Steve Yuhas

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Steve Yuhas is a gay conservative radio and television personality in southern California. He splits his time between his homes in Rancho Santa Fe, an exclusive enclave north of San Diego and Beverly Hills, CA. The Steve Yuhas Show airs on News Radio 600 KOGO.

Biography

Honorably discharged from the United States Army and Marine Corps, Yuhas served from Texas to Germany; California to the Middle East. He believes that service to his country helped him overcome the adversity that came after he sustained a spinal cord injury. Now a Lifetime Member of the Disabled American Veterans, the American Legion as well as the Paralyzed Veterans of America, he works hard for military folks and veterans alike.

Appearances & Controversy

Yuhas has made a point not to grant many interviews, but his few appearances have often led to controversy. In late 2000 Yuhas was an assistant press secretary for the California ballot measure that would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Called homophobic and bigoted it was not without a lot of controversy when Yuhas began appearing on behalf of the initiative. During an appearance on Larry King Live, Yuhas said that his support for the measure was not because it was about being gay, but because it is the right of the people in a state to decide important issues such as who should be married. In 2008 the California Supreme Court declared Proposition 22 unconstitutional and gay marriage will happen in California. Yuhas continued to speak out against gay marriage calling it a "uniquely heterosexual" institution. Instead of accepting the ruling Yuhas endorsed a ballot measure to amend the California Constitution to declare gay marriage illegal. Gay groups continued their calls for him to be removed from the airwaves and his employer, KOGO 600 AM, continues to back him.

His criticism has not been reserved only for those disagreeing with him over gay marriage. When former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey came out of the closet as a "gay American" Yuhas pounced on the hypocrisy in a San Francisco Chronicle article. Gay people reacted positively to Yuhas' article and the Chronicle was swamped with emails and letters about the fact that they missed the boat on the issue. It came as a surprise to many people when James McGreevey agreed to go on Yuhas' radio program after his resignation as New Jersey's governor.

Perhaps no other issue has made Yuhas as controversial as his debate over the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. For Yuhas, the issue was that over the behavior of Holloway's parents and the fact that so many media personalities decided that without a trial that three young men were guilty before they were charged. Yuhas wrote a series of articles, but a few stood out and drew the ire of some media outlets in the South and Yuhas was asked again to appear locally, nationally and internationally over the topic. In the newspaper El Diario La Prensa, Yuhas wrote (translated to English): "Beth Twitty comes across to the people of Alabama as a sympathetic character, and she is because she can’t find her daughter, but to much of America and the world she is an abrasive and rude woman whose disdain for the people of Aruba overshadows the goodwill that was initially shown to her in the opening days of this soap opera. Her following people around with television cameras in tow in order to confront people that she suspects had something to do with her daughters demise has become fodder for virtually everyone not within 500 miles of Mountain Brook, Alabama." During an appearance on ABC, Yuhas was being interviewed about a column he wrote when one of the chaperones during the Alabama trip called into the program (Bob Plummer) - at first the debate was civil, but when Plummer found out that Yuhas was gay, he hung up his phone and said that Yuhas being gay made his participation unnecessary. Yuhas is part of a documentary concerning the Natalee Holloway case being made in Holland. Yuhas told his listeners that "there is more to this story than meets the eye." The Twitty and Holloway families are also part of the same documentary and the release is scheduled for summer 2008.

Many news organizations picked up Yuhas' comments and columns about Natalee Holloway. A few of them were offensive to people who knew her and entire threads of message boards were dedicated to slamming Yuhas' opinion. Most recently Yuhas wrote about the search funds and the multiple arrests of the same suspects. Natalee Holloway: Where are the Search Funds? as well as being followed in Alabama - his appearances about Natalee Holloway's disappearance became international. On Rita Cosby's program on MSNBC Yuhas was scolded by another talk show host after he refused to endorse a boycott of Aruba.

In October 2007 Yuhas was on the air when breaking news turned to wildfires roaring through southern California. The October 2007 California Wildfires made history and KOGO and Yuhas were recognized for outstanding coverage of this emergency. It was fitting that Yuhas began the coverage on KOGO (which eventually took over all of the Clear Channel stations in the region as well as satellite feeds for emergency information) and that Yuhas brought the station back to regular programming after the 24-hour-a-day fire coverage was over. Yuhas' coverage catapulted him to national prominence in not just talk radio, but as a newscaster as well. Even the typically adversarial gay press, including the gay newspaper that serves the local southern CA area (Gay and Lesbian Times) gave Yuhas accolades for coverage and the almost instant need that the station had for information to continue 24 hours a day .

On Being Gay

Perhaps the biggest controversy concerning Steve Yuhas in his public life has been that part of his life that he lives in private: Yuhas is openly gay. He began talking on the radio when he filled in as a guest host for Roger Hedgecock after he was fired for being too conservative from a gay newspaper. The paper eventually folded, but his firing put him on a course to launch his own website. He wrote an opinion piece for the San Diego Union-Tribune' that ran during the San Diego gay pride festivities and it brought out the ire of many in the gay community. An Odd Way to Bring Gays into the Mainstream was printed in the middle of the parade and festival and the reaction was almost instantaneous. Gay activists were offended, but many gays signed on to Yuhas' logic that if you want to be taken seriously that you have to fight the urge to appear on the fringe.

Yuhas has written many articles and commentary on the issue of being a gay conservative. He is opposed to issues that many gay people consider central to being homosexual: he believes that marriage is a 'uniquely heterosexual institution' and that adoption for gay couples is something that is not good for children because he believes that children need a mother and a father. Both of these positions are based on his conservative Jewish background and the reality of the political world that we live in. Yuhas is featured as a "queer" columnist on the website Lavender But Not Pink and other mainstream gay websites where his brand of political thinking would have been considered taboo just a few years ago. Yuhas has stated publicly that it is quickly becoming more and more 'ok' to be a conservative thinker and gay and the Internet has allowed an explosion of conservative gay thinkers to be able to reach people quickly. It is quite possible that Yuhas is one of the most well known gay conservatives and his transition from gay press to mainstream has been slow, but is now complete.

Beginning in 2005 Yuhas began appearing on red carpet events and awards shows. He was also photographed at many charity and political events. Although he does not talk about his giving publicly and despite the fact that some have assigned him the moniker "self-hating gay" or "homophobe" Steve Yuhas: Keep The Righteous Wing Out Of Oregon's Constitution he continues to live a "normal" life in up-and-coming Hollywood. In a strange irony his quest for privacy was disrupted when in February 2008 he was photographed at The Ivy in Los Angeles with his brother. The picture, taken by one of the many paparazzi stationed outside most popular West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Hollywood hot spots, appeared the following day on the celebrity blog Perez Hilton, someone known for his "outing" of celebrities and "breaking" other celebrity gossip. That picture was retracted, but not after it was picked up by other "news" outlets. His photos have made it into some of the gossip sections, but most notable was one that questioned whether he was actually gay when he was photographed with friends at SBar and Katsuya in Hollywood. His desire for privacy is now a delicate balance - as it is with anyone - as a restraining order is on record for at least two people in southern CA for stalking.

Charity and Giving & Salary

Yuhas is known for charity giving and he was chronicled in the North County Times as the most prolific political contributor to the Republican Party in the media today.

Yuhas is also in attendance at many charity events including cancer research and he has asked his listeners to donate to PanCAN - Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. It is unclear why he took up the passion for this particular cancer, but he has both written about it and talked about it publicly on his radio program on KOGO. Another passion for Yuhas is veteran benefits. He opens each program with a series of announcements dealing with the importance of veteran benefits and taking care of vets.

Salary reporting in the radio industry is something that is often open for speculation, but when Yuhas signed his last deal it was reportedly worth more than $400,000 a year with more than $900,000 in website and advertising income. Yuhas is reported to be in the top 10 paid radio, television and writers in CA followed by major market players and from his website which generates about 10,000 average hits per day. Yuhas will not talk about his salary or compensation, but said on the air in 2008 after the story appeared, "I do get paid more than I should for doing what I love to do, but it is kind of amazing."

External links

• The Steve Yuhas Show
• Newsradio 600 KOGO