185 German Actors Kick Down Closet Door in Group Coming Out

One hundred and eighty-five German actors have kicked down the closet door in a group coming out announced on social media and the cover of a weekly newspaper supplement.

The actors told stories of having to stay hidden as LGBTQ people out of fear for their careers, The Hollywood Reporter said in an article. But they declared themselves free from now on from the constraints of homophobia and demanded greater representation onscreen.

The Hollywood Reporter noted that among the "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender actors" who came out were " 'Babylon Berlin' star Udo Samel, as well as Karin Hanczewski and Mark Waschke from No. 1 German TV drama 'Tatort,' " a crime procedural that has run since 1970. Waschke is also internationally known for his role in the German time-travel drama "Dark."

The actors "published a joint manifesto in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung calling for a change in attitudes and more LGBTQ characters in scripts," the Hollywood Reporter article added.

The story broke Feb. 5 with the headline, "I come from a world that didn't tell me anything about myself." The supplement's cover, a montage of photos depicting the actors in thumbnail-sized individual portraits, struck a historically resonant note as "a tribute to the legendary 1971 Stern magazine cover on which 374 women, celebrities and non-celebrities proclaimed that they had had abortions," noted online news site dw.com.

Six of the actors involved in the group coming out spoke "about the few role models they had as young people, or how often they were asked during their careers to 'play as if they were heterosexual,' " dw.com reported.

Among the experiences the actors cited: "Agents advise actors not to make their sexual orientation public, or not to bring their respective partners along to red carpet events so they are still considered for straight roles."

The group made a splash on social media with a new Instagram account, where a flurry of posts appeared, several of them being blocks of text that pulled quotes from the six actors who were interviewed for the supplement's feature story.

In an online manifesto the group rejected claims that by coming out they would be limiting their career opportunities, noting, "We are actors. We don't have to be what we play. We play as if we were – that's our job."

The group also shrugged off the idea that viewers aren't willing to entertain diverse perspectives, noting that "film and series viewing habits are expanding and changing.

"There are far more stories and perspectives than just those of the heterosexual white middle class to be watched and celebrated," the manifesto said.

The group's declarations added: "We look forward to all the new stories that we can represent and tell together."

The group announcement was met with instant widespread acceptance, dw.com noted, saying: "A number of high profile German cultural institutions have come out in support of the initiative, including the Berlinale."