John Barrowman receiving the Human Rights Campaign award

[dieastra]

Some friends here know that I recently struggled a bit with my love for John Barrowman, you know how it is, little things start to grate, and you start to wonder about some of his decisions and general over the top behavior (I'm still not over that weird stripey suit with short pants he wore when presenting an award show). But then he goes and does

Comments

[arashinoookami]

Wow, I never new he was so active in the gay community either! I think his character in Torchwood was one of the first openly gay/ bi characters I saw in a (relatively) mainstream tv series.

[dieastra]

My first one was in "Six feet under" and I fully admit that it felt a bit weird first seeing two men kiss, but the more I saw it, the more I got used to it. TV can do great things like that.

Later, when I watched "Queer as Folk" (which I also watched before "Torchwood") I got so used to men kissing all the time, that it felt wrong when I saw a man and a woman doing it LOL

But yes, Jack Harkness is something special, as he is an action hero first and not just defined as a gay man as the other characters I mentioned. His sexuality doesn't define him.

I had that recently in "The Family" also. The FBI guy investigating the case casually mentioned his husband once. But it had no impact on the story, he was still the same police guy. I hope things get more normal this way.

[arashinoookami]

But it had no impact on the story, he was still the same police guy. I hope things get more normal this way.

Agreed. I hope for the day when being gay is simply accepted, just like being straight currently is.

[dieastra]

And yet it always makes huge news before a movie is released, be it in the recent Star Trek movie, Disney Beauty and the Beast or the new Doctor Who companion. I really did not want to read about all these ahead of time. And at least in the Star Trek case, it was much ado about nothing. There was only a public hug, not even a kiss. It could be interpreted any kind of ways.

[chamilet]

And now I need to go and find the video of Scott he's talking about.

[dieastra]

I'm afraid you won't find it - Facebook deleted it after it was online for several days.
Some news pages picked up on it and also posted it but pixelled the exact moment ;)

[badly_knitted]

JB isn't perfect, he doesn't always get things right, but watching this made me wish there were more people willing to stand up and say "This is who I am, I'm proud to be who I am, and I won't back down, no matter what anyone says." He deserves that award, and I admire him so much for all he's done to make the world a fairer place. He's an inspiration.

[dieastra]

No, nobody is perfect. We tend to forget that, and want our heroes to be perfect, but they are just human and sometimes make mistakes.

But yes, it was a great speech, and we all should try to be a bit more like that and help and respect each other. It's sad that this even needs pointing out.

[owensheart]

What a lovely speech

[dieastra]

Really wonderful and very moving!

[quarryquest]

I never knew this about John and am impressed to see him doing the standing up and being counted. I remember him starting out in the West End when I knew people there and AIDS was decimating everything. I'm glad John was sensible enough not to catch anything and survive all that. We lost a lot of people who were gay and out but we didn't like or dislike them any more because of who they were. This was despite some of the things people said.

[dieastra]

I think as much as he likes to talk about things, he also does a lot in quiet we don't know. A while ago in an interview also came out that instead of giving Christmas presents to each other, he and Scott went to a family in need and gave them some money so they could buy Christmas presents for the kids. If the interviewer hadn't asked about it, we would have never known