Amber Ruffin on her first Pride since coming out as queer: 'I'm all in'
Amber Ruffin didn't quite realize she had to come out as a queer woman, initially.
"I didn't think people really needed to come out anymore," the comedian and writer, 46, says. But there was a point where she felt like she wanted to openly declare herself and join the queer community. "I certainly didn't want anyone I dated to feel like I was hiding them. And that was the main point. But also I realized I was having privileges that straight people have and I did not want that."
Ruffin, best known for her work on NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" and her eponymous Peacock talk show, posted on Instagram at the end of Pride Month in 2024: "I’m using the last day of PRIDE to come out! Be proud of who you are, little babies! I know I am!"
Nearly a year later Ruffin is just as joyful and happy as she was in the photo in the post, smiling widely and wearing a shirt emblazoned with "QUEER" across the front. "Coming out was so easy," Ruffin told Paste BN in a recent phone interview. "Coming out was so nothing. I don't know anyone who cares. I really don't. So I'm just a lucky little bug."
Ruffin spoke to Paste BN about her Pride plans now that she's out, living through President Donald Trump's second term as a comedian and queer person and losing her gig hosting the White House Correspondents Dinner.
"I've got a lot of Prides to make up for, so this one I'm all in."
Question: What led to your choice to come out on the last day of Pride in 2024?
Answer: Last year I came out because I had gotten a divorce the year before and was kind of like, 'I'll never date another man.' I feel like gay or straight, every woman has thought that. But then I realized what that meant. And do you know how like sometimes people are passing for white and then white people say wild (stuff) around them? I was like, I can't let that happen to me around being queer. I don't want it.
So what are your plans for this year's Pride?
Every time anything has a rainbow on it, I want to be under that mug. ... This whole month of June I am not going to sleep.
I can't stress enough how excited I am about this part, and I'm not going to be cool about it either. I'm talking rainbow suspenders and glitter on my face. I'm in. I'm all the way in.
Many people in the LGBTQ+ community are distressed and worried these days based on the policy changes and goals of the Trump administration. How are you feeling and how do you talk to people in the community about the deluge of news?
I try not to talk to anyone about it, because I realize I'm a little bit like Chicken Little when it comes to it all. I will start reasonable and then in a couple of sentences I'll be like "that's why we all have to move!" I try to just listen and interject positivity where I (can), knowing that everything might get even worse than this.
You were asked to host the White House Correspondents Dinner this year, which is traditionally hosted by a politically-minded comedian such as your colleague Seth Meyers (hosted in 2011). But in March the organization said they would no longer feature a comedic performance at all after criticism of you by a member of the Trump administration. How did you feel when that all went down?
When I lost the Correspondents Dinner, I felt like, "well, that's fine." Because I had done so many anti-Trump things that I was like, "well, this is probably for the best." If (the White House Correspondents Association) didn't want me to be running around talking trash about Trump, then there wasn't anything I could have done for (them).
People in the queer community often discuss how Pride is both a celebration and has its roots in protest. Is that something you're balancing this year?
Yes. And I think the trans community is extremely good at celebrating and protesting simultaneously because their existence is a protest. So it's so natural, because they literally walk in protest all day, everyday. It's part of how they exist. So it is a beautiful time to use Pride Month to get grounded and to help (transgender people). ... I've never really had privilege before, so I'm like, we use this. Let me use this milligram I have of privilege. I'm glad to do it.