IN the 29 years since Billy Crystal outraged -- and later won over -- critics with his mostly sympathetic portrayal of a gay man on the sitcom "Soap," prime-time audiences have come to accept straight actors playing gay parts, in everything from groundbreaking hits (Eric McCormack in "Will & Grace") to all-but-forgotten flops (John Goodman in "Normal, Ohio").
But will viewers prove as welcoming toward gay actors in straight roles, especially -- and this is the heart of the issue -- as romantic leads? Several high-profile cases in the news lately suggest that we may be about to find out, as Americans continue to grapple with their conflicted and ever-evolving views on gays and lesbians.
Last month, T.R. Knight, who plays the romantically yearning and unquestionably heterosexual Dr. O'Malley on ABC's smash "Grey's Anatomy," came out as gay with a statement to People magazine, adding somewhat forlornly, "I hope the fact that I'm gay isn't the most interesting part of me." Knight's real-life sexual orientation evidently was a factor in a now-notorious on-set altercation; Isaiah Washington, who tussled with costar Patrick Dempsey, reportedly directed an anti-gay epithet at an unnamed actor believed to be Knight. (Washington later apologized.)
Then, two weeks ago, another coming-out message landed on the editor's desk at People, this one from Neil Patrick Harris, who plays the womanizing cad Barney on CBS' comedy "How I Met Your Mother." "I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest," Harris wrote, after his publicist at the time initially denied Internet rumors that the actor is gay.
Last week, the Advocate, a gay and lesbian magazine, published an interview with Kristanna Loken of "Terminator 3" and newly of Showtime's "The L Word." In it, she talked playfully of her relationship with another actress.
Television industry insiders agree that in just the past few weeks, gay actors in Hollywood have reached a critical new turning point, one that will reveal what restrictions may or may not be placed on their careers if they brave coming out of the closet. Ultimately, what happens next is up to prime-time viewers.
"This is new territory," said Damon Romine, entertainment media director at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, an advocacy group. Harris and Knight in particular, he said, "are doing something that's not been done before: Come out when being on a TV series."
