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Who knew that an article could cause so much controversy in the entertainment world and in the LGBTQ community in particular? Well, GLAAD did, which is the reason they are joining Ryan Murphy, Kristin Chenoweth and Michael Urie in urging Newsweek to issue an apology regarding their "Straight Jacket" article published on April 26, 2010.
Who knew that an article could cause so much controversy in the entertainment world and in the LGBTQ community in particular? Well, GLAAD did, which is the reason they are joining Ryan Murphy, Kristin Chenoweth and Michael Urie in urging Newsweek to issue an apology regarding their "Straight Jacket" article published on April 26, 2010.
The article, written by a gay man, posited that gay men like Sean Hayes and Cheyenne Jackson are unconvincing in straight roles. Hayes' Promises Promises costar Chenoweth was one of the first to come out against the homophobic article. Here's what the spritely Chenoweth had to say:
"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!"
In a statement released to the press today, GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios stated:
"Whether he intended it to or not, Ramin Setoodeh's article in Newsweek sends a false and damaging message about gay actors by endorsing the idea that there are limits to the roles they are able to play. If Setoodeh wanted to start a discussion about the work of gay performers, he undermined his own premise by affirming stereotype after stereotype, such as gay actors being 'insincere' or unbelievable when playing romantic leads, and dismissing or disregarding the work of actors like Neil Patrick Harris, Cheyenne Jackson, Cherry Jones, Wanda Sykes, Jonathan Groff and Alan Cumming, among others. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender actors can play a wide variety of diverse roles and Setoodeh's perspective on this issue reflects his own discomfort that he attempts to project onto the audience by indicting Sean Hayes instead of examining his own inability to embrace gay actors in straight roles."
You can read the full statement from GLAAD here:https://www.glaad.org.
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