In Defense of Openly Gay Actors

The response from the entertainment world to the now-notorious Newsweek article "Straight Jacket," in which gay writer Ramin Setoodeh implies it's impossible for openly gay actors to be believable as straight characters, has been fast and (for the most part) furious. Many deemed the tone of the article "homophobic," and some even suggested a boycott of Newsweek until an apology is issued. Setoodeh, who singled out the Tony Award-nominated performance of Sean Hayes in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises and Jonathan Groff's turn on Fox's hit musical comedy Glee as evidence for his claim, provoked a maelstrom of media discussion that began with a passionate response from actress Kristin Chenoweth, who costars with Hayes in Promises.

Check out what the stars have been saying in response.

"As a longtime fan of Newsweekand as the actress currently starring opposite the incredibly talented (and sexy!) Sean Hayes in the Broadway revival of 'Promises, Promises,' I was shocked on many levels to see Newsweek publishing Ramin Setoodeh's horrendously homophobic 'Straight Jacket,' which argues that gay actors are simply unfit to play straight. From where I stand, on stage, with Hayes, every night -- I've observed nothing 'wooden' or 'weird' in his performance, nor have I noticed the seemingly unwieldy presence of a 'pink elephant' in the Broadway Theater. (The Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Tony members must have also missed that large animal when nominating Hayes' performance for its highest honors this year.) I'd normally keep silent on such matters and write such small-minded viewpoints off as perhaps a blip in common sense. But the offense I take to this article, and your decision to publish it, is not really even related to my profession or my work with Hayes or Jonathan Groff (also singled out in the article as too 'queeny' to play 'straight.') This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile. Setoodeh even goes so far as to justify his knee-jerk homophobic reaction to gay actors by accepting and endorsing that 'as viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker room torture in junior high school.' Really? We want to maintain and proliferate the same kind of bullying that makes children cry and in some recent cases have even taken their own lives? That's so sad, Newsweek! The examples he provides (what scientists call 'selection bias') to prove his 'gays can't play straight' hypothesis are sloppy in my opinion. Come on now! Openly gay Groff is too 'queeny' to play Lea Michele's boyfriend in Glee, but is a 'heartthrob' when he does it in Spring Awakening? Cynthia Nixon only 'got away with it' 'cause she peaked before coming out? I don't know if you've missed the giant Sex and the City movie posters, but it seems most of America is 'buying it.' I could go on, but I assume these will be taken care of in your 'Corrections' this week.

"Similarly, thousands of people have traveled from all over the world to enjoy Hayes' performance and don't seem to have one single issue with his sexuality! They have no problem buying him as a love-torn heterosexual man. Audiences aren't giving a darn about who a person is sleeping with or his personal life. Give me a break! We're actors first, whether we're playing prostitutes, baseball players, or the Lion King. Audiences come to theater to go on a journey. It's a character and it's called acting, and I'd put Hayes and his brilliance up there with some of the greatest actors period. Lastly, as someone who's been proudly advocating for equal rights and supporting GLBT causes for as long as I can remember, I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret. No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can't be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams. I am told on good authority that Mr. Setoodeh is a gay man himself and I would hope, as the author of this article, he would at least understand that. I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all!"

--Kristin Chenoweth (originally posted on Newsweek.com)

"Ramin Setoodeh's Newsweek article is so obviously self-loathing that one can only pity the myopic world he lives in. We share our friend Kristin Chenoweth's outrage and can only marvel at the wonderful, true, and yes, sexy relationship that she and Sean Hayes have onstage every night in Promises, Promises on Broadway."

--Neil Meron (pictured, right), producer of Promises, Promises (exclusive to The Advocate)

"I think what's most frightening is the continuing disappearance of the already thin line between pedestrian blogging and authentic journalism. In this instance Newsweek has published (and inadequately defended) a blog by a self-loathing gay man who is not only wildly off-base, but who has simultaneously done his best to help slam the closet door permanently for the many actors who were contemplating coming out. I am proud of both Sean Hayes, who is a superb actor who can play any number of roles -- straight or gay -- and of his costar Kristin Chenoweth, an equally gifted actor, who, without hesitation, had the mettle to rebut the author's specious assertions."

--Craig Zadan (pictured, left), producer of Promises, Promises (exclusive to The Advocate)

"Gay actors have been playing straight since Euripides. It really saddens me that someone actually thinks this way and that Newsweek would actually print it. I could care less who these actors do, it's what they do. When are we going to stop labeling everyone? How many times have I been referred to as 'out gay actor?' Do we say 'out heterosexual actor' when we refer to Tom Hanks? It's called acting, people."

--Bryan Batt (in an interview with ABC News)

"It's just beyond comprehension. That the article was written and the editor allowed it to go out online is beyond comprehension. They should be ashamed of themselves. ... I could talk about it for 27 hours [but] we don't have 27 hours. I just feel like there's nothing good to say about it. It shouldn't have been published. ... Just for the record, Sean Hayes is phenomenal in that show, and the show is phenomenal and the storytelling is very complete. ... The love stories are all there, and he's a phenomenally talented guy and his sexuality does not enter into or inform his abilities in any way."

--Megan Mullally (originally published on the Chicago Now website)

Here's what I, Alan Cumming -- out queer person, actor, purveyor of characters both straight, gay and those whose sexuality is not defined, currently typing this with acrylic nails and sore toes from being shoved into high heels from playing a transvestite has to say about it all ... There are millions of gay people all over the world who convincingly portray straight people every single day. Some of them are even actors. There are loads of gay people in the world who are effeminate. There are loads of straight people in the world who are effeminate. What is wrong with being effeminate? Does Ramin Seetodeh, and indeed society in general, have a problem with people who are too masculine? (Actually, probably yes, if they happen to be female). Calling someone out for being effeminate is a way of being negative about them for being gay without actually having to fess up to actual full-blown homophobia because our society has a tacit understanding that effeminacy is just a euphemism for faggot. Again, what is wrong with effeminacy? Do we have articles written in Newsweek about men (or women) who display particularly jockish behavior or exhibit high levels of testosterone?

--Alan Cumming (originally posted on Cumming's website)

"I would like to join my good friend Kristin Chenoweth on her condemnation of a recent Newsweek article written by Mr. Ramin Setoodeh, in which Setoodeh basically says that out gay actors should go back into the closet and never attempt to play straight characters. This article is as misguided as it is shocking and hurtful. It shocks me because Mr. Setoodeh is himself gay. But what is the most shocking of all is that Newsweek went ahead and published such a blatantly homophobic article in the first place ... and has remained silent in the face of ongoing (and justified) criticism. Would the magazine have published an article where the author makes a thesis statement that minority actors should only be allowed and encouraged to play domestics? I think not.

"Today, I have asked GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios to stand with me and others and ask for an immediate boycott of Newsweek magazine until an apology is issued to Sean Hayes and other brave out actors who were cruelly singled out in this damaging, needlessly cruel, and mind-blowingly bigoted piece. An apology should also be issued to all gay readers of the magazine...steelworkers, parents, accountants, doctors, etc. ... proud hardworking Americans who, if this article is to be believed, should only identify themselves as 'queeny' people (a word used by Setoodeh in the article) who stand at the back of the bus and embrace an outdated decades old stereotype. Mr. Setoodeh has recently Twittered that he is a fan of Glee, the show I co-created with Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk ... the show on which Mr. Groff plays the straight love interest to Lea Michele, a casting choice embraced by fans and critics alike which Mr. Setoodeh has taken issue with.

"I extend an open invitation to Mr. Setoodeh to come to the writers room of our show, and perhaps pay a set visit. Hopefully then he can see how we take care to do a show about inclusiveness ... a show that encourages all viewers no matter what their sexual orientation to go after their hopes and dreams and not be pigeonholed by dated and harmful rhetoric ... rhetoric he sadly spews and believes in. Hopefully, some of the love we attempt to spread will rub off on Mr. Setoodeh -- a gay man deeply in need of some education -- and he not only apologizes to those he has deeply offended but pauses before he picks up his poison pen again to work through the issues of his own self-loathing. Give me a call, Ramin ... I'd love to hear from you. I'll even give you a free copy of our Madonna CD, on which we cover 'Open Your Heart,' a song you should play in your house and car on repeat."

--Ryan Murphy (originally published on Entertainment Weekly's website)

"The thing is, actors are actors: You can't play gay anymore than you can play somebody who's Catholic. Aaron Sorkin wrote a wonderful thing in the Huffington Post. I don't think you have to slap somebody down for making an opinion that you don't agree with. But I do think what Kristin and Ryan did was so important, and I'm glad that they said it. It doesn't mean, 'Off with [Setoodeh's] head.' But I'm very glad, and I thought it was very heroic what the two of them did."

--Jane Lynch (originally published on Entertainment Weekly's website)

"When Jackie Robinson decided he was going to be the guy to step up and take on the challenge of being the first black player in the major leagues ... there are many who could have done it before him. Was that easy? Of course not -- that was a huge challenge. He had to suffer through the boos from the audience. He had to suffer through that and still perform well. And that's what this actor will have to do. This actor will have to suffer through articles like this in Newsweek, these sorts of things being said that are negative. But I think in the end, what they'll be doing is paving this road toward equality in Hollywood where, yes, straight people can play gay roles and gay people can play straight roles. It will be work, but I think it's important that someone do it so in 10 years it's a given."

--Dustin Lance Black (originally published on Newsweek.com)

"What's so odd about this ... to me, is that what he was saying was oddly out of step with what we're all seeing in Hollywood, which is a real spread of the number of gay men and lesbians who are actually playing straight people successfully on television and in movies, and on Broadway, of course. You've got Neil Patrick Harris. You've got -- as recently as the last two months -- the young man Jonathan [Groff] who's playing the love interest in Glee. You've now got Cheyenne Jackson playing Danny on 30 Rock, in a relationship with Tina Fey, and these are all -- the trend seems to be going in exactly the other direction from what this writer has asserted. From the perspective of GLAAD, we want to see a world where there's full equality for all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. And to think that a child might conclude that they can't be out? When all around them there are gay people coming out and being successful? It's not tenable. It's not believable, what the author is saying. And it's also harmful. Because if they were to believe it, it could really affect the expectations of children and all of us who want to live in a world where we're fully equal."

--Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (originally published on Newsweek.com)

"It was infuriating on so many levels. Not only does [Setoodeh] say that a gay man can't play straight, he got personal, picking on Sean Hayes in Promises, Promises, [pointing out] certain scenes where he thinks [Sean] is stiff and uncomfortable. And then he picks on Jonathan Groff, who just came out. He's a young teen heartthrob [in Glee]. He's so talented and so delicious and needs our love and support. Instead, [Setoodeh] says he's not believable at all. It was very veiled self-loathing. Really upsetting."

--Cheyenne Jackson (during a talk-back interview with Frank DeCaro)

"I think an article like [Setoodeh1s] is going to keep more people in the closet as opposed to encourage people to come out, honestly, with who they are. I agree it was a step backwards. Well, I haven`t seen the show and I hope to -- I am going to in June. So I'll know better what I think of his performance, but he was just nominated for a Tony, wasn`t he? So somebody out there think he`s doing all right."

--Amanda Bearse in an interview on The Joy Behar Show

"But with sincere respect to Ms. Chenoweth and the hundreds and hundreds of Internet posters who've crashed down on Setoodeh in the last few days -- some understandably passionate and some unfortunately hostile -- I don't think Setoodeh was being homophobic. Just wrong. The problem doesn't have anything to do with sexual preference. The problem has everything to do with the fact that we know too much about each other and we care too much about what we know. In one short decade we have been reconditioned to be entertained by the most private areas of other people's lives. We've become the family dog who's allowed to eat anything that falls on the floor, and the press is the little kid in the family who keeps dropping food. Sandy Bullock's life falls apart? That's for us. A golfer gets caught with strippers? We'll take that, thank you. Lindsay Lohan's an alcoholic? Mmm, mmm good! When Jennifer Aniston plays a movie character who's looking for love, her performance -- always sublime -- doesn't stand a chance against the real story we've been told it's okay to pay attention to, which is that Jennifer Aniston is looking for love. I can't hum a single John Mayer song but I can name five women he's slept with. Sean, for Setoodeh, the show began before you even showed up to the theater that night."

--Aaron Sorkin (originally published on The Huffington Post)