This week, 58-year-old actor Kevin Spacey, one of the most successful actors in Hollywood, announced: “I choose now to live as a gay man.”
If only that were all.
But it is the context of his statement that has enraged members of the LGBTQI community, aware that the House of Cards actor just used the world stage to perpetuate an unhelpful – and ultimately untrue – myth about a bogus correlation between homosexuality and paedophilia.
Some argue that Spacey used his homosexuality to intentionally detract from the real story at hand: the alleged sexual advances he made towards a 14-year-old boy, 30 years ago.
“Coming out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault,” Sarah Kate Ellis, the president of GLAAD said.
“This is not a coming-out story about Kevin Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Anthony Rapp and all those who bravely speak out against unwanted sexual advances. The media and public should not gloss over that.”
Comedian and actor Billy Eichner tweeted, “Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out.”
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Here are some of the most poignant tweets being written and shared by members of the LGBTQI community:
Nope to Kevin Spacey’s statement. Nope. There’s no amount of drunk or closeted that excuses or explains away assaulting a 14-year-old child.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) October 30, 2017