Weekend morning news anchor for Spectrum News 1 Ohio, Taylor Bruck, came out of the closet on live TV recently and the big moment happened on a whim. She was discussing Thanksgiving plans with her co-anchor, Alexa Maslowski, when she casually mentioned she was planning on visiting her “girlfriend” in Cleveland.
She told People it 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.” She posted a clip of the milestone across her social media profiles, where it has been seen hundreds of thousands of times.
“A seemingly simple yet scary word… 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,” she captioned the video.
The moment inspired many who felt seen by Bruck’s casual revelation. “Love this. We need visibility. And it was so natural and accepting. Live your truth!” Selena Marie TV wrote. “Thank you! And proud of you! Representation matters,” Singingchica added.
For Bruck, coming out was a way to pay it forward after being inspired by other LGBTQ journalists such as Robin Roberts and Anderson Cooper.
“Messages are pouring in from all around the world, including Ghana, Germany, Australia, London, as well as many states across the U.S.,” Bruck said. “People are telling me how much this visibility means to them and that they’re so proud of me.”
