14 DAY TRIAL // Matt Bomer, the handsome star of “White Collar” and the more recent feature film “Magic Mike,” came out as gay in a speech he held in February this year. He did not place that much importance on the act of coming out, he says, because he doesn't believe it's that big a deal to begin with.
Even before he came out, Bomer never really went to a lot of trouble to hide his orientation: his “strategy” had always been that of not addressing the issue in public, of dodging questions, which proved very easy since they came at moments he wasn't even supposed to be talking about his private life.
At the February 2012 event, he thanked his family, his partner of many, many years and the 3 beautiful children they have and it was done, he'd come out.
Matt tells E! News he was never the kind of guy to put his whole life on display, so it was absurd for fans to expect of him to do one of those big, “shock” coming out interviews with a widely circulated publication.
“I never really endeavored to hide anything. But there were times I chose not to relegate my history to the back page of a magazine, which to me is sort of akin to putting your biography on a bathroom wall,” he says.
While he denies he “came out” in the true sense of the word because he didn't even try to stay “in” (to hide, that is), Matt welcomes the idea that his speaking out in public about his orientation might help fight discrimination.
No matter how much we think we've progressed, we're still stuck in 1992, the 34-year-old star believes.
Proof of that is the fact that people still tend to attach a label before a profession, as is the case with “gay actor,” as opposed to saying “an actor who happens to be gay.”
“What we really have to do is stop the adjective before the job title – whether it’s 'black actor,' a 'gay actor' or 'anything actor',” Bomer explains.
“Everybody thinks that equality comes from identifying people, and that’s not where equality comes from. Equality comes from treating everybody the same regardless of who they are. I hope the media and the press catches on to that because it’s time to move out of 1992,” he adds.
Matt Bomer can now be seen in “Magic Mike,” alongside Matthew McConaughey, Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello and Alex Pettyfer. He never imagined he'd be offered such a part, he admits in the same interview.