Born in Guam, where her Japanese mother married an American career Navy man, Curry is not gay - she is married to a software executive and has two grown children - but said she knew the sting of discrimination when she was called "a Jap."
Curry and a fellow Emmy winner, Don Lemon, CNN's weekend anchor, were the headliners of the three-day conference, which drew 350 people from across the country to the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. Some cut their trips short because of the impending hurricane, while others accepted the hotel's offer to stay an additional night Sunday for a reduced rate of $99.
Lemon, who was a reporter and weekend anchor at NBC10 from 1999 to 2002, revealed his homosexuality four months ago with the publication of his book, Transparent. And in September, while reporting on allegations against Georgia pastor Eddie Long, Lemon revealed that someone in his neighborhood abused him when he was a child.
Lemon joins Rachel Maddow and Thomas Roberts, both of MSNBC, as the best-known openly gay television news anchors. Lemon is the only African American.
"It's quite different for an African American male," he said. "It's about the worst thing you can be in black culture."
The crowded conference schedule zeroed in on a range of hot topics: same-sex marriage, coverage of the transgender community, and how "the field" is changing for gay athletes.
In a workshop titled "Using History to Correct/Rebut Myths Perpetrated by the Opposition," Malcolm Lazin of Equality Forum announced the creation of a searchable online database of gay icons that can be used as a teaching tool. Set to launch in October, which is LGBT History Month, lgbthistorymonth.com will feature photos, biographies, and videos of 186 individuals.
Not everyone at the conference was gay or a journalist.
