"Just Jack" has stepped out

[eumelia]

As some of you may know by now, Sean Hayes, he of Will & Grace fame, has Come Out of the Closet.

This, after the issue of him being gay had been an open secret in the industry.

I find it a bit surprising that he'd chose to do so now, but perhaps enough time has passed since the end of the show and the fact that he's exploring other mediums at the moment (he's on Broadway).

Like most gay celebz in the US, The Advocate was the platform used to make the announcement. He was interviewed ("I am who I am") and gave us his perspective on how he really feels about the gay media, because the interview mentions the fact that Hayes never gave any interviews to gay publications or was never direct about his sexuality:

“I believe that nobody owes anything to anybody,” Hayes says, so worked up that he repeats the line. “Nobody owes anything to anybody. You are your authentic self to whom and when you choose to be, and if you don’t know somebody, then why would you explain to them how you live your life?”

Finally, Hayes gets to his true point: “I feel like I’ve contributed monumentally to the success of the gay movement in America, and if anyone wants to argue that, I’m open to it. You’re welcome, Advocate.”

That sarcasm and anger cover up years of genuinely hurt feelings. “Why would you go down that path with somebody who’s done so much to contribute to the gay community?” he asks. “That was my beef about it. What more do you want me to do? Do you want me to stand on a float? And then what? It’s never enough.

“That’s the thing about celebrity: It sets you up to fail because the expectation is so high of what’s needed, what’s wanted from you that the second you don’t [meet it], you disappoint people.”

I've said so before, but I'll repeat. Hollywood, for all it's loud liberalism, "sex sells" mentality and a bunch of other notions that give them the image of being progressive and pro-LGBT...
I don't think they are.
The actors may be about gay rights, some of the executives may be as well, but the stories we're sold from Hollywood, the media the covers Hollywood are so heterosexist, heteronormative and the scandals we hear about all point to a huge amount of sex-negativity, heterocentrism and queer erasure.

I remember when the press was talking about Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law's off screen dynamic people were saying "they were in love", that it was an epic "bromance" (may that word die in a a fire already!) and the thing is, if RDJ were to really leave his wife for a man, or Jude Law were to have another affair but this time with a guy, I don't think the media would be so forgiving or even play along with the "good clean fun".

I like it when celebz come out, but I don't expect them to, especially not in the US where sex is this hot bed of issues I don't even know where to begin.

So Sean Hayes has now come out and people are either going to say: "why wasn't he out the whole time?" and "so his portrayal of 'Jack' wasn't really acting" and a bunch of other things. But those two are what I want to pick a bone about.

As the man himself said, no one owes it to anyone to be out and if you read the interview it's clear he never considered himself to be in - the glass closet is a complicated place to be, because the assumption of heterosexuality will place you in that box, and if there's a suspicion that you're otherwise then everything you do is a lie.

Sean Hayes can be accused of lying by omission by certain people. Which is an utter crock.

The second is the whole "gays playing gays isn't really acting", it's an old discrediting trope, one that unfortunately works. Rupert Everett is stuck in that paradigm and he'd probably make a better leading man than many other actors - now he can only be "The Gay guy" or an Oscar Wilde character - which is a zero-sum game in the eyes of many. Edited for Correction: John Barrowman didn't get the role of "Will" in Will & Grace got because he acted "too straight". Eric McCormack who did get the role is a straight man... yeah, gays don't come in all shaped and sizes.
Now we know Hayes is gay.
He never acted?

I think the man has great potential and can be just as successful as Neil Patrick Harris (he who avoids gay roles - though he is going to Glee), but we shall see.

Hey! Where are the super star queer women?!

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

Yep. Much agreeing with everything you said.

As for queer women, well, Jodie Foster came out in 2007 and I think that for women as much as men that fear of not being offered leading roles/het love interest roles is a big deal. It seems like a lot of these women come out in their 40s or later, when they have either lost hope of being cast as love interest, or have already established their leading role credentials.

[eumelia]

You're quite right. A female actor's shelf-life is much shorter than a male actor - I mean, the only woman that comes to mind as a romantic lead(ish) who is over 40 (in her 60's in fact) is Diane Keaton.