Charles Perez returns to the South Florida public forum with a book titled Confessions of a Gay Anchorman, which is due out on February 1st. The word "exile" is mine. Perez is too positive and upbeat to ever use such a word to describe what happened to him, even though, from his point of view, he was forced out of a successful career in order to have the freedom to live his life as he wishes. The word "exile" seems appropriate. In addition, we are talking about the bigoted Florida laws which prohibited Perez from marrying another man and adopting a child-the laws that forced him to temporarily move to another state to continue living his life in freedom.
I remember watching The Charles Perez Show, a nationally syndicated talk show about 15 years ago in New York. Of course, his good looks got my attention. But beyond that, he had a combination of charm, intelligence and insouciance that immediately made you feel at ease and engaged in the topic. Little did I know at the time that this was a gay man with the same issues of equality that many other gay men have had to struggle with. He was my local news anchorman on WABC’s Eyewitness News. If he wasn’t on, I’d switch to Sue Simmons.
Up until last year, he could be seen anchoring the evening news at Miami’s WPLG, getting recognition for some serious documentaries, including one on Hugo Chavez. He parted with WPLG, amid accusations of discrimination on the part of the station. The Peruvian American journalist and graduate of Florida State University is now a writer and has contributed to The Huffington Post, The Advocate, The Daily Beast and numerous other publications. In the following interview, Charles Perez talks to SFGN about his past, present, and future.
http://www.edgeprovidence.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=&sc2=features&sc3=&id=114834
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