Panel Voices: Should films and televisions shows look further for LGBT actors to play LGBT roles?

OFC panelists Jen LaBarbera, Michael Carr, and Brandé Micheau weigh in on this week’s question:

Jen LaBarbera

In general, I don’t have a problem with straight actors playing LGB roles on film or TV. I’m much more concerned with the writing and portrayal of these characters as positive and real than I am about the casting decisions. There’s been an enormous evolution just over the past 50 years in how gay people are represented on screen. Our LGB characters went from complete invisibility to portrayals mostly as drug-addicted, hypersexualized, emotionally unstable menaces to what we have now, which is increasingly normalizing LGB characters. I’m more concerned with this evolution of LGB representation continuing than I am with having straight women playing lesbian roles. And besides, that means we get to pretend for a minute that these drop-dead gorgeous straight actors might possibly play for our team (hey, Sarah Shahi as Carmen in The L Word).

It’s a different story to talk about trans* roles, though. It’s not necessarily a problem that cisgendered actors play trans* roles – though it is a problem that I can’t even name any out trans* actors who’ve had any major roles. I believe that cis actors can play trans* roles – they are actors, after all. But we need good, positive, non-pathologized trans* roles for them to play. That evolution of LGB characters hasn’t happened for trans* characters, and it needs to. More than finding trans* actors to play trans* roles, writers and producers need to work harder to find trans* writers to write these stories about trans* characters.

Jen LaBarbera is a 20-something queer woman in Denver. She is an organizer for reproductive justice and a member of One Colorado’s People of Color Caucus.

Michael Carr

Films and TV should focus on producing great art and entertainment. LGBT roles have come a long way, and still have a ways to go in terms perpetuating stereotypes. However, our community’s inclusion in films and TV has likely contributed to wider acceptance and humanization. Whether a GLBT person is portrayed by a member of our community is really not of any consequence. Don’t most people believe that most men in Hollywood are already part of our community? Actors fall into the same employment stereotype as stylists, dancers, decorators, fashion designers and flight attendants. If audiences already have suspicions about their sexual orientation, does it really matter if they actually are the sexual orientation they are portraying? I doubt it.

I remind people of that one actor, you know, the one who is friends with the decorator and attorney. This is usually brought up when cocktails are involved. I roll my eyes and say, “Jack?” They say, “YES! I love him!” The comparison is frequently drawn by a middle-aged woman. I never remind them of Sean Hayes, the actor who plays Jack, or Will Truman played by Eric McCormick. It’s always Jack, “Just Jack.” Jack makes them happy. They think of Jack and it makes them happy. And perhaps they like me more because of the association; perhaps they like all of us more because of the association. And perhaps it has nothing to do with Sean Hayes being gay.

Michael Carr is a member of the National Board of the Log Cabin Republicans, President of Aspirant Marketing, Inc. and resides in Cheesman Park with his partner, Fred. They were Civil Unioned in Illinois in January.

Brandé Micheau

In order for the LGBT community to be accurately portrayed, I believe the character being played matters more than the person who is playing the character. An example of the dichotomy that comes to mind is the gay couple on Modern Family, Cameron and Mitchell. The actor who plays Cameron, the more flamboyant of the couple, in real life is straight and reserved. On the other hand, the actor who plays the conservative Mitchell, is gay in real life and less reserved. Both actors are portraying a gay character, and one that has social attributes unlike their own. So, to play the character best, they must be able to be good actors, granted we may always wonder how the voice may be differing with a gay director or actor, the focus in this example, as it should be, is on finding quality actors who can play the role that is required.

I would also mention that the focus of the LGBT community should not be on increasing the amount of LGBT actors playing LGBT roles; instead on increasing the amount of LGBT actors who get roles in general. Period. If gender identity were the focus of casting, Neil Patrick Harris would never have gotten the role of the womanizing Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother.

Personally, I think it is limiting to be typecast in a certain role, simply based on the sexual orientation of the actor, and putting the focus on the sexual orientation would not get more LGBT roles for LGBT actors – it would lose straight roles for LGBT actors and would create a competitive race to the bottom.

Brandé Micheau is a community activist and leader currently working in local politics as a constituent outreach officer.