I've been following this story off and on for the past few months. Charles Perez had a modicum of fame in the nineties with a brief stint with his own talk show, as the brother of another talk show host, and the boyfriend of a character/guest on the MTV show, The Real World. Recently, he had been the news anchor at a Miami television station. In the spring he was in the news after filing restraining orders et al against a former boyfriend. Since then, his on-air time was much reduced, and he was pulled from his duties as anchor and switched to weekend slots. As a result he filed a discrimination suit. The station fired him.

Quite apart from the merits of Perez's complaint (The Complaint), there is a double standard for gay men in the news media or other television programs, such as talk shows. I admit to watching "Regis and Kelly." The only guest co-hosts, who have discussed their private lives as openly as their straight counterparts are Neil Patrick Harris (a regular guest host) and, more recently, TV reporter/anchor from Denver, Chris Parente.

Though double standards also come up for news anchors, who are lesbians, it is harder for gay men. Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell and Rachel Maddow have had greater acceptance than a gay man might have had in their positions.

I certainly respect the rights to privacy of news anchors, media personalities, and talk show hosts. However, I still wonder when gay men can talk openly about their personal lives as their straight counterparts do, so nonchalantly.

A few links to commentary on Perez case:
From Queerty.com
From Towleroad.com
From Miami Herald

What are your thoughts?

I agree that there is a bit of a double standard with respect to lesbian celebrities' vs. gay celebrities' ability to openly talk about their private lives, but the only people who can talk about it (whether lesbian or gay) are the ones who are fairly bullet-proof in their current job.

Let's face it, it took a loooong time for Rosie, Ellen, Elton, Neil Patrick Harris, Lance Bass, Melissa Etheridge, etc. to get to the point where they could be openly gay and have it mesh with their public personas. But each one is, in a way, limited in his or her mobility because of it. Ellen and Rosie will almost likely never rise above where they are as talk show types. I honestly think that if Ellen was straight, she'd have been in line for a major talk show (Leno replacement, etc.), and remember, she fell from great fame for a while when she did come out. Elton and Melissa (and Lance) are about at the heights of their careers -- though Elton's and Melissa's ceilings are wayyy higher than Lance's. NP Harris is the one to watch to see if an out actor can go beyond his personal identity. He's doing a great job on "How I Met" and think he may move up the foodchain, but it's very difficult for any gay or lesbian to be out and rise to fame at the same time.

With respect to Perez, I could see the business' side for terminating him. Did they reduce his schedule because the restraining order was causing negative publicity for him and the channel? Did things go on behind the scenes that we don't know of? It seems they fired him after her sued them. I don't know. Here in Boston, the local ABC affiliate had one 40-something gay TV anchor get replaced with a late 50-something gay male anchor.

I'm not familiar with Perez or his show so I had to check him out on the internet.

My first observation is that this promo seems to be more about him as a personality than about the serious issues he addresses on the show.

And I think most people would consider grafitti artists criminals who destroy other people's property no matter how good the art is.

He doesn't seem to challenge them on that ground in this short clip. It may make for good shock-jock television but may turn off viewers who don't see the visceral reaction they would have to seeing their property essentially destroyed.

That kind of television may have a short half-life even for the best personality.

DeGeneres's is a feel-good program that has its gay and female audience on daytime.

Perez may not have a natural national audience large enough to sustain a show that is essentially about the personality who is hosting it. I think a gay man who took on serious issues in a serious fashion might do better. Anderson Cooper is doing very well on CNN. Though he has kept his private life questionably secret.

There are lots of openly gay anchors on every network in Miami, including Fox....
I think the negative publicity of his partner did help destroy his career....Gotta wonder about someone who would stoop to that level...