Scottish actor ALAN CUMMING has blamed the media for making gay actors too scared to come out.
The X-Men star insists the press' portrayal of homosexuality as a controversial lifestyle is making many performers hide their sexual orientation - but insists the public don't care.
Cumming - who married his partner Grant Shaffer in a civil ceremony last year (07) - tells the BBC, "I don't think the people that go see films care that much - the media make it more of a deal and it's made into controversy.
"I'm quite outspoken in the media about what I perceive as a civil-rights struggle that gay people in America are still going through. But I don't think that I only play gay characters, or I wouldn't be as convincing if I had a wife or a girlfriend in a movie."
Derek Munn, of gay rights organisation Stonewall, says, "Stonewall has long been concerned about the representation of lesbian and gay people, both in the film industry and the media in general.
"The pitifully low number of openly lesbian or gay actors suggests that there is a problem. The film industry needs to think about why it is that gay actors choose not to come out."
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