[fehu89]

As a gay actor, I can only respond to the theatre aspect of the question (though my boyfriend is a cake decorator). I have a gay friend who, upon finding out about my involvement in theatre, asked me to introduce him to ‘one of those kind of people.’ ‘One of what kind?’ I asked. ‘You know … one of those.’ I assumed he meant a gay man. I laughed to myself and asked him if he thought the theatre was overrun with homosexuals. I shocked him to say that, at least in my area, it’s not. Gays make up a small percentage of the theatre population in my area. In fact, in one of the theatres I work in, I’m the only openly gay male. For me, artistic fields are open to gay people because they tend to be (but are not required to be) open to many different types of people. There is a security in knowing that you won’t be hated for being gay in a theatre. And, I think that if you honestly look at various occupations, you will find just as many gay construction workers, gay sports players, gay coaches, gay policemen, gay firemem, etc.

One last story: I was sitting in a theatre during the intermission of a musical (which I hated) and caught the tale end of a conversation going on behind me. Two young men from a local religious university (of national reputation) who were opera majors were sitting with their girlfriends (yeah … I know what you’re thinking). One of them remarked he was happy to be finishing his opera education but was scared to venture into the professional field because of the large gay presence in the theatre. On hearing this, I turned around and politely said: ‘I completely agree with you. There is a large gay presence in the theatre. But remember, it’s also in the audience, and we buy the tickets that make your shows successful.’

User Detail :  

Name : fehu89, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Baptist, Age : 31, City : Anderson, State : SC, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

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