Kathy Wakile: 'RHONJ' Helps Gay Community
The Housewife explains how her lesbian sister Rosie's role on the show is helping Americans accept gay people.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey stars—do-gooders? Kathy Wakile thinks so.
In a new interview with RadarOnline.com, the RHONJ star says Season 5 of the show is helping Americans become more comfortable with gay citizens. And having her sister Rosie, a lesbian, appear on the show is helping advance the cause.
"The more we talk about it, the more people understand what it means to be gay—and it shows what someone has had to go through their whole life," Kathy says. "Hopefully, we knock all those barriers down and open it up for people and they can understand that it's not easy."
PHOTOS: See Pictures of Rosie Through the Years
Kathy hopes that with her support of the cause, discrimination against the gay community will diminish. “That’s a thing of the past,” she says. “Open your eyes people! We all have blood running through our veins. So the fact that we have put that out there, it’s so important and more people should be talking about it.”
For her part, Rosie has already learned to enjoy her status as a beloved figure on the show. “She takes my advice: ‘Don’t just go to work and come home only,’ ” Kathy says. “You have to go out there and enjoy yourself because you only get one chance to live life and live it to the fullest.”
And Rosie will get to do that more than ever now that barriers against gays have broken down. “Gone are those days of hiding and having to disguise your feelings and disguise how you are because it doesn’t fit into society," says Kathy.
Watch: Rosie comes out to her family
