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Why I Committed Career Suicide
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Charles Perez, the gay news anchor fired by his Miami ABC affiliate after filing a discrimination claim over a bump to weekends, says he couldn’t forgo marriage and children just to stay in the news business.
I was fired four days after filing a sexual-orientation discrimination claim with Miami-Dade County’s Equal Opportunity Board against my employer, Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, owned by Post-Newsweek Stations.
Bottom line, I believe they sold me out as soon as my being gay became too widely known. It made them uncomfortable and made me, in their eyes, less advertiser-friendly. They’d demoted me two weeks earlier from main weekday anchor to weekend anchor. It was a move I quickly recognized was leading to the door, and I wasn’t prepared to watch my career circle down the drain.
If the past decades have taught us anything, it is to be much more subtle about our prejudices. Getting rid of “the black guy” has given way to “we really should go in a different direction.”
My ex-employer will never admit this, but if the past decades have taught us anything, it is to be much more subtle about our prejudices. Getting rid of “the black guy” or “the woman” or “the gay guy” or “the Jew”—not to mention many other select groups—has given way to “we really should go in a different direction.” Or “we’ve really got to consider what’s the least objectionable choice.”
I’ll probably never work in the news business again. Honestly, who’s going to hire a newsman, as good as he may be, who litigates against his employer? It’s not exactly a career builder. The good news, as my dentist told me August 6, the day I was fired, is: “They can only take your job. They can’t take your talent.”
Since my firing, I’ve added a retaliation charge to my discrimination claim with the Miami-Dade County Equal Opportunity Board. The case will now go before a three-judge panel, which can award damages.
The station has said in a statement that it will “bring the facts out in the appropriate legal forum.” “WPLG is disappointed that the actions of Charles Perez left us no real choice other than to terminate his employment contract,” the station said. “WPLG emphatically denies Perez’ claim of discrimination.”
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amen. good luck with your lawsuit.
and until ENDA passes, i hope some flagrantly discriminate by hiring only gay people. ;)
This really sucks. However I heard the hate in front me me today and it is masked with scripture to the point where I want to absolutely hate myself as fast I can. There is a voice within me that wants to fight, and there is a voice within me that wants to die. Today that voice asks God, why these "christians" can't practice the "treat others as you would be treated rule". I hope I never cast such judgment as to make another human not worthy of life.
Joe, please don't judge all Christians by those today. Most of us are not only tolerant, but have gay family and friends. In God's eyes you are as worthy of life as me or those you speak of. After all, life is a gift He gave us to enjoy...gay/straight, black/white, young/old, rich/poor. We are all the same in His eyes, and those who don't adhere to that will have to answer to Him.
Good man, well said!
Any religion or "therapy" that makes you hate yourself and forces you to live an unnatural celibate life is just plain evil. No other word for it. I don't care what they call themselves and how many bibles they wave under your nose, they're evil, not you.
"Today, the major news outlets are held hostage by what they "think" their advertisers-and by extension their audiences-want to see."
Thought that your comment above was very telling and sad since it has nothing to do with reporting the news. Good luck with the lawsuit and the resumption of your career. Probably never thought that you would be the news, eh?
It's common for news organizations not to carry company focused stories or account conflicting content. Not all of us can be a Murrow.
I applaud your courage. One should never sacrifice marriage and family and a potential for true happiness for so called "career." When it comes down to it, a "career" is just a glamourous way of saying "a job." At the end, it is those we loved that make our life meaningful. Bravo, go get them!
*ann bishop rolls over in her grave*
i grew up in miami, so i'm rather familiar w/WPLG. one of the very best broadcasters in the nation was at ch.10 for about 25 years. her name was ann bishop. she was our walter cronkite.
ms. bishop, a single woman, was much rumored to be gay. one would think that her 25 year stint at WPLG would have paved the way for mr. perez's personal life to not be an issue of his employment - as it was never an issue for ms. bishop.
in the news game, any time you are moved to a less desirable position, it is indeed considered a demotion - and you damn well need to know the reason why.
usually it's because of age - another hard to prove discriminatory practice and one that the print media has engaged in for years (some have sued their employer and won, btw - i believe a columnist in san francisco won his suit a couple or so years ago against the SF chronicle).
i thought perhaps the electronic media, in its constant search for better and higher ratings, would think twice about demoting a well-known and popular anchor such as mr. perez.
i guess not. i do know that if this had been attempted with the feisty ms. bishop, she would have ended up owning all of post-newsweek.
good luck, mr. perez - and don't give up. in fact, if i were you, i'd be filing a wrongful termination suit on monday.
All I could think while reading Mr. Perez's story was of Ann Bishop. She WOULD be rolling over in her grave!
btw, mr. perez's discrimination claim with the equal opportunity board in dade county needs to be followed by a lawsuit against the station brought by his attorney for wrongful termination. it sounds like he has a case for both.
I think for Mr. Perez the hardest thing wasn't the loss of his job. It was that, in filing suit against his employer, he was killing any shot he'd have at finding employment on a different network. Like he said, no one wants to hire someone who sues his employers.
He's still a talented newsman, he could be the most talented newsman in the world, and it's unlikely he'll find a new job with this on his record. He knows this, he made that choice because, simply, what happened to him was WRONG. His only crime was being a little TOO good at his job, getting too much attention, and being in a committed, loving relationship with another man. Apparently they thought America wasn't ready for an openly gay news anchor. Especially one that wants to settle down with the one he loves and raise a family.
It's sad. I thought this was 2009.
He could try to work for MSNBC - they do not discriminate. This is really sad.
I also think he was apt in quoting Martin Luther King Jr too. I don't know how anyone can say gay rights aren't the same as civil rights.
Fifty years ago, I can see an up-and-coming news anchor getting dismissed from his high-profile job not because he had a gay partner (gay people didn't exist back then, at least as far as public life was concerned).... but a black one.
Think about it.
Congratulations for standing up for what's right, and good luck! Lots of people are behind you!
It's showbiz. Unfortunately, you can't reduce it to the same qualifications as in an office job. Good luck with this, but it's just not appropriate to try to get a job like that by suing. It's like suing a woman who you think rejected your marriage proposal because of your race.
I don't think he is trying to get his job back, I think he is trying to get an acknowledgement that he was discriminated against and then wrongly terminated and just compensation for the offenses.
No, it's not like "suing a woman who..." Mr Perez delivered the ratings that justified his job. Definition of discrimination: The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people. From what Mr. Perez states here he has a good case.
Mr. Perez only states her conjecture. It is not a sound case. I do hope he has more facts to prove his case. "I should know, I'm a lawyer" as Tracy Jordan would say in impersonating Starr Jones. But there are a lot of gay anchors out there. A local anchor in Boston comes to mind. Also, obviously Anderson Cooper. I wonder what the employers of those anchors thing. Does it hurt their ratings? Miami is a different (but pretty darn gay) market. Good luck. I do hope you find new employment. If Miami is all that conservative, then head to a new and more accommodating market?
Yeah, a local Boston anchor who was also fired on the same premise. Unfortunately, he decided it wasn't worth the fight, which was so ridiculous.
If you have been a reader of the Washington Post for many years, as I have, you quickly see the none too subtle move to the right, especially in the Post's editorial pages. Yes, there are a number of progressive pundits and the occasional knock'em dead expose, but by and large it is not the same newsroom Ben Bradley ran. I assume this permeates all Post Companies and you were caught up in it. I agree with you the television news business is almost totally driven by advertisers and ratings. I see it on CNN, MSNBC etc. What a shame because you are right the MSM is cheating the American people and not really doing its job..... there just selling soap, as they say
Follow the money.
I hope one of the other stations in the area hire you. It has happened in our city with a few favorite anchors. Doesn't the higher ups understand alot of the viewers are also gay? This is 2009.........!
Good for you - more people need to stand up for themselves. Unfortunately, shor-sighted, narrow-minded snap decisions on what is "valuable" to employrs is not limited to the news business, or one's sexual orientation. Though Mr. Perez believes "it was a suggestion that never would have been made to one of my straight colleagues, male or female," a couple years ago I had a female coworker who was told - face to face by a senior executive, no less - that she could not expect her role in the company to grow because that would require a workload that would occasionally extend into the evening or weekends, and he knew she wanted to have children so....Fortunately, it was a company that had little toleance for that mindset and he was reprimanded. But he was still in his job when she left a few months later for a better one.
Big Business screws up another American institution. The love of money is the root of all evil, a paraphrase from the bible, is apt in this case. The evil being the dumbing down and misleading of the American people that depend on an "independent" news source for reality checks. The big businesses in this case are not only the parent company of the news station but the advertisers that insist on funding only the new they want people to hear. If you want to teach the station and parent company and the advertisers a lesson start boycotting the products that are advertised on WPLG. Make a big deal of it - make the management at WPLG a pariah amongst the advertisers - and demand real and relevant news.
While there should certainly be laws against discrimination, I am having a hard time swallowing Perez' argument. He's been relatively 'out' on TV since he dated Norm on the FIRST 'Real World' back in the mid 90s. I wasn't a regular viewer of his nationally syndicated daytime talk show but I seem to recall he wasn't exactly 'in' on that either. I don't possess any ill will but I'm just not buying that he was demoted because he wanted to get married to a guy in Miami. There has been other gossip about him and his fiery relationship which could also be to blame - not sure that's grounds for demotion either but he wouldn't be the first TV personality to experience repercussions due to personal turmoil and gossip.
Good luck with the discrimination claim, but, as previously mentioned, follow this up with a wrongful termination suit. I believe you have a case for both.
My strategy would be to make your case as high profile as possible. You may find that your new job will eminate from this.
There seems to be more to this story then what we are reading and being told. The truth will come out.
"and we are not saved..."
I live in South Florida and think Mr Perez is a talented newsperson.I hope his lawsuit will be successful.
Never say never, as Janet Peckinpaugh proved here in CT when she sued WFSB-TV for discrimination.
Good luck Charles, miss not seeing you at WABC-TV.
http://blog.ctnews.com/evans/2009/08/10/why-i-committed-career-suicide- by-charles-perez
and this all started with an exlover sending an email CP had sent to a therapist in LA about "gender identity" issues to his entire email list, including the station manager. I hope you know what you're doing, check out mediabistro.com. Hope for a better future for you and for us, Charles. Enjoy the summer.
this article backs this up: http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/people/story/983708.html
seems the DB piece should have mentioned this rather LARGE part of the story...
still, sounds like a tricky case. i'm a string-em-up anti-homophobe kinda gal, but i can't jump on this one quite yet. could be a lot in that email that got loose that could be seen as the grounds for booting him from the main slot on this network.
Who are the primary holders in the Miami Herald? Are they related to the same holders of WPLG? If so, how? The article listed makes a lot of references to court proceedings and documents, but not much more than name-dropping, aside from the fact that the case is a mess of he said/he said.
Aside from that, did the publicity of Perez's case against his former boyfriend effect the ratings negatively? Did it effect the ratings at all? I think that's the most important part of all of it, if the television station says the court case was the reason for his firing. More over, why did they choose to fire him *after* they'd moved him to weekends (a "safer place") if they were worried about the injunctions effecting their image?
LOL! It wasn't about being gay. It was about being UNWATCHABLE!
Go get 'em. This kind of nonsense needs to be relegated to the history books.
Dear Charles,
My name is Pedro Aguas and I am the publisher of What's Happening Magazine. We are Florida's only statewide GLBT News & Entertainment magazine. I have been a big fan of yours for many years and I am appalled by what has happened to you. If you could possibly contact us at info@whatshappeningmag.com, we would love to discuss featuring you and sharing your story with our readers. We look forward to hearing from you.
All the Best,
Pedro Aguas
Everyone on on this post blindly thinks that Mr. Perez have been victimized simply because he is gay.
Did you know he worked at WSVN prior to going national and that WSVN is well known as a very gay friendly employer? Most of their 'on-air' talent is gay.
I doubt his claim that WSVN shot down the WMD story because of advertsier worries...WSVN LOVES drama and that would have been a perfect fit - they may have written the story a bit more neutrally, but still.
Finally, and this is from several third party sources so take this as you will, Charles is known to be quite difficult and not totally 'there' all the time.
Maybe WPLG wants to simplify their line up? Maybe this is a simple business decision?
Nobody in South Florida cares much about sexuality. This isn't Omaha or Ada, Oklahoma. Fort Lauderdale / Wilton Manors / South Beach - these are some of the largest most concentrated gay areas outside of San Fran and New York.
I'm not saying Charles isn't right or that he's being dishonest in his view of the situation. Simply I'm saying don't assume that WPLG is wrong because CP says they are. We don't know all the facts.
It's discrimination to assume WPLG is wrong just because they are a corporation. Anyone can claim anything against anyone these days...let's get the facts first.
My 2 cents.
skullnbones,
Sadly, we won't ever get "the facts." WPLG will throw every lawyer and dollar they have at Mr. Perez. They will gin up their side with whatever they can get their hands on, as is their right. But the "truth" and the "facts" get camoflaged pretty quick in this situation, particularly depending on the media bents of those who report it.
And If you want to have the discussion of who is "difficult" in the celebrity machine of today----and that includes the journalism industry----it's a pretty darn long list. Many who are "difficult" are tolerated, and in fact promoted and rewarded with large salaries, as long as they are delivering. Mr. Perez states here that he was delivering in the ratings.
It is still discrimination when you treat some difficult people differently than other difficult people on the base of their sexual orientation.
Stella,
You are very right in that lots of folks in that industry are 'difficult' and many are tolerated.
I also agree that we may never get "the facts," but Charles will have his own team spinning the story. This is a high profile case so I'm sure he'll have some good talent on his side as well.
I'm just always concerned when people automatically assume that a story is true just because it comes from the mouth of someone who says they were mis-treated. It's especially poignant if that person is part of a group that has been discriminated against in the past as there are open wounds and a general sense of automatic sympathy involved.
For the record, I always liked Charles and hated when he left WSVN. He was very professional and, honestly, nice to look at! (Though I think Craig Stevens, current anchor at WSVN and openly gay, is one of the best in local news anywhere.)
Hey, discrimination is always wrong...but so is jumping to conclusions. Let's see how this plays out.
Nice having a dialogue with you. :)
SnB
there are some other articles coming out that seem to offer that the story is about more than the above DB piece would have you believe. i would like to proceed cautiously on this one...
Ruppert Everett has long decried these kinds of practices and so many people poo-pooed his words as "bitter grapes". But Everett was a major force in the entertainment industry--until he came out of the closet:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/a rticle3059835.ece
I hope more celebrities come out of the closet and the rest of us support this fight!
Thank you.
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