Jodie-foster-golden-globes

At the Golden Globe awards the other day, Jodie Foster finally acknowledged her sexual orientation after, frankly, decades of the whole world knowing. Whilst I'm impressed that she's finally come out to the whole world, I must confess a certain disappointment that she did it as easily and consequence-free as she chose to. As Patrick Strudwick says:

Without visibility we would have nothing. Without millions of ordinary people, kids in British state schools, activists in Uganda, married Christians in the Bible belt, saying, "Actually, I'm gay," Jodie Foster would not be able to stand up, resplendent, creaking open the closet door free of consequences. She surfed the wave of others' courage and gave back only when she felt like it.

It is every gay public figure's social responsibility to be out, to make life better for those without publicists and pilates teachers. Those who cry, "It's none of your business! Who cares who I sleep with?!" shirk their public duty, and deny the shame that keeps the closet door shut. Do straight people consider their orientation private? You cannot skip the tough part of a human rights struggle. I long for being gay to be nobody's business, to not matter, but we're a long way off. You either do your bit, and in the case of an A-list actor, that means blazing a trail for other performers, or you remain concealed, bleating about privacy.

I completely agree with him. She's unarguably done good by coming out at all, but it's true that, like it or not, as a major public figure she's in a position of responsibility. She does indeed have a right to privacy but a human rights struggle indeed affects everyone - there's no avoiding it with any honour. To those who cry 'it's no big deal, why should she come out' I point them to the persistence of homophobia (and heterosexism) in numerous industries, and not just her's. The only point at which being an out gay Hollywood actor is not worth acknowledging, reporting on or celebrating is when it's commonplace. I'm glad she's out but she should have done this years ago.