Luke Evans Pushes Back Against LGBTQ+ Stereotypes: “If Only Gay Actors Could Play Gay Characters, I Wouldn’t Have Had a Career”

Luke Evans has spoken out about the debate over the portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters on screen and whether such roles should be played exclusively by actors of the same sexual orientation, according to the Daily Mail.

In ITV’s new series The Party, the 47-year-old actor plays Martin Gilmore, a married political journalist who hides his homosexuality while struggling with his feelings for a former school friend who has since become a right-wing politician.

Speaking about his character and the stereotypes surrounding LGBTQ+ people, Evans noted that sexual orientation does not determine a person’s political views.

“Just because you are gay yourself doesn’t mean you have to be woke. Your sexuality is one part of who you are, and we all have different views about society and life,” the actor said.

“I have very progressive gay friends and I have completely unprogressive ones. We don’t have to agree with each other on everything.”

Evans, who is openly gay and lives in Lisbon with his partner Fran Tomas, also addressed the debate over who should play LGBTQ+ characters.

The actor has played gay roles several times himself, but points out that much of his career has been built around portraying heterosexual men.

“If gay people only played gay characters, then I’d have had no career. But I understand that gay actors still don’t have enough opportunities to play gay characters, just as transgender actors don’t have enough opportunities to play transgender characters,” he said.

At the same time, Evans believes the era when famous Hollywood actors were cast as transgender characters should be left in the past.

“I really do think the time when famous Hollywood actors played transgender characters has passed. It shouldn’t happen anymore,” he said.

However, he takes a different view when it comes to heterosexual actors playing gay characters.

“Some of the most powerful and profound performances I’ve ever seen have been by straight actors playing gay men. But when an actor simply amplifies every existing stereotype, I find that offensive,” he said.

The actor also opened up about his difficult childhood, revealing that he realized his sexual orientation as a teenager but was afraid for years to tell his parents.

Evans grew up in a Jehovah’s Witness family and feared that his parents would reject him. At school, he was bullied both for his religious beliefs and his sexual orientation.

“I had an extremely painful childhood. I was angry that I couldn’t talk to anyone about it,” the actor recalled.

At 14, he sought help from a psychologist and later visited his local branch of the Samaritans. There, he met a gay man who told him about his own life.

“He said just a few words: ‘You’re not alone. I’m gay and very happy, I have lots of friends, I have a good life, and you’re going to be okay too. You just need to get through this.’”

Evans said those words helped him realize that he was not alone.

“I knew I was going to have to leave home and start all over again. I understood that I might lose people who were important to me.”

The actor became particularly emotional when recalling the moment he finally came out to his mother.

Evans said that for his deeply religious mother, his coming out was about more than his sexual orientation. She believed that he would not be able to enter the promised paradise after Armageddon.

But his mother did not reject her son. After their conversation, she hugged him.

“I felt so much love and acceptance in that embrace, and I started to cry. Lying in bed that night, I felt an enormous sense of relief. Finally, one of the two people I loved most knew the real me. I didn’t have to hide who I really was anymore.”

Evans admitted that even years later, he finds it difficult to reread that passage.

“I’ve read it so many times, but every time I go back to that moment. In a way, it was an incredible feeling — she didn’t reject me. I was prepared to be thrown out of the house, but that didn’t happen.”