Fresh off her Southwest Airlines kissing scandal Leisha Hailey spoke with Everything But Urban about her celebrity, Uh Huh Her and how she doesn’t exactly want to be the poster child for the LGBT community. To be fair, the interview may have been conducted prior to Sept 26, when Hailey started an internet firestorm by Tweeting that she and her girlfriend / band mate Camilla Grey were booted off of a Southwest flight for becoming upset when a flight attendant ordered them to stop kissing.
The incident thrust Hailey, an actress and musician who’s one of the most beloved out lesbian celebrities of all time, directly into the spotlight, even landing her on the local evening news. Suddenly she was a household name.
Still, Hailey does not want to take on the mantle of being a role model for the LGBT community she said in her interview.
When asked if she feels as though she represents the gay community because she’s out she said, “Oh God no. I couldn’t take the weight of that. I can’t say, “Oh look at me, I’m the perfect example of what you all are”. I would never ever say or think something like that.”
The L Word star also said that there are definite plusses to being an openly lesbian celebrity. “There are times when it can be…great, when it comes to that,” Hailey said. “I feel personally that so far in my life, I’ve been rewarded for being out, and just being okay with who I am. I’ve had great things come my way.
While the interview did not get into the Southwest incident the interviewer made a prescient statement saying, “I relate this to African American celebrities for example, where if they do something, or if a gay celebrity does something, it becomes a reflection on all black people, and on all gay people.”
Hailey responded that she tries not to focus on the negative. “You have to let that roll off your back, because those are just haters, they’re people who twist and turn their believes in a negative way,” Hailey said. “I try not to let that affect me.”
Read the entire interview here.
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