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Gay News: BBC sports presenter Clare Balding has said that being an out lesbian on TV has improved her career.
Clare Balding
Balding: Being out has made me better broadcaster
5 April 2011
Balding, who hid her sexuality for several years, told the Radio Times: “Obviously there are certain people who don’t approve of my lifestyle choices.
“But actually I think for the most part people are accepting.
“Personally I’m a much better broadcaster for not hiding who I am.
“Not necessarily trumpeting it, but not hiding it. I’m not lying anymore, and I did lie for about six or seven years.”
Balding, who entered into a civil partnership with newsreader Alice Arnold in 2006, said that she also believed she had an advantage over her female colleagues, because she doesn’t pose a threat to women.
“Women are funny the way they watch telly because they don’t like women who they think might nick their husband,” she told the magazine.
“Seriously. They watch someone in a little tight leopardskin dress and they think, ‘Oh, I don’t like her.’ And the husband is going, ‘She’s fantastic!’
“But then I come on and they’re all right with that. It’s fine. And that could be hugely to my advantage.”
