Hollywood used to spend big bucks hiding the homosexuality of its big-name stars.
After all, the reasoning went, fans would stop buying tickets if masculine icons such as Rock Hudson, James Dean, Raymond Burr and Richard Chamberlain were outed as pansies.
Those were the good old days, when ignorance was bliss in entertainment venues.
Today, however, public knowledge of gay and lesbian thespians is a plus.
Elton and Ellen are now politically correct, part of the mainstream because they don’t pretend to be something they’re not.
Not so for Neil Patrick Harris, the former child star of Doogie Howser M.D.
Harris plays Barney, a modern-day satyr on the hit comedy series, How I Met Your Mother.
Although completely out of the closet, Harris still manages to convince millions of viewers that he lusts only after women for 30 minutes on Monday night.
Now that is acting.(11 OCTOBER 2009)
