Brackett remembers seeing a billboard for the Tom Cruise film "Born on the Fourth of July" in 1989.
"There was a whole rumor that had begun about Tom Cruise being gay. And I remember driving up the street and seeing his picture and my first thought was, `There's Tom Cruise. He's gay,'" says Brackett. "All these things he actually worked for got immediately overshadowed by a rumor. ... Who would want to deal with that as an actor?"
Because of that bias, Brackett says, agents are unlikely to recommend openly gay clients for straight roles. "They don't want to be the one who says, `This person is gay and that's fine.'"
Despite the risk, some actors feel there's little choice but to deal directly with their sexuality. Fabian says he temporarily hid his sexual preference during acting school. The result, he says: "My acting was terrible. You're constantly putting layer on top of layer."
The current crop of tabloid magazines and nightly entertainment-news shows have brought the decades-old fascination with performers' personal lives to a new level. They love focusing on the subject of who's gay and who isn't, though there appears to be a double standard in their approach.
Actresses may acquire a bit of positive buzz and be "seen as sexy" after rumors of gay romance, says Lillian Faderman, co-author of the book "Gay L.A." But men in the same situation are perceived differently.
"Things have certainly improved for women in Hollywood, but far less so for men," says Faderman. "But it's interesting that the most prominent examples I can give — Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge, Lily Tomlin — they don't play romantic leads."
A National Enquirer cover last August trumpeted "Hollywood's Secret `Gay List'" in bold, black letters above photos of various leading men. Inside, they reported the estimated odds of these celebrities coming out.
Network executives, Fabian says, fear negative coverage in the tabloids. And they prefer not to cast openly gay actors in straight roles because they want those tabloids to publicize their stars' social lives positively.
"You go in for a pilot, and you're told the casting director loves you, the producer loves you," says Fabian. "Then you go to network, and you have to sign your 5-year deal first. I think that's where the real discussion is going on: `We really liked him, but ... he's really funny, but ... how can we get him out there with the girls when he's sitting home with his boyfriend every day?"
Knight's case will be an interesting litmus test of whether recent celebrity outings will encourage the industry to change its approach.
Before his announcement, Knight had already developed a fan base. TV viewers have also warmed to Harris' performance as a straight, womanizing character on the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," now in its second season. Comments posted on imdb.com describe Harris as the best thing about the show.
Should these shows run for several more years and audience support remain strong, Hollywood may have no choice but to continue offering both men the straight romantic roles they play so well.
That could open a door to broader casting options for all actors, something Fabian would welcome. "In the end, I want to work. I want to be successful as an actor," he says. "I want to have vacations and not worry about the credit cards not working."
