Did you ever feel pressure to hide your sexuality for the sake of your acting career?
I’ve written a book where I talk about how, as a young actor, [I was] influenced by the people [I hired to] handle [my] career. I had an agent at the time, who was also gay, and he said, “We’re putting you up for soaps. If you’re [openly] gay, you’re not gonna [get booked for roles].” When Noah’s Arc launched, Patrick sat all the actors down and said, “None of us are gonna talk about our sexuality in public.”
[I think it was] because of what [he’d] seen with shows like Queer as Folk, in terms of how much press and attention the straight actors were getting for being [quote unquote] brave enough to play gay characters. There was always that fear of if they find out [I’ll] never work [again]. What’s interesting is that once I came out, I was getting tons of work, and it was all good work.
What prompted you to be public about it?
Working in Hollywood, not talking about [my sexuality], and then not working, I thought, “Why am I not talking about it? If I’m not working anyway.” As far as I could see, being open about it can only help. Q. Allan Brocka, who directed the film I did called Boy Culture in 2006, said to me, “If you ever wanted to come out publicly, I will do everything I can to make sure to navigate that in a way that is good for your career.”
Once Noah’s Arc wrapped that same year, I was approached to be part of Out magazine’s Out 100 list. I leaped at the opportunity. That’s when I embraced the opportunity to talk about it in ways that felt unfettered and uncontrolled. I’d been living [out loud in] my daily life for years, though.