Something that strikes me about all this is the disproportionate representation of working gay actors. Not stars, actors, or at least stage actors.

What I mean is that gay men have traditionally gravitated to the theater world, and are highly represented (in my experience) in that world – quite a bit more represented than in some professions or trades.

Doesn't it start in high school? Queer kids often say that theater departments are havens, trans and gay students finding them to be safe places to explore creativity and friendship.

And at least when I lived in NYC, Off and Off-Off Broadway actors I knew were unusually likely to be gay.

So I'm hearing you quite clearly about lack of opportunity. Some sort of a pink ceiling? I don't know if that's the right way to describe it, but I'm hearing what you're saying about selling tickets.

I really like how you frame the question as being not about whether straight men are allowed to play gay man, but whether gay men are allowed to play anything at all.

I wrote a story yesterday about a school district that transferred two students out of a class because the teacher is a lesbian and two sets of parents had objected to their children being "exposed to homosexuality."

I suppose that in a world where school officials would honor a request like that, some film executives really do worry about out gay actors in their films hurting their box office.

I'm not saying that to partially criticize people in the film industry, just to agree with you that we have work to do, and it isn't time to declare victory.

Thanks very much for this excellent, nuanced story!