Should heterosexual actors play LGBTQ roles in TV and film?
 

I’ve never really thought much about this until recently, but it doesn’t sit right with me anymore in 2021 that a large portion of queer roles in film and TV still go to heterosexual actors. LGBTQ people are either parodied in a costume type way (see: James Corden’s horribly offensive performance in that Netflix film) or literally reduced to just straight-acting gays with little reference to gay culture or actual queer stories.

It’s erasing actual queer actors from the industry and reducing job opportunities. There are probably 100 heterosexual roles to every LGBT role. It’s not the equivalent to blackface but it’s pretty prejudiced and a bit shocking in 2021 that it’s still so commonplace.

What’s everyone else’s opinion on this?

Merge this with the last convo, of many convos

Do you need to be a serial killer to play one, the clues in the name...actor

I’m sure you wouldn’t be saying the same if a man was playing a woman.

We did this thread recently :think:. I can't remember what I said at the time. My current thoughts are that sexuality is complicated so I don't think sexuality should be a barrier to which actors get which parts - after all, I imagine many (most?) gay actors would be pretty hacked off if they were told they could no longer play straight characters.

However I do think people casting roles should be wary of "immitating personality traits". Not all gay people are camp, so I don't think it's an issue for a straight actor to be playing a character whose personality matches their own but just happens to have a different sexual preference, but I *do* think it's an issue for straight actors to... umm... "camp face"(?) and immitate stereotypically "gay character traits" that are not actually part of their own personality. Just find an actor that better matches the character.

A man playing a woman, do you mean a transwoman playing a woman, because I would have no issue as long as they played the part well :shrug:

and men play women every year in panto

It's a bit of a tradition in certain stage scenarios I thing - e.g. I've seen a few "Robin Hood" pantomimes over the years and I've yet to see one where Robin Hood wasn't played by a woman :think:. My daughter's school even put on a performance of "Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies" (lol) a few years ago and Robin was a P7 girl.

Well the point of acting is to pretend to be someone who you are not, so no it doesn't matter at all. It would be discrimination to not hire someone because of their sexuality, even if they can do the role, and that should not be acceptable to anyone.Is it really? I don't think it is.

Probably because there are 100 heterosexual people for every LGBT person.

well yes obviously the Principal boy is always a woman :laugh:

Mrs Doubtfire is universally loved, a man playing a woman

but apparently I would hate that?

Don't forget Drag Race, isn't that a load of men pretending to be women too? There's no up roar about that either :shrug:

No I haven't heard anything but again praise for that show

Of course it doesn't matter.

Should there be an LGBT test to allow actors to play a role? What if an LGBT actor isn't out?

How would it be measured? Would an agent be required to ask every auditionee what their sexuality is and do checks to ensure they are gay? It’s just bizarre, IMO

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No it isn’t and that a really really dumb comparison

What do you mean it isn't? What is it then? I don't watch the show but that's what I thought a Drag act was, men dressing up as women for their act? Jesus Christ, is that offensive now as well?

It didn’t used to bother me, but I read a really good interview with Russel t Davies after it’s a sin came out that changed my mind

Most of Hollywood are closeted gays playing straight so it's neither here nor there.

If you believe rumours. :smug:

It's not something I care about that much tbh, there's also the risk that if you say, for example, that only gay people can play gay roles, it opens up the idea of pigeon holing gay actors into gay roles, and so on and so forth. When it comes to sexualities, as long as it's handled sensitively and tastefully (IE not like Jack Whitehall in Jungle Cruise or James Corden in Prom), I'm fine with straight actors playing LGBT roles. It's more about whether or not they have the talent to portray the character well than anything else.

When it comes to trans people, it's trickier, especially considering that one thing I hear a lot from trans people is that they don't just want to play trans roles, but on the other hand trans people are passed over by cis actors in trans roles quite often as well. It's a case by case thing really. Trans roles should ideally be played by trans people, but it's a two way street, trans people should be able to play cis roles as well.

For me, ultimately, it's more important that our stories are being told. Love, Simon got some controversy because a straight person played Simon, but tbh, it was nice having an LGBT film that was neither an unceasing tragedy, or just an endless parade of nudity and sex scenes. I want more LGBT stories that don't highlight the tragedy of us (although, admittedly, we are a people whose history is routed in it), or reduce us to just edgy sex scenes.

Are LGBT actors really being excluded from straight roles? Tell that to Kate McKinnon, Jodie Foster, Lily Tomlin, Zachary Quinto, Neil Patrick Harris, John Barrowman ...

The best actor for the job for me.

I think alot of actors whatever their sexuality would say they are being blocked from getting roles, its seems to very much the same people in vogue at the moment, I think this is something that is ongoing a bit like ITV using 'the family' for literally every programme

the criteria for an actor getting a role should be based on how well they meet the director/producers vision of the role. Nothing else is important

Plus one.

Plus as Braden pointed out already, you'd be asking people to declare or prove their sexuality as well. What if you'd rather not say what your sexual orientation is? Or what if you're bisexual, are you allowed play a gay character then? Or a straight one?

I do get the point on the overly camp thing, it can come across like taking the piss or making a caricature of gay men

I probably don’t watch enough television to bring an actual balanced view to the topic, but I watch a lot of soaps, and the trend within them now to just cast straight actors to play gay characters and completely erase any part of gay culture from them besides having them snog a member of the same sex because it’s hot is ridiculous. It’s treating gay people like they are unattractive and unacceptable unless they conform to the characteristics and mannerisms of their straight counterparts. I wasn’t even shocked to learn that LGBT tolerance has apparently gone down in this country in the last few years if stuff like that is happening widespread. People are going to start having the attitude of ‘Oh well I only accept gay people if they act like a straight person’ etc etc.