James Franco: "Maybe I'm Just Gay"

I will concede that I like James Franco - besides being beautiful, he seems to show an interest in understanding gay lives and the issues that go along with not conforming to the dictates of a heterosexual dominated society which has often utilized antiquated religious beliefs and chosen ignorance to demean and stigmatize gays. In addition, he seems to enjoy making tongues wag with calculated comments such as one in an Entertainment Weekly interview where he discusses his gay movie roles. As EW notes, "“Is James Franco gay?” is a favorite query of the pop-cultural chattering classes." Hopefully, the day will come when one's sexuality is a complete non-issue. Until then, it's nice to have an actor who seems to cherish taking on gay roles that give insights to the larger public as to our common humanity. Here are some highlights:
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Having the public ponder your sexuality is a celebrity rite of passage. But the thing that makes Franco’s case so interesting is that, unlike the loud denials from some stars and even louder silences from others, the response from the 127 Hours star (who, for the record, has been in a years-long relationship with actress Ahna O’Reilly) is actually pretty nuanced.
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The actor definitely doesn’t let the speculation inhibit his choice of roles; Franco’s filmography is packed with gay characters, from Allen Ginsberg in Howl, to activist Scott Smith in Milk and poet Hart Crane in his just-wrapped feature The Broken Tower.
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“There are lots of other reasons to be interested in gay characters than wanting myself to go out and have sex with guys,” he says. “And there are also lots of other aspects about these characters that I’m interested in, in addition to their sexuality. So, in some ways it’s coincidental, in other ways it’s not. I mean, I’ve played a gay man who’s living in the ’60s and ’70s, a gay man who we depicted in the ‘50s, and one being in the ‘20s. And those were all periods when to be gay, at least being gay in public, was much more difficult. Part of what I’m interested in is how these people who were living anti-normative lifestyles contended with opposition. Or, you know what, maybe I’m just gay.”