In a new interview, out actor Anthony
Rapp describes LGBT activist Harry Hay as revolutionary.
Rapp, who is best known for playing
Lieutenant Commander Paul Stamets on the CBS All Access series Star
Trek: Discovery, portrays Hay in HBO Max's upcoming docuseries
Equal.
The series features a star-studded
cast, including Cheyenne Jackson, Hailie Sahar, Isis King, Jamie
Clayton, Keiynan Lonsdale, Samira Wiley, Sara Gilbert, and Shannon
Purser.
Equal, which premieres Thursday,
October 22, highlights LGBT rights pioneers.
Hay, who died at 90 in 2002, was a
co-founder of the Mattachine Society, America's first sustained gay
rights group, and the Radical Faeries, a gay spiritual movement. Hay
has been described as “the father of gay liberation.”
Speaking with LGBT blog Instinct,
Rapp said that he jumped on the opportunity to join the cast of
Equal.
“I was like, 'absolutely,'” he
said. “I believe so strongly in telling the stories of our history
and what we can learn from the pioneers that came before us. So it
was really, really meaningful.”
Referring to Hay's 13-year marriage to
a woman, Rapp said that gay men in the 1930s “were not necessarily
expecting themselves to live as they really were. But just to be
willing to do that at that time was incredibly courageous and
revolutionary.”
“I think it's important to recognize
pioneers who came before us,” Rapp
said. “I think it's incredible how much progress has been
made.”