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SOUTHERN VOICE
OCTOBER 21/19 9 3
Spotlight
Continued from page 25
general public that someone is straight, when, in
fact, she is not, is the point. But has the general
public in 1993 gotten to the point where they
can get beyond a performer’s sexuality?
“Coming out has some residual problems,”
admits Schuck, a frequent visitor to Atlanta on
the theater circuit. “But we’ve finally come out
of the closet as a society to acknowledge that we
do have differences. The effects of that admis
sion arc far less than they used to be. If a person
wants to come out, I don’t think it carries a
stigma. And it certainly doesn’t with the audi
ence. And that’s what really counts.”
“The classic thing about celebrities is that
they have so much to lose,” said Torie Osborn,
former executive director of the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force, in Vanity Fair. “(k.d.
lang has] been the first major woman.. .star who’s
out and proud and fine about it. That’s why her
coming out has been so important. It signals a
whole new era of possibilities for celebrities.”
“When you see |lang]...you see a living ex
ample of how when you step out of the closet,
you become more whole and are able to be more
powerful,” said Osborn.
From 1969 to 1972, when Sargent starred as
Damn on “Bewitched,” coming out publicly was
not an option. Sargent says he began to realize
he was gay in college, culminating with a botched
suicide attempt. After an abortive movie career,
Sargent, who regularly visits friends in Atlanta,
was signed for “Bewitched” after the first actor
to play Darrin, the late Dick York, was fired.
But though he settled into his TV role as a
straight all-American dad, Sargent would cel
ebrate holidays with his lover at the home of
“Bewitched” star Elizabeth Montgomery and her
husband, Bill Asher.
When he finally came out in the fall of 1991,
he made the usual round of TV talk shows-—
Sally Jesse, Joan and Geraldo. He was also fea-
m •*s***«v^
Rock Hudson refused to come out, even as
he was dying of AIDS.
lured in all the tabloids and in People magazine.
But despite the initial buzz, the general reaction
seemed to be “Who cares?” To some cynical
lesbians and gays, it almost seemed like a des
perate ploy to revitalize a sagging career, long
after that the time when his high profile could
have helped the cause.
Today, Sargent has mixed feelings about
how his coming out has affected his career.
Though he has agreed to revive his Darrin role
fof a “Bewitched” reunion should Columbia get
the project off the ground, there have been few
other offers, although that may stem more from
his faded celebrity status than from his sexual
ity.
lang, however, has proven that a performer
can, as Osborn puts it, “come out with grace and
ease and no loss of sale.”
“My career could have been over,” lang told
Vanity Fair. “I don’t think that I sacrificed any
thing, but [I] didn’t know that at that time.”
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