Wayne Brady - star of that crazy "who's line is it, anyway?" and "Let's Make a Deal" had an interview with People and came out as pansexual - which is a more general, all encompassing label for a person who has attractions outside of who they are sexually or gendered. Interesting. I am not a fan of Queerty - it usually has some less than intelligent reporting and feedback from it's readers... but nonetheless, as a person who has found Wayne to be a talented guy as well as an attractive man, I was glad to see this confession. Here's the article... any thoughts? Wayne Brady comes out in new interview: “I was so afraid of having my manhood questioned” - Queerty
I always have thought of myself as pansexual......attracted by the human body and not restricting myself to any specific sex/gender. Simon
It's interesting to me that some of the feedback on that article has been along the lines of "no surprise here". I never suspected Wayne would be gay, bi, pan or anything but straight. I find him to be quite a handsome man, funny, and he has a good singing voice. I understand that Black men feel threatened in that community in coming out and being accepted - I understand that pain and fear - as an older White man... I hope things are changing - sometimes I wonder if things are getting worse... but when people are willing to come out, I think it helps, in general, to take the sting out of the stigma of it all. I hope a day will come when we can just be ourselves - without any repercussions or fear of reprisal... but I am doubtful I'll see that day.
Papa, I had zero surprise to that article. I always saw him as a funny,kind and caring talented man since his "Whose Line is it Anyways" days. I think he is part polyamorous, too. He is a godparent/ co-parent to the child his ex-wife had with her current partner. That child was carried by another woman, unsure if in a poly fashion, or as a surrogate. The open mind and big heart of Wayne Brady just makes me like him even more, on top of his taking a bold step publicly coming out, which will help other men, especially black men. He luckily has fame & financial resources to weather any blowback. The really brave heroes are those who come out despite the risk to their jobs, family and friends shunning them and don't have that financial or social support! I'm sadly not that brave yet myself due to those worries, and still trying to pin down exactly what I am. Only a couple of really close friends know. In the meantime I am an advocate for equal rights.
@dd788snipe I'm less surprised to read this than I was to read about his coming out. Seems like so many people with comedic geniousness such as his also suffer from the extremes on the other side of the spectrum. And, adding to it, his need to figure ou his sexual feelings - in a world that does not allow us to be ourselves, it sure isn't easy.
It's not that Black men feel threatened in these things: We have a... reputation for being homophobic and violently so and since so many people seem to believe this, it lends itself to the misbelief that there's no such animal as a Black, male bisexual (or even pansexual I'd suppose). I've never felt threatened and as far as coming out and being accepted, it's a crap shoot - maybe I'll be accepted, maybe I won't but, then again, I'm not Wayne Brady, a celebrity. It reminds me when Queen Latifah came out as bi; a lot of people were losing their shit over the news but Black people were like, "That's not news - we knew that already!" And no one cared that she was bi and I doubt that a lot of people were all that concerned about Wayne coming out as pan but what I know is that that reputation for being homophobic hasn't done Black bisexuals or gay folks any favors and more so when it's obvious that we're not all that homophobic if we are, in fact, not all that straight. I tend to think that it's weird how a celebrity can come out and people seem to be okay with it but if one of us everyday kind of people were to come out, the shit would be hitting fans all over the place and to me, this is the real problem; if we can accept Wayne's pansexuality, then we should be able to accept my bisexuality but, alas, that's not how it works.
