Don Lemon is one of our favorite news anchors. Not only is he super cute (and knows how to party on New Year’s eve like the rest of us), but he’s a genuine person who tells it like it is and is always willing to go the extra mile!

Someone else who knows how to go the extra mile is former NBA star Charles Barkley, so it doesn’t surprise us in the slightest that he was one of the first people to congratulate Don when he came out publicly in 2011.

“What was interesting was having gay allies and straight allies,” Don told The Advocate. “One of the first people to get in touch with me was Charles Barkley. He texted me and said, ‘I support you man. Good for you. Live your life, call me,’ and we’d talk for 20 or 30 minutes while I was walking down the streets of Manhattan. Rachel [Maddow] also sent me flowers.”

Can Don and Charles PLEASE become a bromance?!

Another guy Don spoke about being a huge support was MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts: “Thomas came out before I did,” he said. “I said, ‘Well, that guy did. Maybe there’s a chance for me.’ It took me a year or so after him to do it. But I finally did.”

Don continued: “Community is very important. People need to have support when they come out. If I thought that I had that support, I would have come out much younger, maybe when I was a student. It was a different time. I think once I did come out, it was really great to have a support group around me.”

Read the full write up at The Advocate.