Saara Aalto Quotes

Now, it's weird not to have gay characters on a show.

Even if there are a lot women in films, there are few who are lesbians, that people know about.

I think it's very important that, you know, gay actors get to play gay characters.

The representation of gay characters on screen is important for us all to think about because there are sadly too few representations of gay characters on screen in mainstream cinema. If Marvel starts making movies about gay superheroes, then we'll be in a really great place. We're not at that place.

I feel like because I've done more gay characters, gay scenes, or gay projects than most straight actors, people see it as some sort of mission. It's more of a case-by-case basis, and just trying to capture figures that I love. I guess that a lot of the figures that I love were gay.

I think every time there's a show like 'Modern Family' or 'Will & Grace' that portray gay and lesbian characters and is successful, it just further opens the door.

When I was a kid, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell were mere blips on the gaydar; and they were both still in the closet.

The 'Family Ties' role was the first of many gay roles that I've ended up playing. I remember that I made them laugh, and it made me feel good, 'cause it really cracked them up.

There are plenty of lesbians in Hollywood, but they're not out. And that's their choice, but I can't do that, it's too important to me.

The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie.

The media has gone through lots of things that make it a less foreign thing to have your lead character be gay.

I kind of cheer the presence of any gay characters at all - I think the more we can saturate television with any gay character or lesbian character or transgender character, I think that's a really great thing. We're kind of getting past the fact that they're the punchline or that they're the novelty.

There are sometimes concerns about being respectful with a gay character, and you either end up with a tiptoeing quality or an all-out cliche.

I think about 'Will & Grace,' and I think about 'Modern Family,' and the way that being gay has become sort of middle America... in the way that they show gay people in their specific way.

Nobody knew if the pilot would even get picked up because it had two gay lead characters, which has never happened before. And now every show has at least two gay characters, if not many more.

I love that we've chipped away at the celluloid closet and have wonderful programs that feature gay and lesbian characters in really rich, fully developed ways.

I did a one-off episode of 'The New Normal' for Ryan Murphy, and that was the first time I played a gay role.

There's not a lot of gay programming on TV.

I'm very passionate and believe that every time the LGBT community is featured in the media, people are learning about us.

There should be more LGBT people on TV.

Famously, DC has been pretty great showing gay women, with characters like Batwoman, but has shown fewer prominent men on the sexuality spectrum outside of hetero. It's something we need to address. I also think it's lovely how the readers respond to this.

After the 'Fallon' set, I had a lot of queer people message me about how much it meant to see a queer perspective on late night TV.

When I was first starting out in the industry in the early '90s, gay love stories were relegated to limited-release films that were hidden deep in the back of Blockbuster video stores.

I really think there are many great organizations out there getting the word out about LGBT youth and bullying, but GLAAD has this way of making sure the stories about gay people are sent out and heard and not covered up, and I like that.

For more than two decades, GLAAD has combatted anti-LGBT images in the media and changed the national conversation about LGBT people.