Why Don Lemon Is My Hero and Should Be a Hero for All Young, Gay Black Males

Lemon taught me that there is too much life to experience to remain trapped in the closet or, worse, to hurt oneself. It was a relief to relate to someone's struggle, and it inspired me to do the right thing. I didn't want to be 40-something and still debating whether to come out. Photo Credit: Don Lemon (CNN Newsroom) at Redlight Traffic's inaugural Dignity Gala (Michelle Tiu / Neon Tommy) — Lemon taught me that there is too much life to experience to remain trapped in the closet or, worse, to hurt oneself. It was a relief to relate to someone’s struggle, and it inspired me to do the right thing. I didn’t want to be 40-something and still debating whether to come out. Photo Credit: Don Lemon (CNN Newsroom) at Redlight Traffic’s inaugural Dignity Gala (Michelle Tiu / Neon Tommy)

Those of us who have gone through the coming-out process have shared our truth with friends and family members in difficult, inspirational or even creative ways. Some of us never had a choice but to come out, because the fact that we are gay was obvious to everyone since not long after we were born. But some of us knew that being gay was essentially forbidden for black men. This is my coming-out story, the one that has taken me two years to write, and I’m sharing it to thank Don Lemon, whose own coming out inspired me to do the same. And when better to show my thanks than on his birthday, March 1?

On Sunday, May 15, 2011, on my first night in New York City, right before I started my internship at NBC News/TheGrio.com, the news broke that Lemon had come out after years of rumors. That night, before bed, after reading the inspirational news, I decided to finally come out too. This was something I had thought about on and off. I felt the same anxiety and fear of coming out that most gay people experience, but everyone has to come out on his or her own terms.