David Mixner

“And you begin to see how wide the closet door is and how big it is inside and how many people who don’t appear to be in the closet actually are for the major part of their lives.” Ian McKellen’s dual life, as actor and activist, has shown him that playing any part in life requires a simple prerequisite: rigorous honesty with oneself. “The big bonus of coming out,” Ian says, “I don’t think is necessarily the way you’re perceived or the jobs you might get, but rather is self-fulfillment and self-contentment and self-awareness and self-confidence, all wrapped up together. It means taking pride in being able to say, ‘I’m gay.’ And out of that self-confidence has come an emotional freedom that directors and friends have detected in my work. There’s nothing that I can’t do, and I don’t think that I could have felt that if I hadn’t come out. Get out, say it, and having said it, you can get on with living your life. You won’t be alone.”
― David Mixner, Brave Journeys: Profiles in Gay and Lesbian Courage