Cassie Stokes is happy to be the known as “the gay woman” on television if it means breaking stereotypes.
Due to her job, the newly-single Xpose presenter said she finds herself having to be open about her personal life.
But explaining why she doesn’t mind baring her soul, the Dubliner told Irish Country Magazine: “Recently one of my friends was talking to this man.
“I think he was in his 70s, and he goes, ‘Oh, there’s one I really like on Xpose, the gay one’. And I think that’s amazing.
“You know what? If I need to be ‘the gay one’ for people to open their minds and accept different things, then great.” Opening up about her own experience, she said: “When I was young there was no one that I looked up to and could relate to, so if by being open about it helps one person, then that’s great, because there aren’t many gay female TV presenters in Ireland.
“I think everyone has someone in their family now that is in the LGBTQ community, whether they’re open about it yet or not.
“Which is why it’s really important for people to keep talking about it, because maybe there’s someone in a small town somewhere who still feels the shame of it.
“In fact, I know there is, because only recently someone reached out to me and they were terrified of admitting it.” And addressing her experience, Cassie said it is important to realise you can’t pigeonhole people into boxes.
“If you think about gay men in the media industry, do they fit into the stereotype of what people would have of gay men?
“Most of them do. Whereas, are there many openly gay men in rugby or GAA? No, because the stereotype hasn’t evolved too far yet.
Xpose presenter Cassie Stokes has split from longterm girlfriend Kathleen Gauvin
“Now let’s think of gay women on sports teams, is that a stereotype? Yes.
“Gay women on television? I don’t know. Maybe. Which is why I want to be open about who I am, because nobody falls under a stereotype.
“Unfortunately, we’ve grown up with these stereotypes, and I’m just trying to change it for me. And it’s positive. I think that’s why it’s very important that we keep talking about it.”
Opening up about how her break-up with long-time partner Kathleen Gauvin affected her work, she said: “That’s been difficult, but then I think about the nurses and doctors – they are the most amazing people ever, when they have a bad day, they can’t stop caring for people.
“If I spent the whole night crying and I have to go to work I’m just going to have to use the bigger bag of make-up that day.”
