Race and Sexuality: A Rant

I feel a rant coming on.

I've just read an Associated Press piece by Melissa Rayworth in our local newsflyer, Out and About. (Or if you live here in Nova Scotia that's Oot and Aboot.) The heading was So you're coming out! Who cares? The answer, according to Ms. Rayworth, is Hollywood.

It seems that casting agents are still pretty nervous about casting gay people in straight roles.

For the love of god!

Has anyone heard of acting? It's that thing that some people do for a living that involves pretending to be a character in a story. It isn't hiring say, Julia Roberts to be Julia Roberts (oops, excuse me, in her case, well, that is the case.) Let's say we're referring to an actual ACTor. Say Judi Dench or William H. Macy. Would you let Mr. Macy act as though he were disabled? Because he isn't you know. But he can act that way... and earn critical acclaim in the process. And Judi Dench, well she isn't really a queen although pretending to be one earned her an Oscar.

And now we have colour-blind casting -- considered to be a major breakthrough. Imagine that. Not specifying that a certain a role must be played by an actor of a specific race.

Actors should be able get roles based on skill not on the basis of skin tone or sexual orientation.

And on the issue of sexuality... Did anyone, way back when,know that Rock Hudson was gay? No. He was an actor and women swooned over him. Does anyone care that T.R. Knight is gay and acting as a straight man. No.

And we shouldn't.

We have absolutely no business in other people's bedrooms any more than we would want someone in ours. (Granted some of us do, but exhibitionism is another issue.)

We have got to get over the whole I'm better than you because my ancestors beat yours, or enslaved yours or burned yours at the stake. Or whatever other dreadful things we did to become the dominant society in the West.

We are all one species (yes, there is some discussion on this point regarding our males, but, again, that's another issue.) One human race on one planet. Not a new idea. As a matter of fact, it's rather old. So, why can't we just get it together?

You know, we all came from Africa.

Colleen