'I Don't Identify As Gay, But I Do Identify As Bisexual': Andrew Gillum Reveals To Tamron Hall
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Former Tallahassee mayor and Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum has come out as bisexual in an interview with Tamron Hall.
On Monday's second-season premiere of the 'The Tamron Hall Show', Gillum spoke about the day he was named in a police report that said he was "inebriated" and initially unresponsive in a Miami Beach hotel room along with a male companion where authorities found baggies of suspected crystal methamphetamine.
During his sit down interview with Hall, he revealed, "I don't identify as gay. I identify as bisexual. I've never shared that publicly before."
Gillum was joined at the interview by his wife R. Jai who told Hall, "So many people just don't understand bisexuality. Bisexuality is just something different. I just believe that love and sexuality exist on a spectrum. All I care about is what's between us and what agreement we make."
Gillum, who was once considered a rising star in the Democratic party, also said "he has cried every day" since the incident.
That incident took place March 12 at the Mondrian South Beach
Fire rescue crews were called there regarding a suspected drug overdose and found Gillum and two other men in the hotel room. Gillum, police said, "was unable to communicate due to his inebriated state."
One of the men was hospitalized.
Gillum was photographed naked on a bathroom floor with a pillow and sheets soiled with body fluids. He told Hall he didn't recognize himself in the photo "literally lying in my own vomit."
Gillum was not charged with any crime.
He went through rehab for alcohol abuse and issued an apology.
Gillum was the first black nominee in a major political party to run for governor in Florida. He lost narrowly to Republican Ron DeSantis in the 2018 election.
In a July Instagram post, Gillum candidly detailed his battle with depression and alcoholism, conditions that were exacerbated by his loss in the governor's race, which was decided by fewer than 33,000 votes.
His candid confession on the Tamron Hall talk show about being bisexual drew support from groups such as the Human Rights Campaign and the National Black Justice Coalition, which advocates for Black LGBTQ people.
"Gillum's reflections demonstrate that there must be space in our country for people to be themselves without shame and fear," David Johns, executive director of the coalition, said in a statement. "When we are forced by harmful societal expectations to operate in black and white, with no room to express the many gray areas of ourselves that make us who we are, we get hurt."