A few less than 525,600 minutes with Rapp

Anthony Rapp, best known from such films as the '80s classic Adventures in Babysitting and the original Broadway cast of Rent, came to Yale on Wed., Oct. 12 to perform songs from his first solo album, Look Around, and as part of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Co-op's National Coming Out Day activities. Rapp spoke with the Herald about his album, his life, and his experiences as an openly gay celebrity.

COURTESY WWW.ANTHONYRAPP.COM Hmm...um, well, how about love?

Yale Herald: How would you describe your band's style?

Anthony Rapp: I think it's really eclectic, alternative contemporary pop music...People think REM a little bit, a little bit of Elvis Costello, '80s New Wave, Travis, a band from Scotland, like Brit pop influences, a little bit of Beatles influence.

YH: When you travel to schools, is your purpose to perform your work, or to talk about gay issues?

AR: All of the above, and also I do work with master classes with acting students, musical theater students. If I'm coming to a school, I know there's so many avenues that I can work with, and I'm really happy to use my time up while I'm there, because I get a lot out of it, and I think that people get something out of it. The feedback I get is generally very positive.

YH: Do you think that people in public positions have somewhat of an obligation to "come out?"

AR: I think that you have something of an obligation...this is a dangerous analogy to make in some circles...but it's like the people in Germany who were not Nazi sympathizers but who did not actively do anything to prevent the genocide. They're not the enemy per se, but they're part of the problem in a sense because they're not actively trying to change things...It certainly can't be [solved] with the amount of silence that still exists among public figures. Ellen [Degeneres'] coming out was a galvanizing event in the world. I think you can't argue that it's not. I mean, it was heard all over the world. It wasn't just in America. A lot of other countries have not nearly the sexuality issues the way Americans do. America, "the land of the free," is among the most Puritan of cultures in some ways. On the one hand, people have something of an obligation. On the other hand, I do recognize that everyone has their private life to live...I think living a lie has got to be really hard on a person.

YH: When did you come out?

AR: I came out publicly when I was 21. I was in a play by Larry Kramer [BR '57] in 1992. It just made sense to me at the time. And there's never been any turning back since.

YH: Did you tell your family first, or close friends?

AR: Yeah, that all happened before [the play]. I was in a position to come out publicly, but even then it was on a very small scale, because it was just an Off-Broadway play. I thanked my boyfriend in my bio, [and] that's how I came out. Because, to me, it's so much less about labels as about recognition of same-sex partnership. The expression of sexuality in the world is who you mate with. And I don't just mean have sex with, but who you mate with. That to me is why I feel so strongly about civil unions being recognized. I know people who have been together for years and years, and there's no reason that they shouldn't have all the rights and responsibilities of any married couple. And I'm not saying it has to be called marriage, because I recognize that that word is going to be a long time coming. But if civil unions grant all the same things as marriage, fine, call it civil union, I don't care.

YH: Has your experience coming out had any negative effects on your life?

AR: Not as far as I know, nothing that's happened to me directly. It wasn't at all easy with my mom. She was a little concerned, and she wasn't always comfortable talking about it, but she wasn't comfortable talking about most things that were difficult subjects. But she made a lot of progress by the time she passed away. There are people with much worse stories than I have.

YH: Would you like to see more portrayals of same-sex love in television and other media?

AR: I would love that. I mean, it's happening. It's definitely picking up, but it's glacial in some areas. There's so many more gay characters, but there's still so little of depicting complex same-sex relationships. One of the songs I wrote, I explicitly wrote a boy-boy love song, where the lyrics are "he" did this to me. I don't mean explicit like sexually explicit, but there's no guessing. That was very important to me.

YH: You grew up in show business. Did you ever feel any pressure to stay closeted?

AR: No, never. I never had any internal pressure to; I never had any external pressure to. I've heard of other people who've had external pressure. I got acquainted with this young, out singer-songwriter who was being courted to be in a boy band, and they literally said to him, "We will concoct a girlfriend for you." And he said, "No, thank you." It's really stupid because, especially for pop music, you people don't care, they don't care. Sure, some of them might, but so many don't.

YH: To you, what was the significance or message of Rent?

AR: You never know how much time you have, so do whatever you can to make your life true to what you believe and who you are, and surround yourself with people you love, and who love you and support you, and do what you love, and love what you do. And when you lose friends, honor them and remember them. Live with boldness, courage, and a sense of heart and soul. Those are all the things that I get out of it. Surround yourself with all kinds of people, and embrace all kinds of people.

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