The cad comes out

Just on the merits alone, it makes sense that Neil Patrick Harris snagged a supporting actor Emmy nomination for "How I Met Your Mother." The CBS comedy has earned plenty of critical praise, if less than fabulous ratings, and as Barney, the dapper, sardonic ladies' man with the memorable catchphrases ("Suit up!) and the extensive porn collection, Harris has thrived in the type of juicy, scene-stealing role he never thought he'd get.

"The romantic cad is always a fun foil to the sympathetic lead," Harris said last week. "I think it's hilarious I was cast as that guy. I've always been cast as the average, Middle American nice guy."

Yet it's possible, just possible, that Emmy voters were looking to send a larger message than simply patting Harris on the back for a job well done. His is the latest career swept up in a larger cultural debate about actors' roles and their personal lives and the willingness of the public to distinguish between the two.

The Emmy nod comes following an awkward year in which Harris, the onetime child actor who became famous playing the title role in "Doogie Howser, M.D.," reluctantly came out as gay after websites questioned his sexuality; for the first time, his personal life became tabloid fodder. (It seems to be the year for this kind of thing -- "Grey's Anatomy's" T.R. Knight also scored his first Emmy nod, as supporting actor in a drama series, after coming out. In Knight's case, the decision to go public came after costar Isaiah Washington reportedly tagged him with a gay slur.)

In November, after the Internet rumors surfaced, Harris' PR rep at the time said the actor was "not of that persuasion." The next day, though, Harris issued a statement to People magazine, saying he was "quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love."

Wow. The actor who plays Barney, TV's irrepressibly heterosexual playboy, is gay!

Guess what -- no one cares. Or at least Emmy voters don't.

Harris, in real life, is a mild-mannered guy with a sense of amused detachment from things and a winningly relaxed, self-effacing nature -- not the typical off-screen description of a TV actor.

Although he's not thrilled that his mug might one day appear on a timeline of Milestones in Gay History, he doesn't seem stressed out talking about the issue, either. He says he has known he is gay since he was 15 or 16. His status as a teen celebrity made for some early disorientation: "Sometimes, I didn't really date much because I wasn't able to go to bars and clubs," he said.