Anrson Cooper talks about how he learned to embrace beg gay | CNN

Contents:

• ANRSON COOPER: ‘BEG GAY IS ONE OF THE BLSGS OF MY LIFE’
• ANRSON SPEAKS TO LEGENDARY AIDS AND GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST
• ANRSON COOPER SHAR WHEN HE KNEW — AND WHEN HE ACCEPTED — THAT HE WAS GAY
• ANRSON COOPER SHAR WHEN HE REALIZED HE WAS GAY: 'ONE OF THE GREAT BLSGS OF MY LIFE'
• ANRSON COOPER REVEALS WHEN HE KNEW — AND ACCEPTED — HE WAS GAY
• ANRSON COOPER SAYS HE REALIZED HE WAS GAY AFTER MEETG A SHIRTLS RICHARD GERE BACKSTAGE AT A BROADWAY PLAY
• CNN PRENTER ANRSON COOPER ANNOUNC HE IS GAY
• CNN’S ANRSON COOPER GRILLS FLORIDA AG BONDI OVER GAY RIGHTS RERD
• ANRSON TALKS ABOUT HOW HE LEARNED TO EMBRACE BEG GAY
• ANRSON COOPER HAMMERS FLORIDA’S ATTORNEY GENERAL ON GAY RIGHTS
• ANRSON COOPER KNEW HE WAS GAY AT 7 YEARS OLD
• ANRSON COOPER CALLS BEG GAY “ONE OF THE GREAT BLSGS OF MY LIFE”

ANRSON COOPER: ‘BEG GAY IS ONE OF THE BLSGS OF MY LIFE’

Anrson talks about how he learned to embrace beg gay. Anrson Cooper was asked by a viewer on Full Circle about how old he was when he accepted that he was gay. And not jt accepted , but fully embraced and me around to really lovg the fact that I was gay right after llege, ” Cooper said.

Cooper shared that he stggled to e to terms wh beg gay bee of limatns he and others faced the late 80s.

ANRSON SPEAKS TO LEGENDARY AIDS AND GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Anrson thought about jog the ary, but 1982, the US Army clared homosexualy to be “patible wh ary service. ” Anrson wanted to travel, but beg gay was illegal some untri.

“I thk beg gay is one of the blsgs of my life. Anrson speaks to legendary AIDs and gay rights activist. Anrson Cooper talks to Peter Staley about his new memoir chroniclg his life as an AIDS and gay rights activist.

ANRSON COOPER SHAR WHEN HE KNEW — AND WHEN HE ACCEPTED — THAT HE WAS GAY

Anrson Cooper was 45 years old when he me out publicly 2012, but this week, a CNN viewer wanted to know what age the newsman was when he first realized he was gay and accepted for his answer, Cooper explaed that those were two very different thgs that happened at very different ag.

” “I’m not sure I knew the word ‘gay’ at the time, but I realized somethg was up, somethg was different.

But ultimately, he said he “stggled” wh as a disvered there were thgs he simply uldn’t do, like jo the ary at a time when homosexualy was nsired grounds for discharge or travel abroad to areas where remaed illegal and often dangero to be gay. “I thk I really, tly accepted — and jt kd of, really not jt accepted but fully embraced and me around to really lovg the fact that I was gay — would probably be right after llege, " the now-53-year-old said, addg that was “about a year after llege (when) I realized, 'I don't want to waste any more time worryg about this' and sort of wishg I was some other way. "I thk beg gay is one of the great blsgs of my life, ” he ntued.

ANRSON COOPER SHAR WHEN HE REALIZED HE WAS GAY: 'ONE OF THE GREAT BLSGS OF MY LIFE'

“When I was 12 years old and I knew I was gay and thought about my life, always upset me, bee I thought, ‘I will never be able to have a kid, ’” Cooper told People magaze shortly after Wyatt’s birth. "I'm not sure I knew the word 'gay' at the time, but I realized somethg was up, " Cooper said a Q&A ssn Monday on CNN's "Full Circle, " addg that he began to tell iends when he was high school but still stggled through llege wh fully lovg himself.

ANRSON COOPER REVEALS WHEN HE KNEW — AND ACCEPTED — HE WAS GAY

"I thk I really, tly accepted – and not jt accepted , but fully embraced and me around to really lovg the fact that I was gay – would probably be right after llege, " he said. "A lot of the thgs I wanted to do at the time, you uldn't be gay, " he said, cg an tert jog the U.

ANRSON COOPER SAYS HE REALIZED HE WAS GAY AFTER MEETG A SHIRTLS RICHARD GERE BACKSTAGE AT A BROADWAY PLAY

Ary, though out members of the gay muny were not allowed to serve at the time. The ary's "don't ask, don't tell" policy which prohibed openly gay, lbian and bisexual Amerins om servg, was officially repealed 2011. " He me out as gay to the public on July 2, 2012, allowg iend and wrer Andrew Sullivan to publish an email om him, sayg 'd bee clear that remag silent on the topic had given the false imprsn that he had somethg to hi.

"The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I uldn’t be any more happy, fortable wh myself, and proud, " he has sce weled a son, Wyatt Man Cooper, born April 27, 2020 via surrogate. "I thk beg gay is one of the great blsgs of my life, " Cooper add on "Full Circle. Anrson Cooper is openg up about when he realized he was gay — and when he "really, tly accepted .

CNN PRENTER ANRSON COOPER ANNOUNC HE IS GAY

"I mean, I was probably, I don't know, 7, when I kd of realized — I'm not sure I knew the word 'gay' at the time, but I realized somethg was up. Somethg was different, " he said, rpondg to someone who asked him how he learned to accept beg gay and how old he was when he did.

The news anchor said that while he had told people high school, wasn't until after llege that he "me around to really lovg the fact that I was gay. "I thk I really, tly accepted — and not jt accepted , but fully embraced and you know, me around to really lovg the fact that I was gay — would probably be right after llege, " he said. "You know, I kd of stggled my teenage years, certaly, but even a ltle llege, " the father of one ntued, explag that "a lot of the thgs I wanted to do at the time, you uldn't be gay.

CNN’S ANRSON COOPER GRILLS FLORIDA AG BONDI OVER GAY RIGHTS RERD

"And I wanna embrace who I am, and as I've said before, I thk beg gay is one of the great blsgs of my life, " he said, addg that his perspective has "ma me a better person, and 's ma me a better reporter. " In 2016, the journalist was the first out gay man to morate a printial bate.

"When I was 12 years old and knew I was gay and thought about my life, always upset me bee I thought, 'I will never be able to have a kid, ' " Cooper said June for PEOPLE's first-ever Pri issue. Domik Bdl/Getty Imag; Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagAnrson Cooper opened up about the moment he realized he was gay Friday on "Rad Andy.

ANRSON TALKS ABOUT HOW HE LEARNED TO EMBRACE BEG GAY

"Anrson Cooper opened up about the moment he realized he was gay on Friday durg the "Andy Cohen Live Pri Special" on SiriXM's "Rad Andy.

Richard Gere starred the play about the persecutn of homosexualy Nazi Germany. It was jt me and my mom's two gay iends, " he lled the openg scene, which a man gets out of bed pletely naked and puts on a uniform, "the gayt thg you n image.

ANRSON COOPER HAMMERS FLORIDA’S ATTORNEY GENERAL ON GAY RIGHTS

""And I jt remember beg like, 'Oh my God, I'm gay....

I'm totally gay, " he the play end, Cooper said Jasm took him backstage to meet Gere, who he worked wh on the film "Amerin Gigolo.

He said he didn't tell her he was gay until he graduated llege, and although she was "ol about , " she told him not to make any "fe cisns. He ntu: "The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I uldn't be any more happy, fortable wh myself and proud.

ANRSON COOPER KNEW HE WAS GAY AT 7 YEARS OLD

"Cooper's sexual orientatn had long been subject to show, Anrson Cooper 360, received an award earlier this year om a gay rights group.

Ever sce the ath of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub Orlando, my gay brethren have reacted wh sadns, anger and passn.

I’ve seen iends talk about their stggl wh beg gay relig fai, mem sharg memori of first viss to gay bars, and untls outpourgs of among all the exprsns of mourng there has been one nstant: Anrson Cooper. Every day sce Sunday’s tragedy, people have shared stori, vios and ments about the gay anchor’s verage of the massacre, and how powerful his terventns have been. Then, was his nontatnal terview wh Florida’s anti-gay attorney general, Pam Bondi.

ANRSON COOPER CALLS BEG GAY “ONE OF THE GREAT BLSGS OF MY LIFE”

Each time, people cheered his verage, as if was one of the few victori of this pecially dark time for the gay has proven himself to be the public face of the Pulse shootg, and I believe is right that a gay man uld hold this posn. In 2009, I wrote a story tled Anrson Cooper Is a Giant Homosexual and Everyone Knows It. Eventually, after much cricism, Cooper me out himself a letter to gay journalist Andrew Sullivan, sayg: “It’s bee clear to me that by remag silent on certa aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken imprsn that I am tryg to hi somethg – somethg that mak me unfortable, ashamed or even aaid.

”In the same letter, Cooper sisted that he was “not an activist” – as if he was aaid that beg known as gay would hurt his tegry, that he would be expected to don a pe ma of fact has proven the oppose.

Watchg Cooper well up while readg the nam of the Orlando victims is pecially powerful bee viewers know that the tragedy feels personal for him, as is for all gay Amerins. Watchg Cooper stand up to Bondi is even more meangful bee not only is she beg forced to answer for her anti-gay speech the past, but she’s beg held acuntable for by a gay man. His very existence, standg there ont of her one of his dozens of tight black polo shirts, disprov her claim that gay people n do “harm” impact of his verage prov that the perceived threat to his journalism before g out was a figment of his imagatn.