Indirect Gay Icon: Molly Ringwald and Prop 8

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Posted by Administrator in TV on April 27, 2010  |  0 Comments More from this author  |

“People always assume that everyone who was in the ‘Brat Pack’ still gets together and has picnics every Sunday — like there’s still this club with a secret handshake,” says Molly Ringwald, star of John Hughes teen classics The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Pretty in Pink. “But these are people I worked with so long ago, and we have totally separate lives.” Ringwald’s own charmed life as a fashion icon, erudite world traveler, and happily married mother of three has now inspired her candid new lifestyle guide, Getting the Pretty Back: Friendship, Family and Finding the Perfect Lipstick, available April 27. The flame-haired 42-year-old star of ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which returns for a third season June 7, shares the facts of life she’s learned from gay men like Harvey Milk, Stephin Merritt, and the godfathers of her children.

Tell me about the humorous “Vote No on Prop. 8” video that you and your husband filmed in 2008.
My friend Matt knew somebody that was doing it and wanted me to be a part of it, so of course I said I would. It was important to me to do because it seems absolutely crazy that people who love each other can’t marry. It’s unfair the way the whole Prop. 8 thing went down — the act of voting no on something instead of yes was confusing, and it felt like a train wreck from the very beginning. Right now it’s frustrating, but years from now it’s going to seem crazy, like, “Oh, my God, we had slavery? We thought it was OK to enslave people?” Matt and Greg, the godparents of my children, have a relationship and a marriage that most people could only aspire to have.

Have you always been conscious of your gay fan base?
Since most my friends are gay, it would be hard not to be aware of it now, but I don’t think I realized it early on in my career because I don’t know that I definitely had that fan base until later. I became pretty aware of it in the ’90s, after some time had passed, and especially when I was living in New York and doing a lot of theater.

Have you ever played a lesbian character?
No, I never have! I would be totally open to it. People have sent me scripts with lesbian parts, but I’ve turned them down — not because I didn’t want to play a lesbian but because it wasn’t well written. I’m totally into it.

Read Full Interview at The Advocate