Following is Cathy DeBuono’s coming out story on I Want The World To Know. If you have a coming out story or are a parent of an LGBTQ child and want to tell your story, please do it on Becca Katz’s (pronounced Kates) website.
Please watch the whole video. It’s 20 minutes long, but it won’t feel like it. If you have to choose, I’d rather you watch the video and skip the text following it.
Published by beckatz on December 20th, 2009 – in Spotlight Stories Video Stories
I wanted you to hear Cathy’s story first because she’s a psychotherapist and talks about issues relevant to anyone thinking of coming out, especially about being safe and taking care of yourself while moving forward to live your authentic life. Cathy is a remarkable role model for lesbians everywhere, and takes that job very seriously.
Since the above video was made, Cathy’s family has grown even more in fully embracing her life. Listen to her radio show archives on La Talk Radio, show date January 3, 2012 for her moving story of Christmas 2011.
Cathy, a New York native, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and has an online practice. She holds a Masters degree in psychology with a plethora of internship and continuing education credits that grows steadily. She loves to study people, and follows reality TV and some real people, like Casey Anthony. While many are watching for entertainment, she is analyzing people, how they interact, and why their relationships proceed as they do.
She hosts a weekly online radio show, Cathy Is In. Tune in Thursdays at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET). If you miss it live, download the podcast, or listen to the recording online. Her producer is her fiance, Jill Bennett (they’re formally engaged to be married when prop 8 is overturned in CA).
The radio show is a spin-off of her recorded AfterEllen and then interactive She-Wired show, What’s Your Problem?. Please watch a few episodes.
She created the CDB Network online where women from all over the world can connect and find support. We login to the chat room, Cathy’s Twitter feed (@cathydebuono), and participate in the radio show each week.
Cathy’s an incredible actress. She completed acting school after college in New York, when a knee injury ended her volleyball career, then moved to Los Angeles. She was on TV shows in the 1990′s, such as Chicago Hope, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and The Pretender.
Between 1999 and 2006, Cathy played occasional roles while she attended graduate school and completed her Masters degree and internship to become a psychotherapist. She had a private practice when she returned to acting in a starring role as Risa in “Out At The Wedding“, currently on Logo.com free.
She can be seen in roles in many recent independent films and online series. Her most recent major project is We Have to Stop Now. Fans hope for season 3. She has several newer acting projects on the independent film circuit or in post-production.
Jill and Cathy have an episode on the OWN reality series Real Life: The Musical, expected to air later this year.
Please check out her acting, directing and producing projects:
Cathy Is In/other work. Cathy’s complete filmography is available here on IMDb. She has a blog here.
References: IWTWTK, Cathy Is In, WYP, her radio show, YouTube channel, and filmography.
My next post will be shorter and feature Cathy’s mom’s story, from a parent’s perspective.
Please post your comments and questions below.
Cathy DeBuono, Coming out stories, I Want the World to Know, LGBTQ civil rights
August 29th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Very interesting video (yes I watched the whole thing), and not just because I used to watch Deep Space 9! Great story, I’ve not heard anything like it before
Joel´s last [type] ..Showcase Your Reputation
August 29th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Joel,
Thanks for watching! Until I became immersed in the community as part of it, I never heard stories like this before either. This is the common experience. Looking back, we all had clues since we were very young that we were different. Mine aren’t nearly as clear as Cathy’s and many others in the community, but they were there. Mine is more like Rachel Maddow’s story, I wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on below my chin.
BTW, Cathy played Dax’s photo double in scenes where you couldn’t see her face. After Jadzia died, Cathy played various aliens and a dabo girl, M’Pella.
September 30th, 2012 at 11:08 pm
[...] an adult.Unlike most people, Jill has 6 parents, the result of two divorces. As you saw in Cathy’s and Lynn’s stories, there was a different process and family dynamic than in Jill’s [...]