CNN’s Don Lemon On Being Black And Gay In The World Today

“You have to decide your identity,” says the openly gay news anchor…
 
Don Lemon is a journalist, author, Emmy Award-winning news anchor and host of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon. He’s also one of the few openly gay black men in mainstream media today.
 
Lemon was a guest on a recent episode of the web series Red Table Talk, co-hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow and her mother Adrienne. He spoke about the experience of being a black, gay man and the unique challenges they face when confronting the intersectionality of race, sexuality and gender.
 
“First of all, we were slaves. We were beaten and branded, right? And so as black gay men, we carry the racism part and we carry the gay part,” said Lemon. “We are already a class of people who have been discriminated against. So why do I want to have another mark against me?”
 
The CNN anchor continued, “Historically, black men have stayed in the closet. You have to decide your identity. ‘Do I want to be black or do I want to be gay?’ And sometimes some of us say we’re too black to be gay. Or we’re too gay to black.”
 
Lemon came out publicly as gay in his 2011 memoir Transparent and is an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ community.
 
Watch Don Lemon’s full Red Table Talk appearance here:
 

 
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JUMOL ROYES is a Toronto-based writer, content creator and communications strategist with a keen interest in personal development and transformation. Follow him on Twitter @Jumol.