Actor/writer Wentworth Miller. |Image: Kiyoshi Ota / Getty Images AsiaPac via BuzzFeed
Wentworth Miller Comes Out: ‘Prison Break’ Star Reveals He’s Gay.
Okay, unlike yesterday’s “revelation” about Lucas Cruikshank, at least I know who Miller is! Also, the reason why is important, too. We all have to stand up and take a stand against injustice and intolerance and horrifying whack jobs every now and then.
And, because every story deserves a bit of levity, here’s BuzzFeed’s take on it!
Lucas Cruikshank, Nickelodeon actor and star and creator of the popular YouTube series Fred, came out of the closet in a Q&A video posted to his channel today.
via Towleroad (includes video embed — it’s kinda cute, actually)
I suppose this was inevitable — some young celeb comes out and I have no freakin’ idea who in the hell they are. I am officially old. *sigh*
Well, anyway, good for him. I think that the more young people who come out on their own terms and just get on with it, the better off we’ll all be. I envy the nonchalance of this generation. It certainly beats the angst-ridden youth of my generation.
Lucas Cruikshank and Jennifer Veal. He came out today. I have no idea who either of them are because I am, alas, too damn old. |Image: screen grab via Towleroad.
In one sense Glenn Greenwald’s being gay has nothing to do with the work he’s done as a journalist and commentator, including the revelations of government surveillance he’s helped bring to light in recent months. On the other hand, as he’s stated himself, growing up gay has given him a keen awareness of injustice, and certainly that’s true with regard to a government collecting personal information about its citizens. More than that, Glenn’s being gay seems to have been used against him in recent months.
via Targeting Glenn Greenwald’s Partner Is an Attack on Every One of Us | Michelangelo Signorile.
From Mike Signorile’s column on Huffington Post. It’s a good read. Read it.
Also read this from Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, the liberalish British newspaper that the American Greenwald writes for.
Finally, look at the New York Times‘ recent coverage.
A White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, told reporters Monday that the British government had given the United States notice that it intended to detain Mr. Miranda when his plane landed, but that there had been no American request to do so.
That’s from the Times. And are we expected to believe that? If anyone does, I have a lovely piece of swampland in the desert Southwest to sell you.
Glenn Greenwald (l) and his partner David Michael Miranda. A Brazilian national, Miranda was detained in transit at Heathrow Airport. Greenwald has written extensively on the Edward Snowden leaks case. |Image: The Spectator.
And finally, this long cut is from the Spectator — the Spectator, that bastion of conservative British thought:
Always remember mornings like these, the next time police officers and politicians demand more powers to protect us from terrorism. They always sound so reasonable and so concerned for our welfare when they do. For who wants to be blown apart?
But the state said its new powers to intercept communications would be used against terrorists. They ended up using them against fly tippers. Now the police are using the Terrorism Act against the partner of a journalist who is publishing stories the British and American governments would rather keep quiet.
The detention of David Miranda at Heathrow is a clarifying moment that reveals how far Britain has changed for the worse. Nearly everyone suspects the Met held Miranda on trumped up charges because the police, at the behest of the Americans, wanted to intimidate Miranda’s partner Glenn Greenwald, the conduit of Edward Snowden’s revelations, and find out whether more embarrassing information is on Greenwald’s laptop.
These are scary times for those of us who have been increasingly uncomfortable watching the inherent (or so we thought) protections of the Fourth Estate erode in recent years. The most troubling part for me is that it’s happening in the Obama Administration. As a friend of mine cheekily wrote on my Facebook yesterday, “You thought you elected Obama and then got Dick Cheney.” I don’t like the unsettling truth underpinning that reply.
Greenwald and Miranda live primarily in Brazil because, until a few weeks ago, DOMA prevented Greenwald from sponsoring Miranda for a green card. Given what’s happened in the last few days, maybe it worked out for the best.
P.S. — In tagging this story, I entered “NSA” and the helpful spelling wizard came up with “insanity.” Yep, that’s right, too!
Got this tweet this past weekend from LogoTV —
Of course, I had to check it out.
The premise is people who are out now showing old pictures of themselves when they were pretending to be straight — or simply hadn’t figured out how to come out of the closet.
Back when I was a pre-teen/teenager, there were three people on television that I knew were gay: Paul Lynde on The Hollywood Squares, Charles Nelson Reilly on Match Game, and Billy Crystal’s character, Jodie Dallas, on Soap. And that was it! At least that was it in my little insulated corner of the planet. No one talked about gay and straight. Were these my role models? No, thanks. That’s not it. I’m not like ANY of these men. (Although, I LOVED Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly — they were the epitome of hilarious to me in the 70s — I did not connect the dots.)
Charles Nelson Reilly made the 70s a little bit funnier on Match Game. A gifted actor, teacher and director, the Tony-winning Reilly filmed his autobiographical stage show, The Life of Reilly, shortly before his death. |Image: nndb.com
TV’s center square, Paul Lynde, was bitchy and campy and threw out one double entendre after another on The Hollywood Squares for years. Also known for stage and TV work, including memorable turns as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched, Lynde died of a heart attack in 1982 at age 55. |Image: crewmagazine.
Billy Crystal as Jodie Dallas in Soap. Allegedly gay throughout the series’ 1977-81 run, Jodie had several relationships with women. Granted the show was an over-the-top spoof on soap operas, but commercial director Jodie was nobody’s idea of a role model.
Things weren’t that much better in the 80s, when Steven Carrington on Dynasty was television’s gay standard bearer. Carrington — played by Al Corley and then recast with Jack Coleman — like Jodie Dallas before him, had far more romantic entanglements with women than any gay man I’ve ever met. Then again, “conversion therapy” and attempts to go straight were seen as serious back then, as ridiculous as it sounds now. There was no touching, no actual affection shown between two men on TV then; not in those days when, after his 1985 death, the world was shocked to learn that Rock Hudson was gay.
Looking back on those “straight years,” I think that simply because they were there and we could have a conversation about them, Jodie Dallas and Steven Carrington began to pave the way for networks like HERE and LOGO and superstars like Ellen Degeneres and Rosie O’Donnell and Zachary Quinto and George Takei and Anderson Cooper and Neil Patrick Harris and shows like Glee and The New Normal and Will & Grace and Brothers & Sisters and The L Word and Queer as Folk on cable and the networks and Husbands and The Outs and Eastsiders and Submissions Only and Hunting Season online and iconic couples like Kevin and Scotty, Luke and Noah, Lindsey and Melanie, Will and Sonny and, hell, Jack and Doug on Dawson’s friggin’ Creek just to scratch the very tip of the iceberg.
I finally figured it all out in my mid-20s and came out publicly after attending the 1993 gay march on Washington. Being surrounded by the largest crowd I’ve ever seen on the National Mall, I decided that I wasn’t alone. I had back up in case coming out was a terrible idea.
It wasn’t. It NEVER is. I just wish my “straight years” hadn’t lasted quite so long. Maybe they wouldn’t have if I could have seen more of myself on television, in the movies or in literature back then.
The Corner Bar was a 1972 summer replacement series on ABC that is credited with the first recurring gay character on American television. Played by Vincent Schiavelli, “Peter Panama” was reviled by gay activists at the time for playing up all of the worst gay stereotypes. Schiavelli, far right, is pictured with cast members Gabriel Dell, J.J. Barry, Shimen Ruskin, Bill Fiore and Joe Keyes. |Image via sticomsonline.com, watermarked argentaimages.
How “Husbands” Predicted The Future For Gay Marriage And Digital Hollywood.
Fortunately, Husbands has not had to worry about suffering from performance issues. When Bell and Espenson launched it two years ago as a web series on YouTube, it won a rave from no less than The New Yorker, and generated enough of a passionate fan base that the duo was able to raise $60,000 on Kickstarter for a second season. That season, which debuted on YouTube last year, saw a roughly 35% boost in viewership. “Everybody has access to the ability to make their own product now,” says Espenson. “It really is ‘the best will thrive.’ Like, whole networks are set up to guess what people are going to like. You don’t have to guess anymore. You can put it up and see what they like. That’s what we did. And they liked us.”
Excellent article and interview with Bell, Espenson and Hemeon about the impact of Husbands and finding new venues for content.
Husbands’ co-star Sean Hemeon is flanked by series co-creators Brad Bell and Jane Espenson at the 2013 Entertainment Weekly San Diego Comic Con party. The much-lauded marriage equality series centers on Hemeon and Bell, who play a hilarious mismatched married couple in the crisply written show. | Image: Chelsea Lauren/WireImage.
It’s very interesting to me that the trio no longer use the phrase “Web series” to describe the show, now beginning its third season (and this time on CW Seed, the companion site to the broadcast network), but rather simply call it a “series.”
I think they are right — and it’s very interesting to see language and usage change — sometimes practically overnight.
Says Espenson: “There’s nothing on YouTube that you can’t see on your smart TV. There’s nothing on TV, essentially, that you can’t find online in some form. So [saying “Web series” is] like saying, “I heard a radio song” vs. “a CD song!” Well, what’s the difference? You can get it either place.
I’ll have to start checking myself.
Meanwhile, you can watch — please do; it’s terrific!! — the new season of Husbands on CW Seed.
Watch the first two seasons and some behind-the-scenes videos HERE.
Read some of the Husbands-related posts I’ve made over the last year HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Here’s a good interview, courtesy of NPR, with the dreamy David Tennant about Broadchurch, the eight-episode whodunnit that hits the U.S. shores this week on BBCAmerica.
David Tennant and Olivia Colman, center, lead the ensemble cast in this terrific British thriller. Fourth from left, with the dog, is the delicious Pauline Quirke, one of my favorite actors from the U.K. Americans may not know her as well as Tennant, but she’s a powerhouse over there. Colman has a very funny turn in the new film “I’ll Give It a Year.” | Image” ITV.
Like a lot of British procedurals seen in the States, Broadchurch was originally shown on ITV, like Downton Abbey and other shows shown on PBS on this side of the pond. So many people think these are all BBC productions — and I suppose the name of the network over here doesn’t help — but this is an ITV production.
Broadchurch became a national event in the U.K. earlier this year and it really keeps you thinking. As Tennant points out in the NPR interview, the format — one murder over eight episodes — allows for more plot and character development than you find in the traditional one-hour stories told on U.S. procedurals.
I won’t give away anything — I’ve already seen it!! — but I certainly would urge you to watch! (And not even because I’ve been mad for David Tennant since he was “the Doctor!”)
Can’t believe I haven’t talked about this yet, but the latest Web series from The Outs’ Adam Goldman and company has met its rather significant Kickstarter goal. I’m excited about this for several reasons. First, I was one of the Kickstarter contributors and I nudged a couple of other people to contribute as well. Second, The Outs was probably my very favorite Web series of the last several years, even though I was a significant supporter of several others.
The WTI ensemble consists of several familiar faces for viewers of The Outs, including Tommy Heleringer (second from left), Hunter Canning (second from right) and Sasha Winters (kneeling). Image: Whatever this is. Facebook.
Goldman and company have already proven that theirs is a unique voice and one that has connected with the audience. The gelling of a true ensemble is making their Rascal Department an independent force to be reckoned with. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
‘Skyfall’ Actor Ben Whishaw Officially Comes Out As Gay, Reveals He Is Married.
In a statement obtained by the Daily Mail over the weekend, Whishaw’s rep confirmed the actor is gay and has been married to his partner, Australian composer Mark Bradshaw, for a year now.
“Ben has never hidden his sexuality, but like many actors he prefers not to discuss his family or life outside of his work,” his spokesman said Friday night. “Due to speculation, I can confirm that Ben and Mark entered into a civil partnership in August 2012. They were proud to do so and are very happy.”
Ben Whishaw as Freddie Lyon in “The Hour,” the period drama from the BBC about newsgathering in the 1950s. The Beeb cancelled the show after two series, sadly, but it was great TV. For many in the U.S., “The Hour” was the first real introduction to Whishaw’s many talents. | Image: BBC
There’s part of me that’s happy about this. There’s another part of me that just thinks it’s not a big deal and, frankly, none of my business or anyone else’s.
I’m conflicted, I suppose. I believe that it is so very important for LGBT equality that people realize how many people live their lives vibrantly and openly and how that polyglot makes this a richer world.
But ….
I don’t know if I really need to know who Ben Whishaw sleeps with or is married to. It just has no relevance. He’s a fine, fine actor. He was great in the last James Bond flick, picking up the mantle of “Q” seamlessly from John Cleese and the magnificent Desmond Llewellyn. He was mesmerizing as Freddie Lyon in two seasons of the BBC drama “The Hour” and he was captivating as Sebastian Flyte in a less-than-stellar take on Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited.”
Is he less or more captivating because we know that the performer under the artifice is gay? My belief is that if he’s a fine actor, everything — everything — else is completely irrelevant.
Well, anyway, good on ya, Ben. I wish you, your husband, and your fabulous head of hair all the happiness in the world!
Pink Called A Lesbian In Twitter Attack After Dancing With Gay Pride Flag.
“They’ve been the most loyal part of what I do,” she told the Advocate last October. “They’ve been my most loyal friends, to be honest. I’ve had a lot of my gay boys around, but my gay girls are my rootstalk. They’re my honesty in an ocean of bullshit. I should be gay by the way that I look and the way that I am. I just happen to not be. But it just makes perfect and complete sense.”
Good on ya, girlfriend!
Sad.
Glee star Monteith. The Canadian star was found dead in a Vancouver hotel at age 31. | Image: Chris Pizzello/AP
By Associated Press, Updated: Sunday, July 14, 4:10 AM
via The Washington Post
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Cory Monteith, the handsome young actor who shot to fame in the hit TV series “Glee” but was beset by addiction struggles so fierce that he once said he was lucky to be alive, was found dead in a hotel room, police said. He was 31.
Lepard said Monteith had been out with people earlier and that those people are being interviewed.
One Last Word 