Jim Berg
United States
He/Him
Jim Berg is a writer, editor, and scholar. He won a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Studies in 2000 for The Isherwood Century. He lives in New York and California. "Geraldo Rivera Outed Me on National Television" was originally published by Salon.
Steps to Liberation
Breaking Down the Closet Door
In 1987, twenty-three-year-old Jim Berg attended the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights with his boyfriend, Terry. A television camera captured the two men sharing a kiss, and Jim never imagined the image would become part of a nationally broadcast prime-time special—publicly outing him to his family before he was ready.
The experience forced Jim into painful conversations with his parents and siblings. His father rejected him, and Jim was excluded from Christmas, beginning a long and complicated journey toward family acceptance. Over the years, he came to understand that ending estrangement was not the same as achieving closeness, and that being out of the closet did not necessarily mean being fully welcomed into the family.
Years later, Jim fell in love with Koji, and in 2019 they decided to marry. Telling his mother brought back old fears, but this time her initial reaction was followed by an apology and a renewed expression of love. When Jim and Koji finally married in 2021, family members from across generations gathered to celebrate with them.
For Jim, the greatest liberation was not simply leaving the closet. It was finally finding his way back into “the Club of My Family.”
