Why Are So Many Gay Actors Still the Closet? – IndieWire

Contents:

• GAY HOLLYWOOD: 45 OUT AND PROUD LGBT STARS (PHOTOS)
• HOLLYWOOD’S GAY DOUBLE STANDARD: WHY SO MANY ACTRS CAN COME OUT, BUT YOUNG ACTORS STAY THE CLOSET
• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'

GAY HOLLYWOOD: 45 OUT AND PROUD LGBT STARS (PHOTOS)

In 2002, a parody fan se was created lled "Elijah Wood is Very, Very Gay" bee was believed that the Lord of the Rgs actors Elijah Wood and Domic Monaghan were a secret relatnship real life. He told the world Entertament News Network, "'s kd of a joke webse that mata that they have proof that I am very, very gay var photographs - photographic evince (of me) holdg hands wh a male.

Recently, there was a hilar clip of Brney Spears and her reactn when she fds out for the first time that Ryan Seacrt is not gay and he is fact a "straight man.

"In my silence, I've helped ci for you too that to be gay is to be, as a young man (or young woman, young anyone), appropriate for a profsnal reer the Arts. "In a post-marriage equaly world, where ls than half of teens intify as straight, may be surprisg to some that so many gay and bisexual actors are still silent about their sexual orientatn. "Jt Kelly, a gay director whose new film, Kg Cobra, tackl murr the gay porn dtry, also fend the right to this privacy at his movie's premiere at the Tribe Film Ftival.

HOLLYWOOD’S GAY DOUBLE STANDARD: WHY SO MANY ACTRS CAN COME OUT, BUT YOUNG ACTORS STAY THE CLOSET

"If an actor don't want to e out, I thk 's their agenda, " said Kelly, whose prev project about an ex-gay activist, I Am Michael, featured Carver before his g-out. If you are , is not by your choice, " the gay journalist told The Advote an article that fend the right of reporters to ask celebri about their sexual orientatn.

For many talent reprentativ and stud and work powers-that-be, gay actors, part due to the plited prejudic of society, are seen as ls of a mody than straight leadg men, who are sellg sex and s promise to mass markets.

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

For gay actors, there is a very real perceptn that if they reveal themselv to be anythg other than the heterosexual ial, their stock among producers and the public will plummet. Actors once thought of as leadg men would be forced to "gay" typ, wh a grim future that clus, if they're lucky, variatns of AIDS patients and sassy bt perceptn is rerced by forebears this dtry like Rupert Everett, the Brish actor who me out 1989. In Kg Cobra, for example, many of the lead characters are gay, but none of the actors who play the parts -- Jam Fran, Christian Slater, Keegan Allen, and Garrett Clayton -- openly intify as such (although Fran has stated that he intifi as gay everythg but sex) disnnect between out actors and characters is pecially evint durg awards season.

Actor Joel Michaely experienced this discrimatn firsthand when, after playg geek rol films like Can't Hardly Wa, he portrayed a gay character the 2000 cult film But I'm a Cheerlear. Although he is proud to be part of a movie that skewers "ex-gay" therapy and has bee an trsic part of the queer non, he also saw how the offers dried up after s release. "The problem is that most gay actors get a horrible backlash and are not able to survive and thrive their craft, bee they don't get the opportuni [they once had].

"All the amazg gay actors out there are not havg the same opportunti that heterosexual actors have, " said Michaely, who reunted several recent dns for gay rol which straight men got the parts.