You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forbid...
You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forbid...
eslgr8
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
#0You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forbid...
Posted: 6/10/05 at 11:23am
you ask a question about who is gay. Last night Footloser started a thread because he needed to know who was OPENLY gay, for a report he was making for school. I compiled a list of 28 well known theatrical actors who are out to the press. When I awoke this morning, the thread was dead. Posters at this site are free to say the worst sorts of things about performers, and no thread speculating on a straight performer's personal life seems to get killed. Footloser wasn't asking for speculation, he was asking for facts. In fact, these performers are openly gay. They have spoken to Wayman Wong, or the Advocate, or other gay publications, or to the general press. They are heroes to the gay community.
They are:
Alan Cumming
Alec Mapa
Anthony Rapp
BD Wong
Brian Lane Green
Bruce Vilanch
Cheyenne Jackson
Christopher Sieber
Daniel Davis
David Drake
David Marshall Grant
Denis O’Hare
Eric Millegan
Gary Beach
Harvey Fierstein
Ian McKellan
Jai Rodriguez
Joe Mantello
John Benjamin Hickey
John Tartaglia
Justin Daniel
Malcolm Gets
Nathan Lane
Randy Harrison
Stephen Fry
Stephen Spinella
Tom Hewitt
Wilson Cruz
I love this website and the way it allows us to exchange ideas, opinions, suggestions, etc. and salute the Broadway and theatrical community. However I cannot comprehend how in the year 2005 when the gay community is moving (admittedly slowly but moving nonetheless) towards recognition of our relationships and our right to serve our country in the military, this type of censorship should still be going on. Being gay is not a dirty little secret, it's not a crime in this country, and damn it it's not even a sin. Footloser had every right to ask his question and Broadwayworld.com was WRONG to delete it!
Steven Stanley
Gay man
Alhambra, CA
#1re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forbid...
Posted: 6/10/05 at 11:26amare you SURE bww deleted it? 'cause that certainly WOULD be ridiculous; I just have trouble swallowing it.
superwoman108
Stand-by Joined: 1/5/05
#2re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forbid...
Posted: 6/10/05 at 11:36amWell said eslgr8 !
#3re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 11:36amIt would seem silly for them to delete ity - all the actors are completely out.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#4re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 11:41am
Well this is the website where a moderator (A MODERATOR) posted a "food for thought" post where he wondered if Broadway wasn't geting "too gay" and chasing customers away. Actually, he referred to it as being "Too queer."
Soemtimes the more we move forward the more we get pushed back.
nmartin
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/3/05
#6re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 11:46am
A moderator? This isn't Meet the Press. Eslgr8 has every right to be outraged. Good for you. And good for you for signing your name.
Updated On: 6/10/05 at 11:46 AM
#7re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 11:47am
VERY upsetting, if true, and I have no reason to doubt.
Let's see if they delete it again....
You can add Cheyene Jackson if you like...out and proud.
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#8re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 11:51amI saw that thread, and although everyone on your list may be out and not have a problem with thier names being mentioned in a thread of this nature (I'll take your word for it since I haven't had sex with any of them...that I can recall, anyway.) But it seemed to me that the thread might have been heading into a "I heard so-and-so is gay, too." Perhaps they decided to nip it in the bud. It is a sensitive topic and I am sure the mods would rather not have, oh, I don't know...Tom Cruise's people after them.
JbaraFan1
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/04
#10re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 12:00pm
I can see SueleenGay's point ... but then ANY thread can start out with facts and then potentially go off with posts that are merely speculative, gossipy or whatever. Seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater to kill a whole thread simply because that might happen.
Updated On: 6/10/05 at 12:00 PM
#11re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 12:03pmRight, and this is sort of a GOSSIP board. As long as people aren't out of control aggressive or inflammatory (HA, or illegal...) they shouldn't delete threads.
nmartin
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/3/05
#12re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 12:10pm
Who's the moderator? Jerry "Boycott Tinky Winky" Falwell? I love me some Tinky Winky and Sponge Bob. I almost forgot...Mr. Bingle too.
Updated On: 6/10/05 at 12:10 PM
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#13re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 12:11pmGod knows from time to time the gossip gets away from us here at BWW, but this thread was started to discuss out actors, thus just inviting people to post their two cents worth of "I heards".
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#14re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 12:21pm
What about the openly Lesbian?
Love me some Cherry Jones
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#15re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 12:23pm
Plus...it simply could have been handled in PMs. I personally know a bunch of Broadway actors who are comfortably out in their personal lives, but not publicly. It's their decision and no one else's when and if they'd like to come out and not for me or anyone else on this board to offer the info.
Unless, of course, they're hateful and obnoxious and someone who deserves to have his life and career ruined. And that person is...
No...I can't...I'm too good.
#17re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 12:32pm
*starts to sing* They're openly gay/ and that's okay/ I mean cause hey/ We love them anyway/ because you see/ if it were me/ I would feel free to say that I was gay.
And turning off the Avenue Q now...
Sorries, serious now. I agree that it was wrong to delete that. And I'm a fan of most of the performers on the list providing by eslgr8. And when (not if, people, WHEN) I get to Broadway, I'm going to be out as a bisexual.
2. Great buckets of Spoffnor, they're going to sing!
3. "I love shrubs that are historical." -Johnny and The Sprites
4. "We're not singing it to you, we're singing it for us." -Rosario Dawson, about La Vie Boheme
5. "The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours." -The History Boys
6. "Pass the parcel. That's sometimes all you can do. Take it, feel it and pass it on. Not for me, not for you, but for someone, somewhere, one day. Pass it on, boys. That's the game I want you to learn. Pass it on." -The History Boys
bonna
Chorus Member Joined: 2/8/05
#18re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 12:33pmI don't see why something like this should be moved to the Off Topic board. If you're asking about THEATRE actors then it's very on topic.
MasterLcZ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/12/03
#19re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 12:34pm
Oh, POO, robbiej. You are just TOO nice!
My favorite 1920-30s code name for lesbian was "Portugese lady", and one would inquire about her with "Is she from Portugal?"
eslgr8
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
#20re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 3:08pm
The Off Topic board thread appears to be a new one started after the other one was deleted. And thanks to everyone for the support. You are wonderful! By the way, Robbiej, your quietly gay friends had better not ever decide they want to get married or have a civil union because God forbid, they'd have to go public with this information. There is only one basic reason why performers don't want to be out. Cowardice. And all of us, as human beings, can be cowardly, myself included. But as out film actor Craig Chester stated in a recent interview, he would rather be an out actor and lose the chance to play Jerry Lewis than be closeted. Unfortunately, many actors don't have the courage of a Cheyenne Jackson or Chris Sieber or Denis O'Hare or Gary Beach because... Oh, wait a minute. All of these out actors are currently starring on Broadway and have been award nominated and/or won an award this year. Once again, pretty much any gossip is permitted on this site except discussion of sexual orientation. Would a thread be deleted if someone asked who was Puerto Rican and someone else put down the name of an actor who happened not to be? Think about it.
PS: Another name I should have included was John Barrowman, who spoke about his parter this year in interviews with both The Advocate and Playbill.com.
Broadway Style
Stand-by Joined: 2/16/04
#21re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 4:53pm
Well, eslgrl8, I agree with everythig you said until:
"there is only one basic reason why performers don't want to be out. Cowardice."
I don't think that is a fair judgement to make. It is always a person's choice to come out publicly or not, and while it is very accepted (and many times in men's case even expected) to be gay in the world of theatre, many people would like to have crossover careers. In the world of mainstream media, it is only too often that the openly gay actors get typecasted. Be it fair or not, in many cases it is a conscious decision to not be publicly out because of potential career backfire. While it is commendable of certain performers to take this risk, it is certainly understandable why some do not. Showbusiness is a hard enough field to break into and who wants to create potential handicaps for themselves? When the line between your private life and career starts to get blurred I don't think the same rules apply.
#22re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 5:11pmBRAVO.
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#23re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 5:14pm
I'm Puerto Rican *and* gay.....
is that okay?
inishmore
Stand-by Joined: 4/6/05
#24re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 5:18pm
Eslgr8, I kind of agree.
Whenever I see a thread about asking if someone is gay and then a bunch of people get upset, I wonder about it. It's not like they are saying something bad... since I think most of us agree that there is nothing wrong with being gay. I grew up with a theater/MFA theater school and always used to ask all the cute incoming students and such if they were gay because, I mean, if I have any intention on flirting then I kind of need to know. I think of it more like a fact like someones age and don't really understand why it's so touchy still at this point in time. (With the exception of people who are intentionally closeted and DON'T want to be known as gay and get upset about it) But then, that's just must opinion among a bunch. *shrug*
#25re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/10/05 at 10:57pmHarvey Fierstein is gay??? Outrageous! What a shock.
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#26re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/11/05 at 12:04amWhat the hell difference does it make? They aren't going to have sex with YOU, anyway.
MusicMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/03
#27re: You can say anything about anyone, no matter how nasty, but heaven forb
Posted: 6/11/05 at 12:27am
Not only that, but it's typical of this hyper-eroticized culture that some people think they have free reign to stick their nose where it doesn't belong and speculate on the most private aspect of a performer's (or anyone's) life in a public forum while disseminating spurious hearsay. Whether the person in question is out or not is irrelevant. Thankfully, not everyone, gay or straight, defines themselves solely by the impulses of their libido. Find a more worthy outlet for your indignance.
Updated On: 6/11/05 at 12:27 AM
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