Piping hot take: I don't give a shit if straight actors play queer characters as long as they do so with empathy and authenticity. When you say shit like "only queer actors should play queer characters" what you're actually saying is only OUT queer actors should play queer characters. If you're assuming an actor (or anyone else, for that matter) who hasn't declared their sexuality is straight, you are participating in heteronormativity.
you're also saying that you, as an audience member, are entitled to private and intimate details of actors' personal lives, fwiw.
if you ever read any interview with Tim Curry, he's always very clear about finding this absurd. we all pretty much assume Tim Curry is queer, but we'll never know, because he has absolutely point-blank refused to discuss his dating life with the public or the media, because it's nobody's business but his (and anyone he's dating ofc).
it's also like--
some of you younger folk really need to go watch the documentary on Paul Reubens. "Peewee as Himself." Like, the context might help a little? for why so many of us who grew up before Obergefell et al really, really, really fucking hate this narrative where the public has a right to every single facet and detail of an actor's life? especially a queer actor?
actors, musicians, comedians, entertainers, etc., don't owe their audiences jack fucking shit about their personal lives. we can all get over that absurd entitlement any time.
I was just talking with my partner about this a few weeks ago.
Lee Pace is similarly an incredibly private man. For a long time we the public knew absolutely nothing about his dating life or anything about his family outside of little bits and pieces he shared, and even that was deliberately as vague as possible.
He played a trans woman in Soldier's Girl. It's based on a true story, and he actually met with the trans woman his character is based on. During the interview, he said something to the effect of having several stark realizations about himself after working with her and learning her story and her journey and her life.
I make the joke that anyone transgender heard the distinct sound of an egg cracking during that interview. And yet, Pace did not come out. Not until he was forced to, years later.
As, simply, "queer".
We now know he is married to a man. We know he identifies as queer, mostly because he was forced to by an interviewer who has a reputation for forcing very private celebrities to come out or risk losing status. We know he has dated men and women. By his own admission that playing Calpernia gave him very strong gender feelings and he saw a lot of himself both in the fictionalized character he played and in the real woman whose presence he was wow'd by.
Lee Pace might be a trans woman who has found it better to boymode for the sake of an acting career. Lee Pace might be a trans woman who avidly does not want to invite a spotlight into that part of his life- and who could blame him? Lee Pace might be an egg who has just barely started to crack, peeked out from beyond the shell and is not yet comfortable leaving the closet. Or Pace might be nonbinary, genderqueer, gay-as-gender, or... simply a cis gay man who feels it is nunya and enjoys being a little fruity and feminine in his spare time.
I don't claim to know the inner workings of Pace's mind, sexuality, or gender. But I do think that it would be wrong to force Pace to share what he clearly is not comfortable sharing for the entire world to see.
When it comes to celebrities who are respectful and also private, I don't think it is a bad thing if what we as fans know about them doesn't quite match up with the demographic they're playing. Sometimes, there's a reason they found a piece of themselves in the role. And especially when it has the blessing of the real life person that role is based on (such as in the case of Calpernia) or of the real life LGBT people working with that celeb every day - maybe the people directly involved with this know more about this person than we do watching from the other side of the screen.
The reporter who outed Lee Pace literally did it by asking about the idea that only gay people should play gay characters!
I write the Wayward Children series of books, which has a cast of very young, very queer characters. And I keep having to push back against the idea that we need to only cast people who fit the exact sexualities of the characters. Not only is asking a sixteen year old actor what their sexuality is illegal, I would argue that it's immoral.
When I was sixteen, I identified as bisexual. I was not lying. Then I went through a period of identifying as lesbian. Still not lying. Currently, I identify as homoromantic asexual. I have never lied about my identity, but it has changed. Asking me to prove my queerness to get a job would have been cruel.
Kade should be played by a trans teen, absolutely. But if that teen later realizes that they're someone else and detransitions, that won't make them a liar, and it won't make it anyone else's damn business.
