Todd Holland Prefers His Homos Closeted

Award winning director, Todd Holland, has some advice for young gay actors: stay in the closet. Holland, who is openly gay himself, shared his views at Outfest.

Holland, who was talking as one of the featured panelists, and who once worked as a director on the critically acclaimed HBO sit-com The Larry Sanders Show, explained that it's a necessary career choice if a gay actor wants to succeed in Hollywood.

Fellow panelist and filmmaker Kirby Dick, director of Outrage, a 2009 documentary about gay politicians who stay in the closet to further their political careers, told Holland: "I know where you're coming from, but it's a regressive argument."

Holland, who was legally married before Proposition 8 was passed by California voters in November, responded that he was just being realistic, but Dick, who is heterosexual, believed that if "an A-list actor came out, it would have more impact on the culture than an A-list politician."

No one talked about the personal repercussions of a gay actor succeeding in Hollywood by lying about his sexual orientation to the general public.

Does this seem like bullshit to everyone else? Because I'm pretty sure that staying in the closet doesn't advance our right to be treated as equals. In fact, I'm pretty sure that hiding who we are tells the world it's something shameful to be hidden. I can understand to some extent why an individual might be afraid for their career, but I can't see how encouraging other people to hide, too, is ever going to help this problem. I'm severely tempted to rant and talk obsessively about Neil Patrick Harris or something, but I'll spare you the blabbering and just get on to posting something else.