Actress Meredith Baxter says She's a Lesbian!

[Jacob Black]

Actress Meredith Baxter says she's a lesbian

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20091202/i/r817785217.jpg?x=213&y=301&xc=1&yc=1&wc=318&hc=449&q=85&sig=oQ9IPsU_MlcxlptIhxuoTQ--
Actress Meredith Baxter of "Family Ties" poses as she arrives at "A Father's Day Salute …




Wed Dec 2, 3:56 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Meredith Baxter, a star of the 1980's sitcom "Family Ties", said on Wednesday she was a lesbian as media reports and published photos of her and a woman embracing began to surface in public.

Baxter, 62, told NBC's "The Today Show" that she discovered she was gay seven years ago, several years after her divorce from her third husband. She said her five children, who range from ages 25 to 42, supported her when she told them.

"I am a lesbian, and it was a later-in-life recognition," she said. "I got involved with someone I never expected to get involved with, and it was that kind of awakening. I had a great deal of difficulty connecting with men in relationships."

Her comments came amid recent online photographs of her walking with her girlfriend of four years, building contractor Nancy Locke, and reports that she attended a Caribbean cruise with some 1,200 lesbians, which she confirmed.

Baxter said she decided to speak to the media to set the facts straight. She also said she was once so paranoid the media would expose her secret that she asked Locke, who was openly gay, to park her truck farther away.

"She said, 'No'. I thought, 'All right.' I had to reach a level of comfort. It wasn't fair to push her back into some kind of secrecy, and the nice thing is that we live very 'out' lives in Los Angeles," Baxter said.

Baxter played Elyse Keaton, mother of Michael J. Fox's conservative-minded teenager Michael P. Keaton, from 1982 to 1989. She has had guest and recurring television roles since then and also runs a skincare company.

(Reporting by Corinne Heller; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

[Jill Monroe]

i read this earlier today! the article i read ALSO mentioned the fact that PEREZ HILTON was the person who all but OUTED her by posting pictures of her and her longtime girlfriend. Perez is a SLIME ball imo. He bullied a few other celebs into "coming out" lest he OUT them. For him to go after one of our beloved "TV moms" like this shows how tacky he is. But good for Meredith that she was able to take control of this and turn it around in her favor! it doesnt change how i feel about her one bit.

One movie of her's i HIGHLY recommend outside of her role as "Elyse Keaton" on Family Ties is "The Betty Broderick Story" its based on true events about a woman who murdered her husband and his wife (the one he left her for) after he used and abused her. (sounds predictable but the story is really good when you watch it unfold) and was broadcast on Lifetime in 2006. She did a great job playing a woman who went from innocent and victimized to a serious, ball busting, vengefull woman.

[Caroline Forbes]

Sounds to me like someone's trying to revive her career.

[Jacob Black]

I say good for her.

One problem I do has is that I believe that if you are a gay celebrity that you SHOULD say it. It's got nothing to do with the right to a private life which I agree with but I just feel that though it may be a career killers (though not NEARLY as bad as it once was) it sends the message to gay youth that the right thing to do is hide your sexuality and you will be accepted. I think as a gay celebrity you kind of DO have a responsibility in terms of promoting a positive gay image for those who are struggling with their sexual identity.

But on Meredith Baxter's case, I feel like she was pretty much out, she just never was like "Hey ya'll! Im GAY!" because she wasn't much in the spotlight and she was a later-in-life lesbian (my FAVORITE kind of lesbian btw haha). She was smart in the fact that these stories about her were leaked and she took the time to be like "Yeah.. I'm gay. Anything else?" and offered herself up to the public to say "Let me be the lesbian you know". And I really respect that :)

[Jill Monroe]

i dont think celebrities MUST be posters for "GAY" if they are gay. Most gay people won't have the kind of life that Ellen Degeneres or Rosie O"donnel have. both women have influence, MONEY, respect etc. the fact that most celebs that "come out" are WOMEN is something else that i've noticed. shouldnt more MALE celebrities who are gay "come out" as well if celebrities are expected to have some kind of impact on the "every day" gay community?

as far as i'm concerned, america will not be too much more "shocked" by another gay woman in hollywood in a post Ellen Degeneres world. But what about the men? THEY could do alot more to help out couldnt they? lol

[Jacob Black]

I agree with you there Farrah. The thing though to me is that, you never find out about these people until they are dead. And maybe they shouldn't be "poster" children persay, but they definitely shouldn't be hiding their lifestyle.

I think women get away with it because for alot of men it's easier for them to accept lesbians.. mostly because they are perverts. ---->!

But for a strong man to come out and say he is openly gay and proud would do SO much for the movement, and it doesn't happen. I honestly think it's because men never really had a sexual revolution the same way women. I mean we've seen the sexuality of a woman go so far and deep in the last 30 years. Most women are alot more comfortable with their sexuality with men, to the point of which their sexuality is almost blurred. I guess it's easier for people to deal with a woman who is with another woman. To me, men have stayed in the same rigid sexuality boundaries for the last 100+ years, and nothing has really affected that. I mean there was the free love movement but even still i've yet to see a sexual revolution/freedom kind of thing for men happen the same way it's happened to women.