John Barrowman: ‘I didn’t wake up one morning and decide to be gay’
Addressing fans at a recent science-fiction convention, John Barrowman said that being gay is “not a choice,” and that he did not wake up one morning to say, “I’m going to have coffee, eggs, bacon, and I’m going to be gay.”
The Glasgow-born Torchwood star attended the Dragon Con Science-fiction convention last weekend, where he spoke on his marriage to his long-term partner Scott Gill, as well as on the topic of whether being gay is a choice.
“It doesn’t work that way,” he told audience members.
“I live it. I didn’t decide one morning to get up and go, “I’m going to have coffee, eggs, bacon and I’m going to be gay.”‘
Commenting on his marriage at the convention, he said: “We’ve been together for 20-odd years. When we were married in our eyes is when we signed papers for our first mortgage. That was a lockdown.
“At that time, both of us were going, “Oh my God, how are we going to afford this?” Like everybody else, we panicked and we were scared but we knew we were on a journey for the long term.”
While the couple has been together for over 20 years, Barrowman says up until the US Supreme Court struck down DOMA, his partner Gill was forced to return to the UK every three months.
“It changed everything,” he said on the ruling.
He also acknowledged, however, that the fight for marriage equality is far from finished.
He said: “It’s our duty as human beings to stand up on that fence and make a decision to back (other states) up.”
He said: “I don’t get it. Some of the comments were outrageously vile. Quoting lines from the Bible. I won’t tolerate it. People like that are banned on my Twitter account. I tell them to f*** off.”
“If two people love each other enough and want to call what they have a ‘marriage’, regardless of their sex, shouldn’t we let them do that? Otherwise, we’re in the Dark Ages again.”
