NYT Announces 1st Openly Gay Op-Ed Columnist

Frank Bruni

The New York Times has announced that Frank Bruni, its one time chief restaurant critic, will become an op-ed columnist:

Andrew Rosenthal, editor of the opinion pages, said in an e-mail to the staff on Monday that Mr. Bruni would write a new column in The Times’s redesigned Sunday Op-Ed pages.

“This column, which will be a new anchor feature of the section, will be a sharp, opinionated look at a big event of the last week, from a different or unexpected angle, or a small event that was really important but everyone seems to have missed, or something entirely different,” Mr. Rosenthal said. “It will fast become a destination for our readers with Frank at the keyboard.”

He said Mr. Bruni would also write a column one other day of the week, most likely Thursday.

Mr. Bruni, 46, is the first openly gay Op-Ed columnist in The Times’s 160-year history.

He said he would take on a wide variety of subjects.

“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.”

Congratulations to Frank Bruni!