The New York Times announced Monday that longtime staff writer Frank Bruni will become its newest Op-Ed columnist.
The move comes as the Times is revamping its Week in Review section. Bruni's selection was announced as part of that overhaul.
Bruni becomes the paper's first openly gay Op-Ed columnist. He has been, variously, a political reporter, Rome bureau chief, chief restaurant critic and, as of late, a writer for the New York Times Magazine. He also wrote a book about his struggles with food.
The Huffington Post’s Michael Calderone asked Bruni what he expects to cover in his new column along with holding the distinction of being The Times’ first openly gay columnist.
“When the editors of the opinion pages and I began, quite recently, talking about this, none of us ever brought up sexual orientation, and I'm not sure any of us thought much about any kind of milestone. I certainly don't come at this, in my own head, as the gay columnist, just like I didn't see myself as the gay restaurant critic or the gay magazine writer. I was a magazine writer and I was a restaurant critic and I will be a columnist who happens to be gay.”
In a Times statement, Bruni, said, "I'm excited and really grateful. At The Times and beforehand, I've been lucky to be able to write about many different topics, and I'm eager to take on a job that will allow me to range across most or all of them in a reflective, analytical and sometimes--I hope--spirited way."