Gay in Hollywood

[scorpiogirl]

I found this article on gay actors in Hollywood that I thought people might be interested in.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/app...03/1004/LIVING

The article talks about the show Brothers and Sisters, as well as Actor Chad Allen. Allen has also been interviewed by Newsweek about his new movie "Save Me", about a gay man going through an ex-gay program.

That interview is here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17011657/newsweek

[BruceChris]

Well, yeah, as the article pointed out, an actor's job is to play a believable part, or charactor. John Wayne has never played anyone but John Wayne, and his fans loved him. Milton Berle, even with a dress and a wig on, is still Milton Berle. Flip Wilson, as Geraldine, is a LOT more believable as a woman, but it is still Flip Wilson.

I had a roommate once, who was an actor. Her favorite charactor was playing a sand crab. She made a Very believable sand crab.

For most of his life, Rock Hudson was a very believable hetrosexual, and I'm sure a lot of women's fantasies were dashed. Katheryn Hepburn and Marlena Dietrich played it a little closer to the edge, but women could get away with more of that, and I don't think either one of them spent much time unemployed. Hepburn and Tracy made a LOT of movies.

At certain times in their history, in some countries, women could not be seen on a stage, and so women's parts were played by men.

And the guy who plays Will on Will and Grace, is still careful to be a very OUT hetrosexual.

If we could just get rid if the tabloids, and most of the fundies, an honest actor could get a job now and then. On the other hand, it's nice to see the subject being brought out to the public.

Peace and Love, Bruce Chris

[scorpiogirl]

I thought the first article was interesting because a lot of people think that Hollywood is supportive of gays when really it isn't.
Ian McKellen has talked a lot about homophobia in Hollywood and how when he plays a straight character, that character is never put in romantic situations because it would be seen as strange, given how open McKellen is about being gay in real life.

[scorpiogirl]

Speaking about what we are talking about:

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily...7/09living.htm

[Matt Algren]

Okay, I swear that someone recently started a thread about the movie Save Me, but I can't find it. So I'm resurrecting this thread. So there.

There's a new interview with Chad Allen over at Christianity Today (I found got there from a fear quoting blog). He talks about being a gay Christian and being involved in a movie about the ex-gay people. Interesting stuff.

Allen says his own personal journey mirrors Mark's. While Allen experienced a degree of fame as a teen idol (on shows like St. Elsewhere and, later, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), with his face on the covers of teen zines, he also wrestled with his sexuality: "I was this teenage kid who just wanted to scream, 'I'm not OK! I don't know who that kid is in the magazines, but I'm just a scared, confused teenager!'"

Having grown up in a conservative Catholic home with older brothers "who were very sure about what it meant to be a man," Allen ended up hating himself—and convinced that God hated him too. "It's horrible," he says, "to be a young person alone in your room at night, firmly believing that God hates you and you will go to hell because of the feelings going on your heart."

I don't really agree with him on all of it (they've been positioning the movie as a neutral conversation-starter movie and Chad continues that trend in a section that I question the editing of but won't quote because it's spoilerific), but it should be an interesting movie. I should say that I question CT's insertion/clarification in one of the quotes. Specifically, in this section:

"I don't think you can discern the Word of God unless you're holding the love of God in your heart," he says. "I can take any piece of written material, and if I'm holding fear and anger in my heart, I will get fear and anger as a result. And if I'm holding love in my heart, I will get love as a result.

"I don't pretend to say that Scripture doesn't say what it says [about homosexuality]. And I don't have the intellectual and theological background to enter into a debate. But I know there's lots in Scripture that I can read and come up with fear. And there's lots that I can read and know those aren't aspects in my life. Certainly today we know that slavery isn't something we can condone, but it seems to be condoned in Scripture. And today we know that women have a role in society that wasn't there in Scripture. When I'm reading Scripture, it's about the experience of a loving God."

Some Christians say that sexual orientation alone isn't necessarily sinful, but acting on it is. Allen disagrees.

"In the three and a half years I've been loving and committed to my partner, the fruit born of that and of my sexuality is beauty and love and goodness, not fear and destruction," he says. "The fruit that was born of my alcoholism was fear and destruction."

...I'm not sure about the [about homosexuality]. I think they're interpreting his statement based on their bias. I might be splitting hairs, but that phrase doesn't mesh with the rest of the paragraph.