Andrew Rannells talks about being gay

I just know there is no way to completely stop the comments that I’m sure will be coming: “He’s been out for years.” “Everyone knows he’s gay.” “That’s not NEWS.”

Okay, have I taken care of it for everybody?

Hope so.

The fact is, Broadway and television star Andrew Rannells has never really talked publicly about being gay – at least that I know of – until an interview he just did with Vulture.

The Tony nominee for The Book of Mormon has certainly not shied away from gay roles including a recurring one of HBO’s Girls and on the upcoming NBC sitcom The New Normal.

‘I am gay in real life,’ he tells Vulture. ‘I wasn’t closeted for any amount of time. I never had a girlfriend.’

Of his two TV roles: “Girls came along with this very funny, very well-thought-out character that’s not always seen, and Ryan Murphy came along with this really fantastic script. The New Normal focuses on a gay couple who’s using a surrogate to start a family, and that surrogate brings their own family along for this ride, and then the whole group of people come together to bring this baby to life. That story’s definitely been on television before, but I think that when other series have shown gay people with kids, that plot has always been the B story line or the C story line — it’s never really been the focus. It’s very fortunate that this show came along at a time when NBC was willing to focus on these two gay men who are very much in love, who are very committed, and want to start a family. I guess what I’m excited about is that these roles are all of a sudden available — really great gay roles that aren’t just the “sappy friend.”

On investing in the gay characters he plays: ‘As a gay man, I think there’s a responsibility to show a fully realized person, so even though Elijah [his character on Girls] might not be the the best person in the world, I want to make him as fully fleshed out and human as possible. Because chances are he’s gonna represent somebody who’s a real person. With The New Normal, I feel even a larger responsibility because it’s sort of a new idea for a lot of viewers and Americans, to see Justin Bartha and I play this very much in love couple who just wants to have a baby. We’re telling that story for the first time, in a way, for a lot of people, so I think there’s a lot of responsibility there.”