Alan Cumming: Gay people are still treated like second class citizens
Bisexual actor Alan Cumming has said gay and bisexual people are treated like “second-class citizens” in many parts of the world.
The 51-year-old said he still faces prejudice because he is out, and that lots of LGBT+ people still face discrimination based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
He told the Times: “I live in the world. I’m very privileged person, but there are certain things I’m aware of in certain places I go to. If you’re a (gay) person living in this world, you still feel like you’re a second-class citizen. Because you absolutely are. You still don’t have the same rights.”
Cumming entered a civil partnership with his husband Grant Shaffer back in 2007 in the UK, then legally married in January 2012.
The Cabaret and Good Wife star was married to actress Hilary Lyon from 1985 to 1993 and publicly made a statement after marrying Shaffer, saying he didn’t want his sexual orientation to be “misrepresented”.
He recently opened up to the Independent about the specific way he crafted his autobiography, which doesn’t often reference the fact he married a woman before marrying a man
He said: “Some people have said about the book: ‘He doesn’t mention that he was first married to a woman and then married to a man’.
“But that’s not what this book is about… it’s not about me being bisexual.
“I get a little tired of everything – if I was straight, you wouldn’t think that I should make references to the fact that I was straight, so it just feels a little bit double standard-y.
“The whole bisexual thing keeps coming up, and I just think that, eventually, hopefully, we’ll all live in a world where we don’t talk about it as much and just get on with it.”
The actor was recently linked to a TV show based on the life of prominent New York restaurant owner and AIDS activist Florent Morellet.
