Comedienne and late-night talk show host Wanda Sykes recently called into Rosie O'Donnell's Sirius XM Radio Show for some girl talk and the outspoken Sykes opened up about everything from motherhood to her unplanned decision to come out during a rally against Proposition 8 in Las Vegas in 2008.
The conversation took a gut wrenching turn when Sykes discussed the reaction from her mother upon learning about her sexual orientation and the possibility of Sykes coming out publicly.
"When I told my parent's I was gay my mother said..."well if it ever gets out I hope I'm dead".
Sykes also reveals that her family’s reaction to her coming out has been “not cool. "We’re still working on it. They’re getting better with it. I know they love me, BUT….”
Sykes goes on to address the double stigma of being black and gay and the prevalent misconception in the African-American community that homosexuality is somehow thrust upon blacks by whites.
Sadly, Sykes and many more LGBT people of color are not exempt from similar reactions from family & friends after coming out. We have so much work to do.
Listen to Wanda Sykes and Rosie O'Donnell's interview here via Auto Straddle.com and watch her coming out video below.
0 comments:
Post a Comment