The queer report: Robert Gant and Peter Paige say Queer as Folk has made them reassess their goals and values. In a candid conversation, they report on the show's evolution—and their own progress in bridging their inner butch and fem - Interview - Cover Story

Paige: And straights have become the new gays. You can't tell us apart anymore. I blame Diesel jeans and Queer as Folk. All I do is hit on straights, and they're all, "Gee, thanks, but I'm really more emotionally drawn to women." You just can't tell. They're all wearing "low riders," and they have great haircuts, and they're working out. We have a Republican bigot in the White House, and I still don't feel a tidal wave of antigay sentiment. I feel as though that tide has turned and we are now in much more danger of harming ourselves. A lot of people have underestimated the general population's willingness to be accepting, and we [as gay people] need to stop apologizing for ourselves.

As actors who both came out on the cover of The Advocate, did you see any variance in the response you each received, given that your respective characters are on the opposite end of the butch-fem spectrum?

Paige: I got a lot of good response to my article but nothing like the response Bobby received to his.

Why do you think that is?

Paige: Because it was expected that I would come out, since I played such a nelly character. It was not expected that Bobby would come out, because he played such a masculine character. Based upon the letters to the editor in the next issue, there was a profound sense of wonder that this masculine man would stand up and say he was gay. That was amazing! I was completely sociologically intrigued by it, the fact that anyone who appears obviously gay, we devalue. I've dated a lot of hypermasculine, hyperbeautiful guys. And underneath that hypermasculine shell, though, each one harbored a sense that he was a fraud.

Gant: When I came out there were some letters saying, "Why do we need to see these stories about these entertainment people coming out when there are so many stories that are more important?" And you know what? That's true.

Paige: I heard a story about a woman in Toronto who worked in a steel mill. She used to be a man, and she decided to undergo gender-reassignment surgery. She had to live as a woman for six months [before the surgery]. She showed up at work one day dressed as a woman. Now, there's a story for you about courage.

Speaking of courage, is there a gay cause that's particularly close to your heart these days?

Gant: I'm getting involved with a group called SAGE--Senior Action in a Gay Environment. They're New York-based but nationally focused. It's become something of my torch. Young gay people are often told, "You're going to grow old alone." I was terrified that I was going to grow old alone--

Paige: [Laughs] I'm still terrified I'm going to grow old alone.

Gant: We need to change both the perception and the reality. Some 20% of gay and lesbian elderly don't have people to help them get their medications and do things for them, as opposed to 5% of heterosexuals, because of familial ties and the way things are. I just know that this isn't a culture I want to grow old in as it currently exists--

Paige: Because it's so unforgiving. Western culture is unforgiving, but gay culture is even worse.