Last year while interviewing young people from Eddie Long’s Atlanta church CNN anchorman Don Lemon shared with the audience that he had been molested as a child and today he has chosen to share another personal truth.
“Today I chose to step out on faith and begin openly living my own truth. And let me say right up front that I hope many of you will be inspired to do the same thing in your daily lives. Some of the things I’ve chosen to reveal in my book Transparent were very difficult to share with even those closest to me. There was a time when I was terrified of revealing these things to the person I love most in this world – my own mother. But when I finally mustered the courage to tell her that I had been molested as a child and that I was born gay, my life began to change in positive ways that I never imagined possible. Yet I still chose to keep those secrets hidden from the world. I, like most gay people, lived a life of fear. Fear that if some employers, co-workers, friends, neighbors and family members learned of my sexuality, I would be shunned, mocked and ostracized. It is a burden that millions of people carry with them every single day. And sadly, while the mockery and ostracizing are realized by millions of people every day, I truly believe it doesn’t have to happen and that’s why I feel compelled to share what I’ve written in Transparent. As a journalist I believe that part of my mission is to shed light onto dark places. So, the disclosure of this information does not inhibit in any way my ability to be the professional, fair and objective journalist I have always been. My book is dedicated to the memory of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who jumped to his death from a bridge after his dorm mates streamed his private business over the Internet for the world to see. Tyler might still be with us today if more gay men and women had chosen to live proudly and openly. It is also dedicated to the millions of young, gay people who believe they are alone when dealing with their own sexual identities. You are not alone! There are people, like me and many others, who are thriving in their personal and professional lives and although we sometimes have a hard time with it ourselves, we are here to show you by example that you too can overcome any obstacle as long as you stay strong and, most of all, stay alive.”
With love and honesty,
Don Lemon
May 16, 2011
Lemon's new book, a memoir titled "Transparent" comes out next month. The book covers his jornalism career and, as he writes in his book, the "dark, ugly secrets" he brings to light today. The 45 year old correspondent and anchor of "CNN Newsroom says he expects the public to have strong opinions about items in his book and about his announcement. Lemon says "it's important for everyone to be truthful about who they are".
So, now you know Don Lemon was "born gay". But, what else do you know about him? Here's some additional information. He earned a degree in broadcast journalism from Brooklyn College. He has also attended Louisiana State University. He joined CNN in September 2006. Lemon reports and anchors on-the-scene for CNN from many breaking news stories, including the Inaugural of the 44th President in Washington, D.C., Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana (2008) and the Minneapolis bridge collapse (2007).
Lemon serves as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College, teaching and participating in curriculum designed around new media. He has won an Edward R. Murrow award for his coverage of the capture of the Washington, D.C. snipers. He won an Emmy for a special report on real estate in Chicagoland and various other awards for his reporting on the AIDS epidemic in Africa and Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, he won three more local Emmys for his reporting in Africa and a business feature about Craigslist, an online community.
This year, Ebony named him as one of the Ebony Power 150: the most influential blacks in America.
