Is Blaine From Glee Gay?
Blaine, the Glee character who shared a same-sex kiss with Kurt on Tuesday night’s show, has been receiving a great deal of attention since their same-sex smooch. And the question keeps being asked, “Is Blaine from Glee gay?”
(Seriously.)
Silly question!
Of course Blaine from Glee is gay.
But the actor who plays Blaine, Darren Criss, is not.
In a November, 2010 interview with Vanity Fair, Criss told Brett Berk, “I do define myself as a straight male.”
Here’s the section of the Vanity Fair interview:
Brett Berk: Chris [Colfer] told me one of the times we talked that some of the power in his performances is from having personally experienced many of the things his character goes through as a gay teen. Not that this is in any way necessary for an actor playing any kind of role, but I’m wondering about your own personal connection to the character of Blaine and the subject matter you’re addressing.
Darren Criss: It’s a subject that’s very near and dear to my heart, simply because I grew up in such an open community—doing theater in San Francisco. I mean, it doesn’t get much, stereotypically, “gayer.†I was inadvertently raised in the “gay community.†I had straight parents, but I spent massive amounts of time at a very early age with gay, theater-hopeful thirty-somethings. And those were the people I spent time with early on, so my whole perception of “sexuality†just wasn’t there. It just…was. It even got to the point where, later in life… I had all the components in place. I was, well, not super effeminate, but I was into girly things—I liked musical theater, all the stereotypical things. I had to come out and say, well, I’m sorry, but I think I’m straight. And people were like, say it ain’t so! And I would say, “It’s been a secret too long, but I’m actually a straight male.â€
And so for the longest time when people asked me about Blaine, I wanted to say It doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t. But I don’t want to devalue it, because it’s a very earnest question, and I can see why people would want to know. And I realized that if I said, It doesn’t matter, that immediately means that I’m gay. So I do define myself as a straight male, but it really doesn’t come into play with me in this role. As an actor, your objective is always to play the scene. And this case, he happens to be a gay teen.
(emphasis added.)
And there you have it.
http://www.hulu.com/embed/qej—8yfv1R6-HWu1C1cg/1046/1149
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