There is no ‘gay gene.’ There is no ‘straight gene.’ Sexualy is jt plex, study nfirms | PBS NewsHour

Contents:

• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'
• ARE HOMOPHOBIC PEOPLE REALLY GAY AND NOT ACCEPTG IT?
• RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN
• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL? A STAR TV WRER SAYS NO
• STANLEY TUCCI SAYS HE HAS 'DIFFICULTY' WH ARGUMENT THAT GAY CHARACTERS SHOULD ONLY BE PLAYED BY LGBTQ ACTORS
• AM I GAY?
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS

SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'

End they go home to their wiv and male adult performers who go "gay for pay, " a term ed to scribe gay porn which two (or more) otherwise straight dus have sex on mera, the above scenar is jt another day at the Male Porn Stars Are Straight — But They Have Sex Wh Men for a LivgSource: YouTubeThis week, MTV is airg an episo of Te Life explorg the liv of two such performers, and their stggl to balance the seemgly nflictg mands of their profsnal and personal liv. In straight porn, the pay for men is notorly lower than the pay for women, so "gay porn [actors] general make a lot more than straight porn, " Damian McKnight, the CEO and producer of the succsful gay-for-pay se Broke Straight Boys, told the Daily Dot last year. In a book that me out earlier this year, Not Gay: Sex Between Straight Whe Men, thor Jane Ward argued that male sexualy is a lot more fluid than most of are willg to acknowledge.

" she prevly told said, adult entertament publicist Mike Stabile told Mic that he believ the sexualy of a gay-for-pay porn star is likely to be a b more flexible than your average joe. "They seemed to have more of a fluid sexualy, or were jt extremely sexual, even if they intified as straight their private liv, " he said of the gay-for-pay actors he's worked wh the past. "Bee of ternalized homophobia (which typilly looms large before and durg the early g-out procs), they're more often lookg for men who act mascule, " thor Joe Kort wrote 2013 for the Huffgton Post.

In early December, Netflix dropped s highly anticipated mil edy “The Prom, ” starrg Meryl Streep, Nile Kidman, Andrew Rannells and Jam Corn as fadg Broadway stars who set out to help a lbian teen take her girliend to the film, helmed by out director Ryan Murphy, got mixed reviews, but some lambasted as “homophobic” and “offensive” bee of the stg of Corn, a straight actor, what they saw as an “aggrsively flamboyant” riture of a gay character, Barry Glickman, is a narcissistic theater actor who dons sparklg tuxedo jackets, talks wh a stereotypil gay lisp while flailg his hands around and scrib himself as “gay as a bucket of wigs.

ARE HOMOPHOBIC PEOPLE REALLY GAY AND NOT ACCEPTG IT?

"Melda Sue Gordon / NetflixErik Anrson, who ns the film se Awards Watch, lled “The Prom” a “geo and vibrant productn” but tweeted that Corn’s “performance is gross and offensive, the worst gayface a long, long time. ” It was the first time an openly gay actor played a gay character a leadg role a TV part “helped fluence a whole generatn of people who beme wrers and actors and ntent creators, who wanted to see more people like Ricky, more LGBTQ people of lor, and I thk we're seeg the benef of that today, ” said Cz, who served as executive producer of Apple TV’s "Visible: Out on Televisn, ” a 2020 doceri about the history of the LGBTQ movement through the lens of Amerin Cz ma his but “My So Called Life, ” televisn has been creasgly hirg LGBTQ actors to play LGBTQ characters. In 2020 alone, queer actor Kristen Stewart played a lbian Hulu’s Christmas rom- “Happit Season, ” out actors Sarah Plson and Cynthia Nixon played love terts Ryan Murphy’s Netflix seri “Ratched, ” gay actor Dan Levy played a queer character the Emmy-wng Canadian show “Scht’s Creek"and several openly gay actors starred the Netflix adaptn of the Tony Award-wng queer play “The Boys the Band.

Straight and cisgenr ‘privilege’While straight and cisgenr actors are given many opportuni to play rol outsi their own genr and sexualy, many gay and trans actors say they are given far ls leeway.

RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN

He said the movie bs is “a very heterosexual bs” that’s “n mostly by heterosexual men” and lamented that straight actors takg gay rol has a stiflg effect on gay actors who, like him, are no longer nsired for heterosexual parts.

Most notably, perhaps, Tom Hanks, who won an Amy Award for his portrayal of a gay man dyg of AIDS the 1993 film “Philalphia, ” and Hilary Swank, who won the Osr for her performance as transgenr man Brandon Teena the 1999 film “Boys Don’t Cry.

” The amy also nomated actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal for their rol the 2005 gay wboy film “Brokeback Mounta, ” Jared Leto for his portrayal of a trans woman the 2013 film “Dallas Buyers Club, ” actor Cate Blanchett for her role the 2015 lbian romantic drama “Carol” and Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of a trans woman the 2015 film “The Danish Girl. “To have quote-unquote ‘straight’ actors sayg now, ‘Hey, I won't take that part, bee 's gay, and you should give to a gay person, ’ feels like another way to stigmatize our stori, " Babb said.

SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL? A STAR TV WRER SAYS NO

“Hontly, a transgenr person playg a gay role would be a really good possibily, and we would unrstand really well, bee we've had to all grapple wh sexualy as an issue. The Tony awards have always been a gay affair, plete wh out hosts like Neil Patrick Harris and wners like David Hy Pierce famoly thankg their partners at the podium. The story revolv around a group of gay iends g together for a iend's birthday party Manhattan, and ends wh stori about long-lost lovers, and one character g out to his wife.

Created by out playwright John Cameron Mchell, Hedwig spired a feature film and a Broadway revival, wh gay actors like Neil Patrick Harris and Andrew Rannells takg on the Home This crilly-acclaimed Broadway mil was adapted by Lisa Kron and Jeane Tori om Alison Bechl's 2006 graphic memoir of the same name. The storyle was a darg productn for the time -- even though alt wh a lbian romance, was weled by the public and beme a huge Sex Another award-wng play by Harvey Fierste, Safe Sex premiered on Broadway 1987 and took dienc to the life of a gay man rg for his lover as he succumbs to AIDS-related illns. After his partner's ath, the protagonist mt meet his lover's wife and Pri Set both the 1950s and 2008, The Pri, wrten by Alexi Kaye Campbell, parallels two gay love stori two very different eras.

As most know, the stage productns were adapted for numero French films and a very famo Amerin remake, starrg Rob Williams and Nathan This 1979 play, wrten by Mart Sherman, revolv around the persecutn of gays Nazi Germany, and tak place durg and after the Night of the Long Kniv, the vlent 1934 uprisg that brought Hilter to power. A seri of studi recently published the prtig Journal of Personaly and Social Psychology found higher levels of homophobia dividuals wh unacknowledged attractns to the same sex, particularly when they grew up wh thorarian parents who also held homophobic attus. In the Universy of Rochter's prs release, Netta Weste, the study's lead thor, said, "Individuals who intify as straight but psychologil tts show a strong attractn to the same sex may be threatened by gays and lbians bee homosexuals remd them of siar tennci wh themselv.

STANLEY TUCCI SAYS HE HAS 'DIFFICULTY' WH ARGUMENT THAT GAY CHARACTERS SHOULD ONLY BE PLAYED BY LGBTQ ACTORS

Acrdg to the team of rearchers, this study is the first to document the role that both parentg and sexual orientatn play the formatn of anti-gay attus, cludg self-reported homophobic attus, discrimatory bias, implic hostily towards gays, and endorsement of anti-gay polici. They were then shown the words "gay, " "straight, " "homosexual, " and "heterosexual" as well as pictur of straight and gay upl, and the puter tracked precisely their rponse tim. Fally, the rearcher measured participants' level of homophobia—both overt, as exprsed qutnnair on social policy and beliefs, and implic, as revealed word-pletn tasks.

AM I GAY?

In the experiments, participants who reported themselv to be more heterosexual than their performance on the reactn time task dited were most likely to react wh hostily towards gay people. This ngence between implic and explic measur of sexual orientatn predicted a variety of homophobic behavrs, cludg self-reported anti-gay attus, implic hostily towards gays, endorsement of anti-gay polici, and discrimatory bias such as the assignment of harsher punishments for homosexuals.

THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS

Image source, Emma RileyImage ptn, Rad operator Emma Riley was discharged om the Navy for beg a lbian the 1990sRishi Sunak has apologised for the historil treatment of LGBT veterans who were sacked or forced out of the ary for beg PM lled the ban an "appallg failure" of the Brish was illegal to be gay the Brish ary until 2000 - wh thoands of veterans thought to be affected.

"The LGBT Veterans Inpennt Review, led by Bra's first openly gay judge Lord Etherton, began last year and heard about the experienc of 1, 145 veterans between 1967 to 2000. Acrdg to the report, the Mistry of Defence said at the time that jtifitn for the policy clud "matenance of operatnal effectivens and efficiency" - but the report said there had been an "prehensible policy of homophobic bigotry" the armed forc.

It heard shockg acunts of homophobia, bullyg, blackmail, sexual asslts, "disgraceful" medil examatns, and nversn mak 49 remendatns to the ernment cludg:Affected veterans to be given an "appropriate fancial reward" pped at £50m overallThe rtoratn of medals that had to be hand back on dismissal or dischargeThe clarifitn of pensn rights The prentatn of a special veterans' badgeThe ernment said would rpond full after summer of the veterans affected watched the PM's public of them, Emma Riley, 51, was a Royal Navy rad operator for three years before she was arrted and discharged for beg a lbian after tellg a lleague her sexualy the early told BBC News she weled the report, and hoped would be put to place "swiftly.