, have declared yet that they’re running for the White House.
“Many politicians don’t know how to answer direct questions anymore. They’re so used to these talking points and partisan language that they don’t even realize they’re not answering questions.”
Lemon’s questions got him into a bit of a scrape with Bachmann’s campaign during this month’s Iowa State Fair.
While Lemon declined to comment on the incident — in which he was reported to have been asking the candidate basic questions about the Iowa Straw Poll when her husband appeared to shove Lemon into a golf cart — he did say that “the campaign called and acknowledged they had an issue and they apologized. Apology accepted.”
Lemon noted that the LGBT community is at times not as forgiving as it should be when it comes to the media.
As LGBT issues become more commonplace in mainstream news, he suggested the community reserve its criticism for outlets truly damaging LGBT progress.
“The media is such an easy punching bag. If someone is blatantly wrong, then of course we have to tell them, but I don’t think we can continue to harp on the media, especially when they’re on our side, if they’re trying to be open-minded and hear our issues but may not get the language exactly right. It makes people in the media hesitant to talk about issues to do with gays and lesbians at all.”
The intersection of the LGBT and media communities will be the topic of conversation at this weekend’s NLGJA conference, and Lemon said his own struggle to reconcile those two identities will allow him to share sage career advice with the guests.
“You have to walk in truth. You have to walk in your own truth and don’t be afraid to hold people accountable. You don’t have to be antagonistic, but a true journalist. This country and this world are just eager for real, true journalists these days and if you can fill that void, you can be successful.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].