YOUR FAVORITE LOGO TV SHOWS ARE ON PARAMOUNT+

53% Of Gays Closeted At Work, Clay Aiken Leading In Tight NC Race: Today In Gay

By Dan Avery
May 8, 2014 / 2:58 PM

We admit we were skeptical when American Idol alum Clay Aiken announced his intention to run for the House of Representatives from North Carolina's 2nd District. But the out singer did surprisingly well in the May 6 Democratic primary—in fact he's got a 369-vote lead over opponent Keith Crisco. The race is still to close to call, though, and election officials are saying they won't announce a winner until May 15, by which time they will have had a chance to review absentee and challenge ballots.

Y'know if they instituted call-in and text votes Aiken would've had it all wrapped up by now.

“While LGBT-inclusive corporate policies are becoming the norm, the fact is that LGBT workers still face a national patchwork of legal protections, leaving many to hide who they are for fear of discrimination in the workplace and in their communities,” says HRC's Deena Fidas.  "Employees are getting married without telling their coworkers for fear of losing social connections, or they’re not transitioning even though they know they need to for fear of losing their jobs."

Surveying more than 800 LGBT workers, Cost of the Closet also found that:

  • More than 80% of non-LGBT workers report that conversations about social lives, relationships and dating come up weekly and often daily and 81 percent feel that LGBT people “should not have to hide who they are at work,” however less than half would feel comfortable hearing an LGBT coworker talk about dating.

  • One in four LGBT employees report hearing negative comments such as “that’s so gay” while at work;

  • One-fifth of LGBT workers report looking for a job specifically because the environment wasn’t accepting of LGBT identities, and close to one in 10 successfully left a job for the same reasons.

    • HRC is hoping Congress will pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to extend sexual-orientation and gender- identity protection in all 50 states.

    On Monday, Hickey gave an interview on the Argus Leader website, where he compared being gay to "eight of your friends that you're in love with  take a dump in your bed and then you can sleep in it all year long."

    We should mention that Rep. Hickey—who's also a pastor—prefaced his statement by saying he "hate[d] to be crude."

    Last week, Hickey wrote an open letter in which he stated  gay sex "is not good for the body or mind" and declared the posterior was  "a one-way alley meant only for the garbage truck to go down."

    Sounds like "crude" is all Hickey knows how to do.

    In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Page says "I guess the truth will come out in the way that it does, but it's hard to hear about someone being in that situation, someone you like working with.... Whatever comes of it, I do think that there's a systemic issue of people in places of power manipulating and abusing young people."

    Latest News