From "Too Brian Williams" To "Too Much Like A Girfriend" In A Couple Of Weeks

Charles Perez has been a round for a while now. He had a TV talk show in the 90s, and has been a news anchor in South Florida. It is common knowledge that he is an openly gay man, but that's neither here nor there, or any of my business.

Still ... a couple of weeks back Charles Perez was bumped from WPLG-ABC weeknight anchor seat. And now he has filed a discrimination complaint with Miami-Dade's Equal Opportunity Board saying he was demoted for being "too gay." Perez claims station bosses demoted him to the lowly weekend anchor-reporter slot "because of their discomfort over the increasingly high profile of my sexual orientation.''

Apparently in early March, during a performance review, Perez was told by news director Bill Pohovey he was "too anchor-like and too 'Brian Williams' in my delivery.'' But shortly after that, a private, yes, private, email from Charles Perez to a family therapist was forwarded to everyone in Perez' online address book. In that email, Charles Perez tells the therapist that he needed to work through his "gender identity issues." Perez has accused his former partner, Dennis Ricardo Peña, from leaking the email and is seeking a restraining order against the man.

Three days later, Bill Pohovey called Charles Perez into his office for a "new'' performance review, this time saying Perez came across as "too soft,'' and that he didn't sound "main anchor-like,'' that he smiled too much with co-anchor Laurie Jennings "like girlfriends.''

Perez claims in his suit that soon after the second performance review he "began to disappear'' from station promotional spots and he lost the weeknight anchor seat near the end of July. Station executives say their decision was driven by economics. Perez has asked the station to return him to his weeknight spot--or buy out his contract, up in 2011.

Oddly enough, Bill Pohovey, he of the double performance review, is a gay man himself, and says, "As a gay man myself, I can safely say the Station does not discriminate against gay people. Charles' claim that the Station discriminates against gay people is untrue and offensive.''

Maybe so, but it sounds a little fishy. Or even a little swishy.