Isaiah Washington Comes Out in Support of Gay Marriage

Last week the California Supreme Court ruled Proposition 8, the anti-same sex marriage amendment, would be on the November ballot and citizens could vote upon the right of gays and lesbians to marry. Add one more name to those opposing the amendment: Isaiah Washington.

Outsports reports that when publicist to the stars Howard Bragman recently married his longtime partner, he requested to "friends and family that they donate to Equality California to stop the anti-marriage amendment. Well, we’ve heard that people are ponying up in Bragman’s and his partner’s name, and chief among them is Isaiah Washington, a client of Bragman."

Bragman tells Outsports' Cyd Ziegler, "[Isaiah] said he wishes us all the best and he supports the rights of others in our community to get married."

Washington was fired from Grey's Anatomy after his highly-publicized behind-the-scenes drama with the then-outed costar T.R. Knight, and, saying the word faggot in the cast acceptance speech at the Golden Globes. Washington's remarks were confusing because in 1996 he portrayed a very fierce gay character in Spike Lee's Get on the Bus and previously spoke out against homophobia. After becoming persona non grata in the gay community, the actor was featured in a series of PSAs for GLAAD.

It's time to put the Isaiah Washington drama behind us. He made a mistake, apologized fully, and, is putting his face on an awareness campaign and donating money to the fight for marriage equality. Sounds like more than a sufficient apology, imho.

Isaiah Washington Supports Gay Marriage [Outsports]

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Comments

[Q]

"It's time to put the Isaiah Washington drama behind us. He made a mistake, apologized fully, and, is putting his face on an awareness campaign and donating money to the fight for marriage equality. Sounds like more than a sufficient apology, imho."

Uh oh, Rod! You done done it now, honey! Get ready for the raving queens from Towleroad to come here with guns a-blazin' over that statement.

[TheRevKev]

For me, add the word "FAGGOT" to the same debate that we have about "NIGGER."

I understand, from a very real place, now Isaiah, given the way black men use "faggot," was saying that he would NOT be Patrick Dempsey's (Dr. McDreamy, the show's lead)FAGGOT. The statement and word were NEVER used at or against T.R. Knight. He, stupidly, re-emphasized that point at the Globes and shot himself in the foot indeed. For many Black men, "FAGGOT" is like "PUNK," in its reference to not being someone that you can step on or over and push aside. Not being a "faggot" myself, similar to the way that I am not a "nigger," I didn't give his idiotic comment any merit.

He's a solid brother, with whom I have an interview after the "GET ON THE BUS" performance and he was so loving and so insightful about understanding gay men. He was among my favorite interviews of all-times and remains so. I hate that this has becomes his perception or could be his legacy as a great actor.

[DR]

Q, those Towleroad and After Elton queens will never be satisfied. They want to run Isaiah Washington out of Hollywood on a rail. They seem to have much more sympathy for one of their own who uses the n-word and makes racial jokes.

[taylor Siluwe]

I agree Rod, its time to put this behind us -- have for a long time. This just proves he's not the raging homophobe some tried to make him out to be. Kudo's to Mr. Washington, I never stopped loving him.

However, this doesn't me we shouldn't get our boxers in a bunch when people use fag as a put down. It sends a subtle message to those who hate us that its okay to abuse gays and lesbians and that's a no-no.

Mr. Washington apologized (as he should have) because the intent of the word was foul, as it most always is when used by straights who think its the ultimate diss.

[Derrick from Philly]

Actually, it was the REVKEV's defense of Isaiah that helped me see the light during the original affair over a year ago. On Towleroad, I initially found myself being praised by some racist homos for equating the word "faggot" with the word "nigger", but then I realized that many of these white gay bigots were more concerned with chastizing a black man than they were with his insulting use of the slur "faggot". Isaiah's race became the issue more so than his mistake. I often wondered had it been all black men involved would the white gays have been as concerned.

Over and over again, I read, "...these blacks complain about discrimination and persecution--they ought to know better." Which is an argument that I've used when in all black company; but, in the Isaiah Affair, I couldn't help but feel that many white gays were angry that their sense of "white priviledge" had been assaulted by a black man.

I forgave Isaiah Washington after his first apology. His continued efforts to reach out to the gay community is admirable--a step that many other celebrities wouldn't take the time to do. I hope his career takes off again, and that he has much success. If some white "children" don't like that--tough shit, Miss Anne.

[Ant P]

Luther, Derrick and DR are absolutely positively correct. The entire incident unleashed a racist firestorm that hs always been brewing on the back burner. Many gay white men assume all blacks are homophobic and the unfortunate incident simply confirmed their stereotypes. .

Oh, and I don't think Rod ever has to worry about the Towleroad queens coming for him. He writes for the Advocate and Out and the Chelsea/WeHo crowd and knows how to relate to them. And keeps it real, too.

[Lavenderpop]

Derrick, thanks so much for mentioning "white priviledge", because that had a LOT to do with it. 'Miss Anne' wanted to show who was in control in Hollywood by trying to ruin his career.

Isaiah made a stupid mistake, but what celeb hasn't been caught doin' somethin' messy: Robert Downey Jr and Lindsey Lohan repeated substance abuse and rehab, Mel Gibson's racist tirade, Paris Hilton caught on tape using N-word, Rosie O’Donnell mocking Chinese people on The View, and OMG Amy Winehouse! They have all been given 2, 3, and 4 chances. But not Isaiah. He apologized, did a psa and the white queens still wanted his head.

Isaiah seems to be a well rounded brother who is doing things outside of Hollywood. He started the Gondobay Manga Foundation to fight poverty in Sierra Leone. He is doing important work and I wish him the best.

[A. Ronald]

I agree with Lavenderpop. Enough already. The Chelsea queens will embrace any celeb with a drug problem or criminal history. Isaiah Washington drops the f-bomb on a closed set when TR Knight is not around and the horror. It's all about trying to let blacks know when and where the place is.

[Da]

"Kudo's to Mr. Washington, I never stopped loving him."

Co-signed.

And sorry to say this, but it seems that the more society becomes accepting of homosexuality, the more racism grows in the LGBT community. More and more you see gay magazines, websites, blogs pushing aside any representation of blacks or lambasting any fault they can find about blacks. So I'm left wondering, "whatever happened to that great fraternity of cause amongst gays and lesbians"? seems that once they got what they wanted allegiance to race rules over all; and we're witnessing white supremacy ideology infiltrating the gay community and magazines editors, bloggists being more than happy to further it. That's a bad sign.

I'm sort of digressing here, but what happened with Isaiah just showed to me that we can no longer count on the gay media for standing up for all; as it's not so much about condemning homophobia as much as it is ensuring the complete demonization and annihilation of a suspect long as they are of color.

[Mad Professah]

Harrumph. I just think that Mr. Washington has a very good publicist in Howard Bragman.

It was clear that Isaiah, despite being a "solid brother," did not truly understand the significance and impact of the word "faggot."

He does now, and he has put his face and his money where it counts, in the fight against Proposition 8 and for equal marriage rights.

[Donald]

Rod, you might as well have said Kermit the Frog supports same-sex marriage. Or, to correspond more closely to your post, that Kermit's publicist overheard Kermit say that he supports same-sex marriage.

And just for the record, Harry Lennix played the truly 'fierce gay character' in Get On The Bus - not Isaiah Washington.

[atl kid]

Donald, I don't think Rod said Washington 'supports' same sex marriage. Read what Mad Professah wrote above. He said Bragman, who is very smart, told/reported/asked Washington to sign a check toward fighting Prop 8.

Now unless you are psychic, you don't what Washington believes. But if you are going to insist there are no second chances or redemption, you're obviously part of the problem. And let's say Washington hasn't changed his mind but he still did his mea culpas, cut a PSA and is donating time and money toward a good cause. Sounds good enough to me.