If you live in Los Angeles and participate in any sort of events involving the gay community, you knew Meredith Baxter was gay as she was seen on occasion with her partner. Some magazine was going to our the mother of five (her oldest is 42) to the rest of the world even though she and her partner have led very out lives in our town. She was out to her family, but as a private person she handled her private life privately.

So, Baxter has shared her story with Matt Lauer and the Today Show. It’s a good interview and I think worth sharing.

Related link:

‘Family Ties’ Mom Meredith Baxter Joins Group of Later-in-Life Lesbians

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14 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. jeaneeinabottle says:

    Why do they act like we are not around gays???? What is it with these people in the media that they think that America is homophobic??? Some are as usual but come on, this does not make our jaws drop in shock. We don’t want to change marriage, you know we want our traditions and our religious beliefs and ceremonies to be left alone! Same sex unions, you got my support totally. They, the MSM is dead, they are the neanderthals in my eyes.

  2. Kimj7157 says:

    Good interview. Lauer surprised me. Meredith is a class act. And she looks great!

  3. SwimnLA says:

    She had me right up to the end… Being gay or coming out IS NOT political unless you make it so, in this case – she has. If she is going to be vague, then why broach the political angle at all? And Ms. Baxter – with all due respect: What rights are going to being taken away from you? Was there a ballot initiative to segregate homosexuals I am unaware of? Was she was referring to CA Prop 8 (or similar state issues)? What rights are being threatened to be taken away from ANY/ALL citizens or any minority group? Um, let’s see our 1st amendment and 2nd amendments are being threatened to name a couple. (Oh and wasn’t it Clinton who signed DOMA & DADT?) Our economy is in shambles, our foreign policy is that “we’re sorry” and the threat of domestic terrorism is accosting us on a daily basis… I happen to be a homosexual TAM and I can’t be more thankful that common sense conservatism has provided me the wonderful era I live in with all my freedoms I share with all my fellow Americans – inclu Ms. Baxter.

  4. Atomic Crusader says:

    Ms.Baxter seems like a very fine person. It’s too bad that she felt compelled to go on national television and divulge herself. That there are gay people, one might think, would hardly be a novelty to any slightly literate and semi-functional person today. I bemoan the loss of dignity.

  5. jmucciola says:

    Shocking!

    • jmucciola says:

      Only kidding. Not “shocking” at all. Good for her! Can’t believe she has a 42 year old child!! She’s still very beautiful and classy as always.

  6. bdunbar says:

    The real shocker is

    her oldest is 42

    That the lady has children my age. Mrs. Keaton could be my mom.

    Why do they act like we are not around gays????

    Yeah – you’d never know out here in Hee-Haw America that we don’t all have friends, family, co-workers who are gay.

    And it is not a big deal. Shocker, I know.

  7. lord-ruler says:

    I was going to say she should get an emmy for her acting on family ties portraying a heterosexual mother but then found out she “found” out she was gay later on. One thing about it that bothers me is why is it national news when someone says they are gay? I listened to Tammy’s show from yesterday today on my ipod. When she talked about Adam Lambert and then talked about how Adam had done a disservice to gays by going overboard on the music awards show. Actually I think the reason gays have more acceptance now than they did in the past is because until recently the only gays we saw in the mainstream media where Adam Lambert types. Whenever you saw a gay person on t.v it would be a man wearing a dress or acting obscenely. Maybe it is alright that people feel they have to announce that they are gay but I don’t really see the point of it.

  8. Carol says:

    Yeah, that was awkward. Too bad she felt trapped into coming on national TV to discuss her personal life. I remember her from the TV show Family (no Ties) where she was not a as much of a regular character. She didn’t look anything like the rest of the “family”. I appreciated that she made an overbite attractive. I had mine fixed, but it’s returned slightly as I’ve gotten older and I’m going to leave it be, it’s apparently how God made me. TMI about myself huh??!

  9. cmoore324 says:

    Dudes. Being the prescient that I am, I was crushin’ on ‘ole Mere when I was a kid and watching Family. We all knew about Kritsy McNichol then too. So what’s the big deal? B e Happy. Be Healthy. Best Wishes.

  10. Young American says:

    I also wonder about why Lauer said peoples jaws will be dropping when they hear this. Only in your world Matt. Miss Baxter looks great [after raising 5 kids !]

  11. thierry says:

    there’s been something of a ‘ late in life’ or late coming out of the closet lesbian stampede the past few years- good! welcome sistahs, the more the merrier. in doing this on tv she was taking control rather than be outed by some vengeful troll. i see nothing wrong with it and once you’re out and you did it yourself- what the hell can they do to you then? they want you to feel shame, they want to control you. she took that away from them.

    our other new gal pals who like gals:

    kate pierson from the band the B-52s.( late in life lesbian)
    lesley gore ( the singer of ‘it’s my party’ and ‘you don’t own me’)- came out in 2005.
    siouxsie sioux, goth goddess of siouxsie and the banshees- married until recently to a man although it was common knowledge it was an open marriage and she liked the ladies. divorced him, packed up the cats and came over to the other team.( she was writing anti islamo-fascist songs in the late 70’s way before it was an issue for most people in the west.)

    but how many of us knew jodie foster was gay, kelly mcgillis, i mean melissa ethridge? just about everyone gay knew. even my grandmother once pointed out that ‘ everyone’ knew rock hudson was gay- johnny mathis and of course liberace- in the 50’s- it’s just a big deal wasn’t made of it particularly because it wasn’t proper to mention sex and sexuality in any public forum (and the media studios could crush any story they wanted to about their stars). frankly we could use more tact , decorum and respect for others or at least a little restraint and less simulated fellatio when we throw open those closet doors to the world.

  12. morecowbell says:

    Whenever I hear a beautiful starlet comes out, I privately think ‘damn, she’s not available !’, as though in some alternate universe I may have had a chance if she were hetero.

  13. Winegirly says:

    The only thing that made my jaw drop was the name of her current girlfriend, Nancy Locke. I lived in Santa Barbara back in the 90’s and my partner once kissed Nancy Locke…so, in a way, it’s like I have kissed Meredith…how cool am I? Not! Now everyone sing along—it’s a small world after all…

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