Wanda sykes is gay
Wanda Sykes on Coming Out as Homosexual to the Earth at 44: "I Had to Tell Something"
In OprahMag.com's series Coming Out, LGBTQ change-makers reflect on their journey toward self-acceptance. While it's beautiful to bravely share your persona with the earth, choosing to execute so is entirely up to you—period.
Wanda Sykes is one of the funniest and most prominent LGBTQ+ Americans productive today.
The Emmy-winner and GLAAD Media Stephen F. Kolzak Award recipient is best known for the zingy one-liners she delivers in celebrated stand-up specials for HBO and Netflix (2019’s Not Normal is her latest), as adequately as perfectly-timed cameos in movies such as Monster in Law, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and Bad Moms. Refreshingly, her jokes often poke innocent entertaining at what it’s like to hoist children as a queer parent—she and her wife, Alex Sykes, share two children, Olivia Lou and Lucas Claude, both 10.
So it may come as a surprise to note that Sykes, now 56, was 44 years vintage and well into her established career in entertainment when she publicly came out at an equality rally in Las Vegas help in 2008. While she was already out in her private life and had married her wife
Wanda Sykes on male lover weddings: 'You don't have to be present one'
Comedian Wanda Sykes married her boyfriend in 2008 and has not been shy about standing up for lgbtq+ rights and homosexual marriage since. Joining MSNBC's Thomas Roberts Thursday, she joked about the anxiety that seems to fuel anti-gay-marriage rhetoric.
"You don’t have to attend one…or travel get one. It’s not going to be mandatory," she said. "If you don’t agree with it, then chances are you don’t know anyone who’s gay or are close to someone who’s gay, so that increases your chances of never being invited to a same-sex wedding. You’re cool. You’re cool."
Sykes, who led the 2009 Colorless House Correspondents' Association Dinner, also commended President Obama's back for gay marriage and called for it to be approved on the national level.
"There are some things you cannot enable the states to control," she said. "If we were to allow states to do whatever they want to do, there might still be slavery in Mississippi. You never know. No, it has to come from the federal level. It has to be across the board."
Sykes will host a two-part election series, NewNowNext Vote with Wanda Sykes, starting September 10 on Logo, whi
Wanda Sykes has been in the entertainment business more than 30 years, performing for world leaders and working with some of the biggest names in Hollywood.
It being LGBT History Month, we asked Sykes .
PGN: You’ve had a long and impressive career as a comedian, writer and actress. Which moments stand out as the most pivotal in your career?
WS: Winning my first Emmy as a writer for “The Chris Rock Show.” Doing the White House Correspondents Association Dinner with President Obama. That was his first one. My HBO special, “Im’a Be Me.” There have been a lot of great moments and projects but those are the really huge things.
PGN: You were skillfully established in your career when you came out. Did that have any effect, positive or negative, on your career?
WS: I think it’s been all positive for me. If there was anything negative, no one has ever told me. No one has ever said, “Oh, gentleman, you could have had that part.” I think coming out improved my comedy immensely because I’m on stage now not trying to hide behind anything or wondering if I’m going to be outed on stage.
PGN: Do you think you coming out had any impact on the industry or inspired other comedians and perform
Wanda Sykes, comedian, comes out gay over Proposition 8, marriage equality [video]
Tuesday, on November 4th — I live in California — so 8:15 was the happiest moment in my life. I was so happy, I was so proud of the country. We elected Barack Obama, and I was like, ‘Man, we are moving in the right direction.’ And then, about 11 o’clock, I was crushed. We took a huge leap forward, and then got dragged about 12 steps back.
When California passed Prop 8 — Arkansas, gay couples, same sex couples can’t adopt — and in Florida, banning gay marriage. That was just heartbreaking. I felt like I was being attacked, personally attacked. Our community was attacked.
I got married October 25th. my wife is here. And you realize , I don’t really chat about my sexual orientation. Didn’t feel like I had to. I was just living my being, not necessarily in the closet. Just living my life. Everybody that knows me personally, they understand I’m gay. And that’s the way people should be able live their lives, really.
If we had equal rights, we shouldn’t have to be standing out there, demanding something that we automatically sho