Gays in Hollywood

In response to reader Mark Gabrish Conlan (Letters, Dec. 22), who asserts that no heterosexual actor can effectively play slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk:

I agree that in order to be acceptable to the lesbian and gay community, a dramatization of Milk’s life must be brought to the screen with significant (if not exclusive) behind-the-scenes input from this community.

However, while Conlan’s notion that only a homosexual actor can effectively play the part of such an icon of the lesbian and gay community may sound reasonable and politically correct, he is giving credence to the very logic that keeps most gay actors in the closet in the first place.

This logic relies on one basic idea: Audiences will not accept an actor they know or perceive to be homosexual in a patently heterosexual role. This concept is inherently self-contradicting, because acting is defined as portraying someone else, which good actors, gay or straight, can do.

Until this double standard for believability is eliminated, lesbian and gay actors will have to remain in the closet to make it big in Hollywood. Therefore, the lesbian and gay community should not apply this double standard to a project it holds so dearly. Milk should be played by a good actor, gay or straight.

JEFF MINER

Pasadena