With all that’s come to light concerning what goes on behind the scenes in Hollywood both today and way back in the day, hearing that actors have been blackmailed over certain things isn’t too surprising, but finding out what’s true and what’s a bunch of hype to sell the news is often hard to do since rumor and gossip can rule the day when such is allowed. But decades ago when coming out of the closet, as the saying goes, wasn’t as desired or accepted, it’s easy to think that homosexual actors were either given the boot if they refused to step in line, or were told that they had to act the part that everyone wanted to believe in. Some might not like what I’m about to say but in this day and age, all a person can do is say ‘oh well’ and go with it. It’s not always possible to tell who’s what since the fact is that between cis-gendered individuals and everyone else (there are a lot of classifications after all), there isn’t always an easy way to tell who’s straight, who’s gay, who’s bisexual, and so on and so forth. Gay men aren’t always the stereotypical types with limp wrists and a lisp to their speech as has been depicted in a comical fashion, and straight men aren’t always the burly, bushy-bearded types that can chop down a tree or fix an engine. But the unfortunate fact is that back in the day, once a person was found to be one or the other, or even if they liked women and men in more than a platonic manner, they were labeled without mercy and for actors, their job prospects tended to dry up since most people didn’t want to support what was deemed as a ‘deviant’ lifestyle.
Even today there are plenty of bigots who don’t want to support anything other than the cis-gendered norms that society has kept in place. But unlike today, when social media can be turned upon a person to ruin them, be it an actor or a producer or a director, the stars of the past had to deal with a lot more since there wasn’t an easily accessible form of defending themselves, and there was a lot less tolerance. One reason why it’s frustrating in this day and age to hear that someone is being discriminated against because of their sexual preference is that there’s far more tolerance now than ever before, meaning the LGBTQ+ community can operate freely and expect to be treated fairly in many regards, especially when it comes to Hollywood, which opened its doors a while back and hasn’t been shy about the subject of homosexuality any longer. Hearing that there are still problems isn’t something that’s bound to go away, but hearing that the persecution is worse and that people within the community have it so hard these days, oh yes, some folks have said this, is laughable since compared to what happened decades before, the LGBTQ+ community has gained a much louder voice and in some cases has been able to push their cause in ways that could be deemed aggressive when no aggression was warranted. Back in the day a lot of homosexual actors had to be careful of what image they showed and who they were pictured with since otherwise, their career could be over if they were discovered to be openly homosexual. Today, there’s not as much of a stigma attached to this and there are plenty of movies that feature the LGBTQ+ community in one way or another.
The fact is that no one should be discriminated against for anything that’s not bound to harm another individual, and emotional harm to one’s family for being outed as homosexual or any other variation of the word is something that only the individual and their family and friends can control. Blackmailing homosexual actors in the past was undoubtedly wrong and more than a little harmful since it not only forced people to hide who they were but it also gave people a false impression of those they looked up to and idolized. Today, actors that belong to the LGBTQ+ community are far more prevalent and are able to be who they are and enjoy the life that they feel is meant for them. There are still plenty of people that respond with outrage, disgust, and even bigoted statements that are aimed at such individuals, but they tend to be smaller voices than those heard in the past. In essence, those that identify as LGBTQ+ today are still subjected to ill feelings and words, but the support they enjoy is greater than ever before, and being blackmailed out of a job due to their sexuality is no longer a possibility since the legal and social ramifications that come with such an act are heavy indeed.
