ABOVE: Jamie Lee Curtis, photo via Curtis’ Facebook page.
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis has told an interviewer she supports the outing of closeted lawmakers who advocate for anti-LGBTQ causes.
During an interview in support of her knew film, “Knives Out,” the longtime LGBTQ ally told Chris Azzopardi of Pride Source that she normally views sexuality as a private matter, saying, ““I don’t think it’s anybody’s business what people’s sexuality is, to be perfectly honest.”
“I find it like a reverse discrimination,” she continued. ““People’s private lives are their private lives and whether I’ve ever kissed a girl – have not – is irrelevant to whatever advocacy I participate in.”
She was quick, however, to add a caveat.
Saying that although sexuality is normally “nobody’s business” and “doesn’t matter,” she went on to say that there was an exception if “you legislate anti-gay legislation but are gay.”
“I fully accept outing those people for the hypocrisy,” said the “Halloween” star.
Curtis, who has been married to actor and filmmaker Christopher Guest since 1984, identifies as straight, but has been a longtime ally and advocate for the queer community. Her LGBTQ activism dates back to her friendships with actor Rick Frank (with whom she co-starred in the 90s sitcom, “Anything but Love”) and his longtime boyfriend George Lowe, both of whom succumbed to AIDS in the 1990s.
“Rick became, honestly, one of my best friends,” said the actress. “That experience with both Rick and George was a galvanizing moment for me, and I have tried to honor him more than anything with trying to keep that focus.”
The actress also talked about what it means to be a queer ally, saying, “You don’t have to have your own experience in order to feel compassion and the need for justice and equality. In the LGBTQ world, certainly I have friends and family, but I don’t have to have the direct experience in order to feel the compassion that I truly feel for acceptance and equality in all areas.”
Curtis has contributed her support and participation to a number of pro-LGBTQ projects. In 2012, she starred with Brad Pitt and Martin Sheen in Dustin Lance Black’s play “8,” portraying Sandy Stier, one of two women who went to the Supreme Court to defeat Prop 8. In 2016, Curtis was one of many stars who shared stories of the people killed in the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting for a video produced by the Human Rights Campaign. Earlier this year, she appeared in another video for the Human Rights Campaign, helping to launch the Americans for the Equality Act public awareness and advertising campaign.
She is currently developing a film, titled “How We Sleep At Night,” based on the memoir of Sara Cunningham, a Christian mother who founded a charity organization supporting queer youth after learning to accept her gay son. She hopes to go into production with it in 2020.
