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‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star Jake Borelli comes out as gay

The actor says he’s been open with friends and family for almost 10 years

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Jake Borelli on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (Screenshot via YouTube)

“Grey’s Anatomy” actor Jake Borelli’s character was part of a historical moment on Thursday night’s episode of the medical drama when two male doctors began a romance for the first time in the show’s history.

In the episode,Ā ā€œFlowers Grow Out of My Grave,ā€ Levi Schmitt (Borelli) andĀ Dr. Nico Kim (Alex Landi), the first gay male surgeon in the series, gave in to their sexual tension and shared a kiss on the elevator. Levi admits it’s the first time he’s kissed another man.

Shortly after the episode aired, Borelli shared that he and his character have something in common. Borelli took to Instagram to publicly come out as gay.

ā€œAs a gay guy myself, tonightā€™s episode was so special to me. This is exactly the kind of story I craved as a young gay kid growing up in Ohio, and it blows my mind that Iā€™m able to bring life to Dr. Levi Schmitt as he begins to grapple with his own sexuality this season on ‘Greyā€™s Anatomy,’ā€ Borelli writes.

“His vulnerability and courage inspire me every day, and I hope he can do the same for you. To all of you who feel like little Levis out there, know that I do too, that you are seen, and that we’re all in this together. And to everyone who has supported me over the years, I can’t thank you enough, and I love you more than all the stars…” he continued.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Borelli explained why he decided now was the time to come out.

ā€œIā€™ve been out to my friends and family for almost 10 years now, but within the last couple of months of shooting the show and really getting to know this character and seeing the response, Iā€™ve realized that this is becoming bigger than just me,ā€ Borelli said. ā€œWithin the last year or so, Iā€™ve been giving the opportunity to speak on a much larger platform. With that opportunity, I am able to come out to a much larger group of people. I want to live in a world that celebrates authenticity and honesty and openness and courage, and I feel a responsibility to come out on a much larger scale,ā€ he says.

“Grey’s Anatomy” airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.

 

 

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PHOTOS: Israel at war

International News Editor Michael K. Lavers was on assignment in the country last month

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The Pride House of Beā€™er Sheva in Beā€™er Sheva, Israel, on Oct. 9, 2024. The banner on the gate reads, ā€œGet them out of hell!ā€ in reference to the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

TEL AVIV, Israel ā€” The Washington Blade was on assignment in Israel from Oct. 4-14, 2024. 

The Blade covered the first anniversary of Oct. 7, and interviewed the cousin of a woman who Hamas militants killed after they kidnapped her and her sister-in-law. The Blade also interviewed the widow of a gay Israel Defense Forces soldier who spearheaded efforts to amend the countryā€™s Bereaved Families Law to recognize LGBTQ widows and widowers of fallen servicemembers.

Activists in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Beā€™er Sheva also spoke with the Blade.

Destroyed homes in the outskirts of Khan Younis, Gaza, in January 2024. (Courtesy photo)

Layla, a gay bar in Tel Aviv, in an Instagram post for an Oct. 1 party notes the Israel Defense Forces are ā€œdemilitarizing Lebanon.ā€ The promotion includes a picture of long-time Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who the Israeli Defense Force killed in the Beirut suburb of Dahieh less than a week earlier. Iran on Oct. 1 launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel in response to Nasrallahā€™s death. (Photo courtesy of Laylaā€™s Instagram page)

A public art display at Ben-Gurion Airport on Oct. 4, 2024, demands the release of the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A mural in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 4, 2024.(Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A boy plays a piano in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 4, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 4, 2024. (Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)

The Blade could not access Al Jazeeraā€™s website in Israel.

The Israeli government in May banned the Qatar-based network from working in the country, and shut down its bureaus in East Jerusalem and Nazareth, a predominantly Arab city in northern Israel. A judge in June extended the ban for 45 days. Israeli soldiers on Sept. 22 raided Al Jazeeraā€™s bureau in Ramallah, the Palestinian capital, and ordered its closure for 45 days. (Washington Blade screenshot by Michael K. Lavers)


An Israeli Pride flag flies next to a banner on a terrace in Tel Aviv, Israel, that calls for the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Hilton Beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 5, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A bomb shelter near Beā€™eri, Israel, on Oct. 5, 2024. Hamas militants on Oct. 7 killed three people from the nearby Nova Music Festival who took shelter inside. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Part of the makeshift Nova Music Festival memorial near Reā€™im, Israel, on Oct. 5, 2024. Hamas militants on Oct. 7 killed 360 people at the all-night rave and took 40 other partygoers hostage. The Nova Music Festival took place roughly three miles from the Israel-Gaza border. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

The Nova Music Festival memorial. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Cats in Independence Park in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 6, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A mural in Tel Aviv, Israel, notes Hamas is still holding Shiri Bibas and her two children, Kfir and Ariel, hostage in Gaza. Kfir was 9-months-old on Oct. 7. His brother was 4-years-old. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

An anti-war sticker on a light pole in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 6, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

KAN 11, an Israeli television station, broadcasts from Kfar Aza, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2024. The kibbutz is one of the many kibbutzim near the Israel-Gaza border that Hamas militants attacked on Oct. 7. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A juice stand at the intersection of Dizengoff Street and Ben-Gurion Boulevard in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)


Two men in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, embrace while watching the Bereaved Families Memorial Service on Oct. 7, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

ā€˜Red alertsā€™ for ballistic missiles that Hezbollah launched from Lebanon on Oct. 7, 2024. The missiles targeted an Israel Defense Forces base north of Tel Aviv. The IDF interceptions woke this reporter up at around 11 p.m. (Washington Blade screenshot by Michael K. Lavers)

Yarmulkes for sale in Jerusalem on Oct. 8, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Dome of the Rock above the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Oct. 8, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Omer Ohana looks a picture of his fiancĆ©, Sagi Golan, a gay Israel Defense Forces major who died fighting Hamas militants in Beā€™eri, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023, A memorial service for Golan took place in Herzliya, Israel, on Oct. 8, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A billboard overlooking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, Israel, with a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu references Oct. 7 and says, ā€œWe wonā€™t forget.ā€ (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Street art in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A poster with Carmel Gatā€˜s face on it inside a replica of a tunnel in the Gaza Strip that was built in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, kidnapped Gat from Beā€™eri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border. They killed her and five other hostages in late August. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Shortly after dawn in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 12, 2024, as the country marked Yom Kippur. (Video by Michael K. Lavers)

Banners that hung from an overpass above the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 12, 2024, contain pictures of the hostages who remain in Gaza. They also call for their release and ā€œbringing back hope.ā€ (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Fishermen along the Jaffa waterfront in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 12, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

The sun sets over Hilton Beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 13, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
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Queer writer reflects on assault, drug use, more in ā€˜Mean Boysā€™

An interview with Geoffrey Mak

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(Book cover image via Amazon)

Queer Chinese American writer Geoffrey Mak takes the personal essay to new, and sometimes unsettling, heights, in his book ā€œMean Boys: A Personal Historyā€ (Bloomsbury, 2024). Described as a ā€œmemoir-in-essays,ā€ Mak, the gay son of an evangelical minister, takes readers on his volatile and visceral personal journey, which includes the techno clubs of Berlin, various illicit substances, his sexual assault, and ultimately an examination of mass-murderer Elliot Rodger. Mak generously made time for an interview in advance of his November appearance at the Miami Book Fair.

BLADE: In the authorā€™s note for your book ā€œMean Boys: A Personal History,ā€ you said, ā€œI wrote most of these essays for the Internet,ā€ and that awareness of your readership extended to ā€œwhat they wanted to hear, and what they were wearing.ā€ Is that still your target audience or were you looking to expand it with the book?

GEOFFREY MAK: If I could go back in time and inspire my 26-year-old self to keep writing, I would say, ā€œBabe, in 10 years, youā€™ll get everything youā€™ve ever dreamed of, just online-only.ā€ I still see the natural habitat of the personal essay; yet the internet has a tendency for fragmentation and bubbles. When I decided to write a book at a mainstream press, I thought a lot about how a bookā€”unlike a paintingā€”is a mass-produced object, which makes it a more democratic medium, almost humble. I thought a lot about the opportunity to reach readers in Idaho or Oregon or Arkansas, and, in fact, I now get emails or Instagram DMs from readers in all those states. I wanted to explore universal themes that anyone can relate to, such as the wages of status in a high school cafeteria, or the process of forgiving oneā€™s own father.

BLADE: You also mentioned James Baldwin and Joan Didion, as well as Ed White, Hilton Als, and Alan Hollinghurst, among others. How important are these writers to you in your work?

MAK: I love that you called him Ed, because he is Ed. Each of those writers gave me something that is a part of me. Baldwin: conviction. Didion: cadence. White: self-mythology. Als: voice. Hollinghurst: sex.

BLADE: Another writer, Wesley Yang, is featured prominently in the ā€œIdentity Despite Itselfā€ essay. Do you know if heā€™s aware of being the essayā€™s subject? If so, has he told you how he feels about it?

MAK: Marco Roth, a friend, was one of the founding editors of n+1, and commissioned and edited Wesley Yangā€™s remarkable essay, ā€œThe Face of Seung-Hui Choā€ when it came out in 2008. After Marco read my book, he sent it to him. In Marcoā€™s view, I had at last given Yang his due: taking him as seriously as he deserved, which is something any writer should be flattered by. And I did take him seriously, calling him into account for his internalized Asian racism and transphobia. As to what Yang actually thinks, I have no idea. Can you believe it: Not a single person I wrote about in the book has reached out to me about it?

BLADE: In ā€œMy Father, The Minister,ā€ you address religion, not only as the son of a religious leader but also as a gay man. Religion continues to make headlines, whether itā€™s the role itā€™s playing in the 2024 election, the ongoing sexual abuse scandals in the various churches, or the war in Gaza. What role, if any, does religion play in your life at present?

MAK: I pay close attention to the religious life of this country. Two-thirds consider themselves religious. A lot of what I read disturbs me, nothing is surprising to me. I was heartened when, earlier this year, the United Methodist Church rescinded a ban on gay clergy. It was a rare victory because sexual difference remains the greatest divisive factor in American churches today. The articulation of the queer, Christian subject might be my highest priority as a writer today. (Out of all my essays, I consider ā€œCalifornia Gothicā€ my greatest work.) I donā€™t participate in organized religion, but I still study the Bible and read queer theology, particularly the work of Marcella Althaus-Reid and Linn Tonstad, major influences of mine. I count theologians as some of my closest friends. I was actually just emailing with the writer Garth Greenwell about how 4th-century apophatic theology has parallels with queer theory today. Iā€™m currently writing a novel about a trans-femme protagonist who finds her way to God. Iā€™m quite serious. Sometimes, I dream that if this whole writer career doesnā€™t pan out, I might go to Divinity School.

BLADE: You also write honestly about your drug usage in ā€œMean Boys.ā€ Thereā€™s a line in the ā€œCalifornia Gothicā€ essay that reads: ā€œAfter psychosis, and after addiction, I knew that whether I would recover came down to a single test: Could I find grace in the ordinary?ā€ Where are you now on that journey?

MAK: I happen to be sober now, but I have cycled through periods of limited drug use and sobriety since I finished that essay. I belong to a harm reduction community that keeps me accountable to my self-stated goals. For several years, I have had a buddy system, which differs from a sponsor relationship because itā€™s non-hierarchical, with a friend Iā€™m extremely close withā€”we regularly check in with cravings, take stock of our weekly stressors, talk about books. If we ever call the other, we know to drop whatever weā€™re doing and pick up, because itā€™s an emergency. One night, he called me when he relapsed on meth, and I ran straight to his apartment, we flushed out the syringes, and cried in each otherā€™s arms until the sleeping pills kicked in. Since then, heā€™s been sober for almost two years. Recently, Iā€™ve been talking to him about ā€œjunk time,ā€ which are the late-night brain rot hours when I canā€™t read and crave drugs the most. I need to start finding grace in the ordinariness of junk time. Thanks for the reminder.

BLADE: What was involved in your decision to write about the aftermath of your sexual assault in the essay ā€œIn Arcadia Ego?ā€

MAK: OK, so the first section of that essay originated as a Facebook post. People reached out with caring words, although the writing partly explored my reaching a limit with caring words. The material was so raw that I put it down for at least a few years. After I had some distance from my own assault, I picked up the essay again and suddenly realized I was bored of my own pain. It wasnā€™t going to teach me anything, because suffering isnā€™t a university. I wanted to party, so I wrote about that. Nothing about this was virtuous or wholesome or dignified. I got fucked up and screamed with my gays on the dance floor like sorority girls at a bachelorette party. In a previous era, you had a party to commemorate an occasion. My friends and I partied for no reason; the party justified itself. Life is like this, too. You never need a reason.

BLADE: Was the lengthy, titular essay that closes out the book, the first essay written for the book, and therefore the inspiration?

MAK: It was the last essay I finished. In fact, we delayed the release date of the book because I couldnā€™t finish it. Itā€™s my most original writing and original thinking. Itā€™s also not for everyone.

BLADE: In the ā€œMean Boysā€ essay, you write about the ultimate mean boy ā€“ mass-murderer Elliot Rodger. Did that essay begin as being about Rodger or did that come later?

MAK: This was one of the first essays I wrote where I didnā€™t outline it or know where it was ending up in advance. I started with an imageā€”the Lacoste polo with the popped collarā€”and just kept writing. Itā€™s meandering, because thatā€™s how I wrote it, working through the innate turbulence of each paragraph until a door appeared into the next paragraph. I eventually found my way to Rodger. There was a time I thought I could write the essay without reading the manifesto, until I realized, cā€™mon, I was being chicken, I had to read the manifesto. Once I finished it, I knew I had to rewrite the entire essay.

BLADE: Have you started writing or thinking about your next book project?

MAK: Iā€™m working on a novel about degenerate ravers in Berlin. While the UK and Germany have novels about raving, America curiously doesnā€™t have one. So, I decided to write one.

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PHOTOS: Birthdays at JR.’s

Drag queens celebrate at local establishment

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Citrine performs at JR.'s on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Citrine, Andromeda and Silver WareĀ Sidora celebrated their birthdays at JR.’s Bar with a drag show on Saturday, Nov. 2.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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