Don Lemon was auctioned off for a date
during a Philadelphia convention over the weekend, The
Philly Post reported.
The CNN anchor was in Philadelphia to
address the National Lesbian & Gay Journalist Association's
(NLGJA) 2011 national convention taking place at the Loews
Philadelphia Hotel, located in the heart of the city. Today Show
co-host Ann Curry also spoke to the crowd.
Lemon came out gay during a May
interview with The New York Times, becoming the third
high-profile openly gay news personality behind MSNBC's Thomas
Roberts and Rachel Maddow.
He talks about his experience as a gay man working in television
news in his 264-page memoir Transparent.
The 45-year-old anchor has said the
response to his announcement has been “99.9 percent” positive.
“I'm lighter and freer,” he told
the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “It makes me better on
air. I'm not trying to hide anything.”
On Saturday night, Internet
entrepreneur David Hauslaib, the founder and former owner of gay blog
Queerty.com, bid up a date with Lemon to $1,050.
“When the auctioneer yelled, 'Sold,'
I said, 'You can't say sold to a black man!,” Lemon joked.
(Related: Interviewing
Rick Santorum is like 'lightening rod,' Don Lemon says.)