Ohio TV Anchor Comes Out as Lesbian on Air
News anchor Taylor Bruck has been flooded with well-wishes and positive comments from viewers for being authentic about her identity.
A local Ohio news anchor came out as a lesbian on air during casual banter with her co-host — a simple, yet powerful example of how LGBTQ visibility and representation in the public eye can be important.
Spectrum News 1 Ohio anchor Taylor Bruck was chatting with co-anchor Alexa Maslowski last month about upcoming plans for the holidays during a November 26 broadcast.
“The extent of my traveling is probably going to Cleveland to visit my girlfriend,” Bruck said.
While the understated coming out moment may have largely gone unnoticed by some viewers, Bruck, an Emmy-winning reporter for a station covering much of Ohio, acknowledged the moment’s gravity in an Instagram post.
“A seemingly simple yet scary word,” she wrote. “I said ‘girlfriend’ on air for the first time today, which some people may say ‘OK, who cares?’ … but to me it’s a step toward accepting and loving myself fully and being authentic on and off the air.
“IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS,” she added.
Viewers agreed with her, with many reacting positively to the post.
“It’s a big deal. And it matters,” wrote one person in response to Bruck’s post. “Maybe even more due to the fact that it wasn’t made into anything. It is what it is.”
“I love this so so much,” wrote another, leaving hearts and rainbow emojis at the end of their post.
“Straight people will never know the anxiety of someone asking you ‘do you have a girlfriend’ when you’re gay or ‘do you have a boyfriend’ when you’re a lesbian,” another person wrote. “We have no idea how they’ll react and worried that we’ll get abuse. A barber asked me that question last week and there was an awkward silence for a good 10 seconds while I contemplated what to say. Ended up saying ‘I have a partner’ and they just moved on thankfully.”
“There was a point in time — recently — where doing this would have gotten you fired. It seems small, but it’s not. It matters that people like us exist, openly, in public,” wrote a fourth commenter.
The 25-year-old Bruck recounted the moment with People magazine, noting that saying “girlfriend” was a “spur-of-the-moment” thing.
“I told myself, ‘Just say it,'” she said. “When I finally said it out loud, I smiled inside because it was a big moment for me.”
Bruck’s Instagram post containing the clip of the exchange between her and Maslowski has gained more than 110,000 views on TikTok and more than 200,000 likes on Instagram.
“Messages are pouring in from all around the world, including Ghana, Germany, Australia, London, as well as many states across the U.S.,” Bruck told People about the far-reaching impact of the post. “People are telling me how much this visibility means to them and that they’re so proud of me.”
Bruck said she’s always been “very open” about her sexual orientation on social media. “I always try to encourage others to live their truths, so I decided to fully live mine,” she said.
Bruck met her girlfriend, singer-songwriter Lauren Lanzaretta, in Cleveland while working in the city. The two bonded over their love for Mariah Carey and a “passion for living life to the fullest without taking it too seriously” she told People.
Bruck said she has been inspired by other prominent LGBTQ journalists, who have been able to embrace their sexual orientation without being defined exclusively by it.
“I’m just being myself,” she told the magazine. “A journalist and a news anchor who loves her job and happens to be gay. I’m so grateful for being able to be myself on and off the screen because visibility matters, and it saves lives.”
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