Minnesota news anchor Jason Hackett recently attended a basketball game with his partner of five years. And for the first time, he didn’t care if anyone was watching them.
“He had his hand on my knee and we were clearly together and I didn’t care what people thought,” Hackett, 36, tells TODAY.com.
“A lot has changed in the last two months,” he adds.
In May, Hackett came out as gay on NBC affiliate KARE 11’s “Sunrise” show, where he has worked since January 2023.
“I lived in a glass closet where my friends and colleagues knew I was gay, but never my audience,” explains Hackett, a 13-year veteran of television. “I kept it to myself.”
Hackett says he had a knot in his stomach before the camera approached him on the morning of May 3.
“There was a moment where I thought, ‘Oh my God, am I really going to do this?’” Hackett recalls. “When that red light went on, my heart was pounding through my chest.”
Then, he says, “the words started flowing.”
“Coming out is never easy for me. I’m so nervous right now. I’m not going to lie,” Hackett told viewers. “This is definitely the most people I’ve ever come out to at once. But what I … and everyone here at ‘Sunrise’ strives for is authenticity. And I can’t preach that without being my authentic self.
“For anyone watching this right now, struggling to find acceptance, struggling with their family or friends, take it from me, a gay black son of immigrants, the road may not be easy, I won’t lie to you and say it is — but don’t worry, keep going,” he continued. “You’re going to make it.”
Hackett’s co-host Alicia Lewis was visibly emotional, while meteorologist John Zeigler showed goosebumps on his arm.
“I’m so proud of you,” Zeigler said.
Hackett says he left the studio feeling “100 pounds lighter.”
“It was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders,” Hackett says. “I was so relieved. It feels like gay people are constantly coming out to new people – you go to your hairdresser and your butcher – and it’s scary every time. Now that I’m known all over the world, I don’t have to worry anymore.”
Hackett says he has received messages of support from all over the world, noting that many of the people who have reached out are of Caribbean descent and can relate to his experience.
Hackett’s parents are from Jamaica, a country he calls not exactly “LGTBQ+ friendly.”
“The first time I came out was to my mom when I was 19, and we didn’t talk about it for a while. I think she was hoping it was a phase and that I just hadn’t found the right girl yet,” Hackett reveals. “A few years later, I came out again. I wrote them a letter, and it didn’t go over so well. I should have had a face-to-face conversation, but I was scared.”
The third time Hackett came out to his parents, he showed them a photo of his boyfriend.
“That’s when it really started for them,” Hackett says.
Although Hackett’s mother and father have not yet met his partner, he hopes they will one day.
“I’m not angry at my parents, and I don’t blame my parents. I know it’s hard,” he says. “Things are starting to get a little better. My mother is not in a place of complete acceptance yet, but there’s never been any doubt that my parents love me.”
Hackett wants LGBTQ+ youth who are struggling to hang in there, and he wants them to know his Instagram DMs are open.
“I know what it feels like to think, ‘I’ll never find acceptance. I have to change who I am or I will have to hide forever,” says Hackett. “Know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Live freely, love openly and be proud of who you are. It really does get better.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
