Playing Gay: Is it the new Black-face?

Ryan Phillippe aka Billy Douglas

The first time I was aware of a gay character on TV was Ryan Phillippe playing a gay teen on One Life To Live. Soap Operas were a staple in my family's television consumption. It was also a source for a young gaylette to store jack off material pre-internet. Soap Operas were notorious for hot hunks going shirtless for no reason. Guiding Light was the one we never missed but we would flirt back and forth between other daily dramas. But in 1992 somehow I clued into the fact that dreamy Ryan would be playing Billy Douglas. Of course this was before Ellen's big reveal. I was 14 years old then, grateful to see a gay character on the screen even if the actor himself was straight. It was brave of him because it could have ruined his career and helped me be a little braver because I saw someone on TV with whom I could relate to.

Is Playing Gay The New Black-face

Flash forward to 2017. I am 38 and live an openly gay life in Atlanta. Gay characters abound on TV. Gay Sex is common place. Hell it is now seen as vanilla sex. There are more openly gay actors and actresses than ever so why the FUCK are so many gay characters being played by straight actors? It is no longer brave but now upsetting. I recently watched an episode of Dimension 404 on Hulu. Constance Wu, who I assume is straight but her Wikipedia profile is lack on the info, plays a lesbian army psychiatrist in the episode. Beyond the Twilight Zone tropes the show relies on the episode was nothing singularly spectaular but I was annoyed by the fact that the character could have been played by a number of gay or bi actresses.
I don't particularly understand why she was selected to play the character. It wasn't a brave choice. It actually was annoying and distracting. And insulting. I wondered if it was the equivalent of Black-face.

What are your thoughts on the subject matter?