Joy Behar Discusses LGBTQ Issues
“The View” co-host received a GLAAD award in 2010
BY ANGELA LAGRECA
Joy Behar, an Emmy-winning
lightning rod on the
ABC-TV daytime talk show
“The View,” has earned
her place at the highly visible table.
She started stand-up comedy
“later” in life, at a time when few
women dared to get on stage, and
went from working in comedy cellars
to headlining in Las Vegas, Atlantic
City, and at major theaters
everywhere.
Behar’s success led to her own
HBO special, book deals, and a
show on HLN, where she often
advocated for LGBTQ issues.
Her voice “has always carried,”
and now, as a full-time East
End resident, she is also writing
plays.
Behar, a GLAAD award recipient,
has continued to speak out on
issues affecting the LGBTQ community.
‘The View’ started in 1997 and
is still going strong … Did you
ever expect this job to last this
long?
No — who would ever have
thought? I never expect any job
to last… but the reason this one
is lasting for me, is that it’s geographically
desirable (laughs). It’s
six blocks from my home in New
York City, and during Covid, six
inches away doing ‘The View’ from
her home in Sag Harbor … I’m all
about location.
Why is supporting the LGBTQ
community important to you?
I identify with the fact that gay
people, once they are ‘out’, have
to deal with that — they want to
be honest, and yet people are out
to get them. I fi nd that that’s true
on ‘The View’ – I have been saying
things and I have a lot of enemies
on the right – people on Twitter,
etc., who hate me, hate me, because
of my politics.
If I check their profi les, two
words always come up: “Jesus”
or “Trump” — as though I don’t
love Jesus. I love Jesus, too. I’m
a Catholic girl. I was confi rmed.
Comedian Joy Behar once received an award from GLAAD.
I love Jesus, too, so don’t tell me
about Jesus. That pisses me off.
Now that we have a new President,
are you breathing a sigh of
relief after Trump or are you still
concerned about certain rights?
Well, we have to worry about
gay marriage, now that we have
Amy COVID Barrett on the Supreme
Court laughs. Now that
she is on the Court, gay marriage
is threatened again, Roe v.
Wade is threatened again; it’s one
step forward, three steps backward.
And it’s about Trump because
he put three people on the
Court—that’s really where he was
destructive to the LGBTQ community.
Suffolk and Nassau both went
for Trump, and that other horror,
Lee Zeldin. People who supported
him know in their hearts he’s
a bad person but they like the tax
breaks.
You have always been very vocal
about LGBTQ rights — and
gay marriage — yet it took you
and Steve Janowitz a while to
get married … what changed for
you?
One of my in-laws had a partner
who was very ill and dying in
the hospital. And my in law was
not allowed to make decisions for
her partner because they were not
legally married. And I thought, “I
don’t want that.”
If I’m on my death bed, I need
Steve to be able to come in there
and sit with me and also be able
REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI
to talk to the doctors and not have
them say, “Oh, you’re not legally
married,” which is ridiculous. That
was one of the main reasons I
wanted to get married. The other
reason was I wanted to have a party.
laughs
ENTERTAINMENT
When you accepted the GLAAD
award in 2010 for LGBTQ advocacy,
you said it meant more to
you than if you were presented
with an Oscar.
I meant it. What I meant was, I
actually did something for somebody
by being a person who was
advocating for a group of people
who are discriminated against.
And I was able to voice that; I actually
did something for somebody.
Winning an Oscar means your
performance was fabulous — it’s
not the same thing.
You’ve done a lot — do you
feel happy with where you are
now?
You know what I’m proud of?
I’m proud of the fact that for four
years I never ever said one good
word about Donald Trump — that
is what I’m proud of. From the getgo
I saw who he was.
NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN
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Virtual Event
March 25th, 2021, 7pm
Submit your nomination to
dmattone@schnepsmedia.com
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GayCityNews.com | February 11 - February 24, 2021 35
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