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Out TV Reporter to Antigay Viewer: 'I Won't Stop on Your Behalf'

Mitchell McCoy
Mitchell McCoy

Arkansas journalist Mitchell McCoy responds to a viewer who emailed him, "I can't stand your gayness."

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A gay TV journalist in Little Rock, Ark., has posted a snappy comeback to a viewer who wrote that "society is not ready for gay men reading news," and he's getting support from management and national media personalities.

The viewer contacted Mitchell McCoy of KARK via email, and McCoy posted the email on Twitter Monday, without the writer's name, and responded to it:

Mitchell's boss, KARK news director Austin Kellerman, stood up for him. "As public figures, our journalists often receive messages from viewers -- some good, some bad," Kellerman said in an email to Little Rock's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "It's part of our profession. Mitch is a great journalist, and we're happy to have him on our team." Mitchell has been with KARK since last fall, after stints with TV stations in Missouri and Michigan.

McCoy received many positive comments on Twitter, including one that noted the viewer must not have heard of out TV reporters such as gay men Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, and Thomas Roberts, or lesbian Robin Roberts. And McCoy also received support directly from CNN's Lemon:

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
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