Gay Newsmen – A Clearer Picture

Manuel Gallegus: It hasn't been any issue at all.

This is CBS Newspath correspondent Manuel Gallegus' first interview where he acknowledges being gay, and Gallegus admitted that “I'm not so sure ten years ago we would be having this conversation.” Unlike Marquez and Yang, Gallegus was not comfortably out in newsrooms early in his career, concerned that being gay might hurt him behind the scenes.

“You always think about that. Especially when you're a public person, you're on-air talent. I think everybody's concerned with their own image.” But Gallegus said as he became more confident and satisfied at his job, met other gay people at CBS, and found the environment was an accepting one, “I realized that I had nothing to worry about. And it hasn't been any issue at all.”

Gallegus has had an incredibly diverse reporting career, interviewing Pearl Harbor survivors and actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio in the week before this interview. He has also reported from the 1999 Columbine school shooting, and the scene of two of the most devastating natural disasters in recent US History: the 1989 San Francisco earthquake and New Orleans during hurricane Katrina.

Gallegus, who has Mexican ancestry, is greeted on the street by enthusiastic Latino youth with “Hey Brown Man! It's good to see you on television!” And Gallegus thinks being visible as a successful gay man is important in a similar way. But ultimately, Gallegus said he chose to answer the question on sexual orientation here because as a journalist he himself depends on difficult answers; sometimes from people in the most intimate and tragic circumstances. “How hypocritical is it for a journalist to not want to talk, to not give an interview?”

Jeffrey Kofman: I can be honest.

For a long time it seemed that ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman was the only openly gay correspondent in America. In fact, he's answered the question about sexual orientation in press interviews since the late '80s when he was a young reporter with the CBC in Canada.

Like Gallegus, Kofman links his decision to be out with his mission as journalist. "I do believe that we spend a lot of our time asking people to be honest and straightforward with us. … While I don't think a reporter's public life should be the center of his or her work, I think at some point you can't dodge the reality of your life and pretend you're being honest."

In 2003, Kofman's honesty created something of a minor national incident in the U.S. After his World News Tonight report from Iraq on troop morale — which included one soldier calling for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld — Matt Drudge briefly printed the headline, "ABC News Reporter Who Filed Troops Complaint Story — Openly Gay Canadian," linked to an interview Kofman did with national gay magazine The Advocate. Drudge later claimed the story was slipped to him by an overeager White House staffer, presumably in a misguided attempt to discredit Kofman.

But Kofman can handle a tussle with the White House. His resume reads like a definition of machismo journalism. He has reported from Colombian jungles, done four tours in Iraq and covered the Afghan war from an aircraft carrier. In Haiti , Kofman was chased by mobs and threatened at gunpoint by guerillas, and was the first journalist to report from the scene of the 2004 overthrow of then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Kofman, who spent his last vacation trekking in the Andes with his partner, said his "outside the box" career aligns well with how he wants to live his life. But 25 years ago he wasn't sure he'd be in his dream job today as a world-traveling network correspondent. "I think that being gay, in my own mind, made me wonder whether it was possible," he said. But now, "When I look back on the decision I made about being open, I'm very happy. I don't have to make up stories; I can be honest. And that's the way I want to live my life. That's the way I want to do my work."