Reichen Lemkuhl Part 2

The Conclusion of our Two Part Inteview
By Bobby Hankinson

January 2007 –Last month, super-hunk, reality-TV star, and now ex-boyfriend of *NSYNC’s Lance Bass Reichen Lehmkuhl gave us the inside scoop on his book Here’s What We’ll Say and on what life was like for him being gay in the military. The author/actor/model has become a media sensation and the book was just the tip of the iceberg.

Reichen caused quite a stir in 2006 when he and his formerly closeted boyfriend revealed their relationship. However, there was a bigger story beyond Lance’s coming-out: The media pushing celebrities to disclose their sexuality ~whether they’re ready or not.

PerezHilton.com, a Hollywood gossip blog, tracked the two lovebirds relentlessly before they officially announced they were an item. Through a series of photos that showed the two wearing the same articles of clothing at separate events, the site began speculating as to whether they were sharing more than a wardrobe. The New York Daily News deemed this phenomenon “man sharing” and quickly jumped on the bandwagon. The time had come for the two to go public.

“I don’t think there’s any hard feelings on our side,” Reichen said. “We actually just got to know Perez Hilton, his name is Mario, and I invited him to my L.A. book release party…we got to talk with him and he seems really nice.”

After Lance and Reichen (whom Perez Hilton deemed Princess Frostylocks and The First Reich), other actors, including “Grey’s Anatomy” star T.R. Knight and Doogie Howser himself, Neil Patrick Harris, were also pushed out of the closet Despite the intrusive handling of such a sensitive subject, Reichen said it’s just par for the course when you’re famous. “People who are public figures kind of have signed an invisible social contract to have their lives opened up and it’s to be expected ~ it’s one of the elements that comes along with the success of being able to be a public figure and the power of being able to be a public figure.”

Plus, Reichen knows there are more important issues facing the gay community. Beyond his personal crusade to reform the treatment of gays in the military, he offers an interesting solution to the hot-button issue of gay marriage.

“We need to separate church and state. If marriage is such a religious word and it’s offending people that gays are using it, then it should not be a word that’s allowed to be used in government. The word should be civil unions and it should be for heterosexuals and homosexuals alike. Everyone gets a government civil union and everyone gets the same rights under the civil unions. Now if you want to call it a marriage because of your religion or you want to call it a banana split because of your religion, fine.”

It’s not just Reichen’s political agenda that’s filling up. He’s got a bunch of other projects in the works, including a sequel to his book and a TV show in development. He didn’t want to reveal too much about his small-screen project for fear of “jinxing it,” but we managed to squeeze some details out of him.

“I will say it’s a show that comes right from my heart, just like ‘The Reichen Show’ that I had on Q Television Network before the network went under. It will be about the things I care about and that’s all I say.”

We know we’ll be watching!