Howard Bragman on coming out TV show: “It doesn’t have to be the biggest star in the world to make it interesting”

Publicist Howard Bragman, who recently helped actress Meredith Baxter (pictured) and singer Chely Wright with their well-orchestrated coming out campaigns, has a special Coming Out airing on A&E later this year.

Early reports had Bragman involved in a series but he sat down with Entertainment Weekly to clarify the focus of his upcoming television project greenlit last week. Here is an excerpt:

Q. Are you envisioning this as a live show, where people pop out from behind a curtain and say “Hey, I’m gay!”? Or will it be more of a behind-the-scenes look as they go through the planning and process of coming out?
A. The latter. It’s going to be very documentary-esque. We’re going to be telling people’s stories, and you have to do that with a certain amount of sensitivity. You know as well as I do, none of us gets out unscathed from coming out and growing up gay. I don’t care if you’re the best looking kid in the world and go to the most liberal school and have the best parents: It still screws your head up to some extent, and we all get a little damaged as a result of it. And hence we get stronger and more creative, and lots of good comes out of it, but it’s not easy.

Q. Why do this show, and why now?
A. I want people to understand that standing up and saying “Yes, I’m gay” is a huge deal. Right after Chely Wright (pictured, left) taped Oprah, five days after she came out, she found out that at the little high school she went to in Kansas, three kids went to the guidance counselor and said, “We’re gay. In honor of Chely, we’re coming out. We’re dealing with it.” And the high school promised them a safe place to learn. That was huge for Chely. That made it all worth while. We have to understand what the suicide rates are for gay teens, and the damage that some of the hatred in the world does to people. We’re in a country that’s very divided on this issue, but it’s not okay to be homophobic; it’s that simple. If we change a few minds, then the show has been successful, no matter what the ratings are. You used the term “post-gay world” when you blogged about the show last week, and some people disagreed with you. But my theory is the revolution is over; we’re now in the evolution. Evolutions take longer and produce fewer results than revolutions, but we’re getting changes incrementally.