Darren Criss Wins a Golden Globe Playing a Gay Role But Will No Longer Play Gay Characters. Here’s Why That’s Important!

At this week’s Golden Globes, Darren Criss won the award for ‘Best Actor in a Limited Series’ for his role in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: A True Crime Drama. With it, he joins a long line of heterosexual actors who have won awards by portraying LGBTQ characters: Tom Hanks in Philadelphia, Jeffrey Tambor in Transparent, Hillary Swank for Boys Don’t Cry etc. I’m not bashing these actors here. They were all amazing in these roles and deserving of the awards. But Darren Criss understands that many LGBTQ actors feel these roles are being taken away from them. He recently said in an interview that he would no longer play gay roles for this precise reason. It’s something I have felt strongly about for some time.

My frustration on this topic peaked around the release of Call Me by Your Name: a gay themed movie with an openly gay director Luca Guadagnino. The latest Hollywood blockbuster to cast straight men in gay roles.

As an openly gay actor, I felt frustrated at this. Hollywood is notoriously homophobic to its leading males with casting agencies/directors/studios telling men to stay in the closet if they want to land big roles. This was an opportunity to send a message which I felt was missed.

As an actor just starting out again after years out of the industry, there wasn’t much I could do about it. However, I still wanted to put my frustration into action. I reached out to a Facebook group I follow for British expats living in Los Angeles. I wanted to create something that was authentically LGBTQ. The members of this group had always been helpful and I knew among them were working actors, directors, writers who may want to collaborate. I posted my plea in the group. I wasn’t prepared for the backlash I would receive: “It’s just acting,” “Well if that’s the case then British actors shouldn’t be allowed to play American roles,” “If straight actors aren’t allowed to play gay, then gay actors can’t play straight roles.”And the comment that literally took my breath away, “Perhaps act a little less gay and you’ll land more roles.”

A big argument I’ve faced when I’ve discussed this before is that of gay men playing straight roles. I’ve been asked if it’s somewhat hypocritical of me to believe that gay roles should go to gay or bisexual men but also that gay men should be allowed to play straight roles? It isn’t and here’s why. There are a disproportionate number of straight (or “straight”) actors in Hollywood versus gay actors. There are also a disproportionate number of heterosexual based storylines over LGBTQ ones. If the roles were equal and opportunities the same then yes, it wouldn’t matter. But they’re not. GLAAD’S report “Where We Are on TV” found that of the over 800 series regular roles on primetime scripted shows, only 75 were LGBTQ. The most shocking part is that was the highest number ever recorded. When a movie comes up that speaks of the LGBTQ experience, I’d like to see a LGBTQ actor playing that role (at least until the opportunities are equal). If it turned out that gay actors were auditioned in the same frequency as straight actors and a straight actor played the role better, then all is fair. But I know this is often not the case. Having spoken to casting directors about this issue, they’re often discouraged to cast an LGBTQ actor because “gay doesn’t sell.” It’s easier to sell an LGBTQ movie if the actors in it are only playing gay. Then it’s just fantasy. It appeals to the heteronormative world that we live in.

I’d like to point out that I think Call Me by Your Name was brilliant. The lead actors did a superb job. The same goes for Brokeback Mountain. I wept at that movie. My frustration lies with the comment on Facebook about “acting less gay” being a reflection on the societal view that heterosexuality is normal. LGBTQ needs to be adapted to this viewpoint. Society wants to see their leading men masculine and their leading females feminine and Hollywood is enabling this. It’s easier to sell this movie genre when the actors portraying them are outwardly straight-acting. Of course, there are a large amount of gay men who are masculine, but would a movie like Call Me by Your Name have been as popular if the lead roles were outwardly feminine and/or played by gay actors?

As a gay man I was proud of Darren Criss for making this stance. It felt like he understood why many LGBTQ people have felt the frustration of Hollywood’s “gay for pay” mentality. When I read the the article about him, I couldn’t help but read the comments to see what people had said. Sadly among the comments of support were the same comments I’d been faced with: “It’s called acting. He’s ACTING gay!”

Like any movement towards equality, it’s going to take people time to understand why this is important to the LGBTQ community. If more high profile actors can do the same, perhaps we’d see more acceptance of LGBTQ actors. We need more Darren Criss’ of the world.