You Can Look, But You Can’t Touch: 8 Hot (Openly) Gay Actors
Life can’t always be about having everything you want, when you want it. Sometimes you are limited to window shopping, to the quickest of glances, to imagined passion. Here’s a list of hot *openly* gay actors who will never long for our feminine touch, yet still. Still we lust and admire (and respect!) many of these excellent spokesmen for the gay community. So, stare and admire!

Edit: the source changed their list - ZQ is now listed as Maybe too soon, Maybe never

Edit2: They actually took out ZQ from the list!

1. Zachary Quinto


Where to start? He made a sexy villain (Sylar from Heroes), he made a sexy Spock (who thought anyone would ever say that – sorry Nimoy-ites), he is a yoga enthusiast, and he walks an adorable Irish Wolfhound/Airedale Terrier dog all over Silver Lake in a series of increasingly adorable hipster boy outfits. He has exacerbated his untouchable sensuality by being chummy and handsy and sweet with co-star Chris Pine in many, many Star Trek related interviews.

Cute quote: “I also did a lot of hand exercises to make sure my fingers could do the Vulcan salute and that’s no lie actually. I would rubber-band my pinky and my ring finger together and drive around L.A. like this because I couldn’t do it at first.”


2. Luke McFarlane



Many of you may know McFarlane as Scotty Wandell on ABC’s Brothers and Sisters, on which he plays an openly gay man married to one of the “brothers” of the show, played by Matthew Rhys. McFarlane came out to the media in 2008 and then promptly said this wonderful thing:

“…in portraying gay people, the more we realize it’s just like portraying anybody else and, gay marriage, it’s not about two people being gay, it’s about two people who love each other and who have decided to commit to each other for the exact same reasons any other couple would get married.”

3. Robert Gant



Gant is mostly famous for being on the American version of Queer as Folk for Showtime, as HIV-positive Ben Bruckner who crusades against “Prop 14″ inside the show, a TV equivalent of many controversial anti-gay marriage bills. His advocacy goes beyond the fictional world though. Gant was recognized and honored by The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) in 2003, and was given the National Equality Award by the Human Rights Commission in 2006. And, of course, Google him and you’ll get pages and pages of crazy tight abs photos. But remember the advocacy, ladies!

Amazing quote: “For me, the litmus test to know whether or not I’m doing the right thing is to examine whether my decisions are love-based or fear-based. I think outing people is fear based, the fear that if we don’t out them, it will make things harder for all of us. It’s important to treat people with love.”

4. Neil Patrick Harris



Well. Doy. Doogie grew up and he’s cute and outspoken now. If you haven’t seen Dr. Horrible’s Sing a Long Blog then you’re missing out. If you haven’t seen that poster of NPH for Harold and Kumar 2, where have you been? And I don’t like CBS comedies, but the idea of a gay man playing a straight dude p*#syhound is priceless.

On shaking the whole Doogie thing: “All I have to do is hope that more chapters go by where I’m playing other roles, and Doogie will become an arrow in a quiver, as opposed to some albatross that I worry about.”

5. John Barrowman



Sci-fi nerd girls know who this bloke is! He plays Captain Jack (not Sparrow) on the newest incarnation of Doctor Who, and its subsequent spin-off show, Torchwood. Torchwood is kind of the X-Files of the UK, but with waaaaaay more hot gay grappling and sex with aliens (hey, stuff happens). Barrowman bears a strong resemblance to Tom Cruise…except Barrowman hops up and down on sofas about his gay lover of many years, whom he married in 2006. When Captain Jack taught Gwen how to shoot a guy in Season 1 of Torchwood, I had a TV-related orgasm.

Best Barrowman quote: “It’s about time we had a gay man playing a hero. What I do in my bedroom is just the same as what everybody else does; I just do it with a man.”

6. Darryl Stephens



I’m ashamed at myself that it took five entries before I broke the color barrier in this post, especially since Darryl Stephens of Noah’s Arc definitely belongs on this list. You can also see more of Stephens’ excellent *body* of work in Q. Allan Brocka’s indie drama Boy Culture. Hopefully LOGO will pick up more episodes of Noah’s Arc, so that gay actors of color can get some attention and respect too.

Darryl’s best quote: “Hopefully when more shows start to represent characters from the black, gay population, hopefully they won’t count on this show to represent so much of themselves and they’ll just appreciate the show for what it is.”

7. Russell Tovey



When consulting my gay bros for their favorite open actors, and this man (former star of the History Boys – both on stage and screen) popped up a few times. And this is how he was described: “Oh he’s the cute werewolf in Being Human, so he turns into a wolf and his clothes always come off!” Well, well. Besides THAT – Tovey has ears that adorably stick out like tea cup handles and he’s been on the aforementioned awesome Doctor Who, once again proving that being a gay actor on TV in the UK seems like less of a detriment.

Good gravy! alert: “I have a nice bum, so I’ve been told. It’s very smooth and pert. Would I do full-frontal? Yeah, if it was right.”

8. Cheyenne Jackson


I left one of the pretties for last! He has a pretty name and is quite, quite pretty himself. Especially in his underpants. Jackson has sang backup for Vanessa Williams and Liza Minnelli and has appeared up and down Broadway in many stage productions (Xanadu, All Shook Up, Damn Yankees). And to finish this off in an entirely professional fashion, he looks damn good in his underpants.

You tell 'em, Cheyenne: “Chris Sieber and I were talking about this. Every time they mention either of us in the press, it’s always “openly gay Christopher Sieber” and “openly gay Cheyenne Jackson.” It’s a little reductive and, after a while, it’s like, 'Yawn'".


Did I miss something? when did ZQ come out...or else this list is full of fail. Well, not full of fail, the rest of the guys are ACTUALLY out at least.


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