For years now there have been countless rumors about Anderson Cooper’s sexual orientation and his show even received an award from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Anderson Cooper eventually confirmed the rumors this morning in an online letter that says he is gay.
For a popular national television reporter going public about sexual orientation is not easy so it’s not that an often occurrence. Anderson Cooper’s coming out of the closet puts him on a list next to Rachel Maddow with MSNBC and Don Lemon of CNN. Cooper told the world he is gay in a letter published this Monday, breaking the habit of keeping his private life away from the media’s headlines.
“I still consider myself a reserved person and I hope this doesn’t mean an end to a small amount of personal space” Cooper writes in his letter.
Cooper’s letter was published by Andrew Sullivan with the Daily Beast and reads: “The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself and proud”.
Although Anderson Cooper says he’s comfortable with himself the letter was fueled by all the rumors about his personal life. Rumors that he says in a perfect world wouldn’t be anyone’s business but his; however given his public image “standing up and being counted” is a worthy thing to do. “I do think visibility is important, more important than preserving my reporter’s shield of privacy” writes Cooper.
The news reporter explains he decided to come out of the closet just recently. “I’ve begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle” says Cooper. Him going public is a manifest against the “bullying of young people”, “discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation”.
A few years ago, Cooper released a memoir which, as expected, said nothing of his private life, but focused more on his career. The report explained the focus of his memoir was “on war, disasters, loss and survival” and it was not his intention “to write about other aspects of [his] life”.
