Openly LGBT Celebrities that inspire you?

Ellen is one of my biggest inspirations. She handles everything so well. I also follow George Takei and Ben Patrick Johnson. Ben is always so inspiring. Makes me realize there are actually some good people out there.

 

I find it interesting when their big revelation comes, but I'm not into them, but was more so before. I am clueless as to who most of the names mentioned are, except for the ones who get a lot of coverage, such as Ellen De Generes, Jodie Foster, Elton John, and some others.

 

Yeah, I'm also out of the celebrity loop!

I do like Jodi Foster, though. Very talented. Just watched the film, Taxi Driver a few weeks back. Had no idea she was even out!

Elton John is OK, I suppose, kind of a musician I've never really disliked, but have never really been wild about.

Ellen De Generes...hmmm...some kind of news-talk lady, I think, but I can't picture her, offhand.

It's odd, as time goes on, I imagine there will be fewer and fewer celebrities that 'everyone' knows about, as more and more different niches emerge, partly spurred by the explosion of internet and mobile communications technology, and greater access to what truly interests us.

Like Andy Warhol said way back when, in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

 

I just found out that Matt Bomer is gay, but I like the casual, non-chalant way he "came out" to the media.

 

Stephen Fry

 

Ellen will probably always be the biggest for me.

Rosie O'Donnell as well. No idea why everyone always seems to hate her. She's crude and rude at times, but she's still very inspirational to me, not only as someone LGBT, but someone who doesn't let people's stabs at her weight get to her. Though, I did lose a little respect for her saying casting Ashley Fink on Glee was a mistake because "Why didn't they get a pretty heavy girl?" She apologized later, but that one thing made me lose a little respect.

George Takei, obviously. Like Ellen, don't even need to explain why. xD

And in a weird way, David Yost (Billy on the original Power Rangers). As a kid, the Power Rangers were something I thought were the best thing someone could be, someone who defended everyone regardless of any reason. And a couple years ago, he revealed he left the show because they would constantly harass him about his sexuality on set, and one day, said fuck you and left, mid season. That took a lot of courage, and it's something that to me is one of the more courageous things I've heard LGBT wise in the 90s.

 

Whatever. Obviously to you he isn't as inspiring seeing as you're cis and all, but to me he is because I know what it's like to go openly as a woman.

Plus, he's funny, charming, andd very lovely as a woman. And his ravings on anything from 9/11 to how his ady went always put a smile on my face.

 

Gareth Thomas is pretty inspiring being the first openly gay rugby player, there's actually a movie coming out about his life. Being gay was one of the reasons why I quit sports and when I found out there was an openly gay guy playing rugby(of all things) it was just made me smile. He's definitely in the top 3 people I would like to meet that I probably never will.

Also, I don't know if this counts, but I find Alex Newell and his character on Glee inspiring. I can't think of a lot of transgender roles on tv and for him to tackle the role as an already gay male was really cool to see.

 

Jordan Todosey played the only other transgender teenager I know of on TV. She played Adam on Degrassi until recently.

 

That's cool, I don't watch Degrassi so I wouldn't have know.

 

PHP:

Ha, my dad loathes Stephen Fry.

 

Wow the representation of trans* people is so dismal that the cis people have resorted to mentioning fictional trans* people as role models for us to look up to. That's lovely.

We're supposed to be grateful that cis people are profiting off our pain. How sick is that?

Now some of you might be thinking that I should be grateful that trans* people are even depicted in the media. To them I have a question - why is it that trans people are elided in the first place, and why is it that a trans* person cannot get those roles? Aren't they more qualified to play trans* people than some opportunistic cis performer?

 

Ellen!!! Amazing women, true inspiration her infectious laugh and humour makes everything better

 

There are very few trans* roles on television. The only ones I even know of are Adam on Degrassi, Unique on Glee, and Sophia on Orange is the New Black. (Who IS played by a trans* actress)

And Degrassi has a very specific age they cast actors/actresses at, so finding a trans* actor who was that young, and wasn't a bad actor probably wasn't a logical thing to do. They also wanted to go into Adam's backstory, which involved the actress dressing up as a girl in many scenes. I can't imagine many male trans* actors would be okay dressing up as a girl.

And Unique on Glee was written specifically because Alex, although a gay guy, loves dressing in drag. And it inspired the writers to have him depict a transgender teenager. The role was essentially written for him.

It comes down to casting. If the writers wish to add a trans* character, then casting a trans* actor/actress may not work in the time frame. They may try to, but it won't always work. Artie on Glee is wheelchair bound, and they tried to find someone in a wheelchair who fit the part, but no one did. So they cast someone who can walk, and has him portray a wheelchair bound student.

And I know it's not much, but Alex's portrayal of Unique is actually pretty damn amazing. The song a few weeks ago broke my heart and had me near tears. She went to the girls bathroom, but it caused an uproar in the students, where everyone started ignoring the male/female signs and just entered either. To fix it, she started going back into the male bathroom, but got harassed by the guys in there... enter this song. (Her wig was ripped off in the harassment, hence the hair. Her parents don't want her going around as Unique, and want her to be Wade, which is why she doesn't grow it out, so there's an in-story explanation for it too. They're supportive of her though, they just want her to avoid as much teasing as she can, but she's gotten more open as being Unique over the past season and a half.)

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They managed to turn a sexist song (yes, sexism in any form is still sexism) and turned it into a song that deals with the troubles a trans* person faces every day.

In short, there's many reasons why they may not cast a trans* person in a trans* role. However, in general, I believe they try to. Sophia in OITNB is a classic example of that. There's few trans* roles on television, and of the 3 I know, 2 are teenagers, which finding a trans* teenage actor/actress who isn't bad at acting may not be logical. And as I said, one of them was written specifically for the gay male actor.

 

None really. They don't do f all for me.

 

Zachary Quinto,
He isn't rubbing it in our faces,
And he's just being 'himself' and not molding himself to what societies expectation of "gay culture" to be.

 

Anderson Cooper
Matt Bomer
Christopher Rice
Jim Parsons
John Barrowman

Really, I am inspired by so many; but the ones who specifically catch my musing are those that are very non-chalant in their public declaration and show the world that they can be gay and successful (and demonstrate that being gay does not define who they are or what they do).

 

Hmm.. I guess Stephen Fry. There really aren't that many, though.



Also I'd say Thomas Roberts on MSNBC, but really it's just because he's ridiculously cute. ^.^

 

Rupaul. I honestly think he is one of the wisest people on the planet and just 'gets it', while keeping his awesome personality and humour.

 

Raven-Symoné