Bartlet4America News Archive

The West Wing’s Special Guest Star

PlanetOut News Staff

PlanetOut speaks with the out actor who played a gay congressman backing a homophobic bill on one of TV’s best — and most gay-friendly — dramas.

On the November 15 episode of The West Wing, Republican Congressman Matt Skinner (Charley Lang) presented the president (Martin Sheen) with the Marriage Recognition Act, a bill that would prohibit same-sex marriages. In the course of the episode, though, Skinner came out as gay. Exploring the issue of how and why a gay politician might find himself in this position was a challenge that Lang, who is himself gay, welcomed. He spoke with PlanetOut about the storyline — how it originated and what the gay / lesbian / bisexual / transgender (GLBT) community might learn from it.

PlanetOut: The idea for this storyline came out of a conversation you had with Aaron Sorkin.

Charley Lang: Right. I did two episodes of the show last season. This past winter I was working on the No on Knight campaign. [The Knight Initiative, which was passed by California voters in March, prohibits same-sex marriages in the state.] In the midst of doing my political work, I called Aaron up and said that I wanted to talk to him about a topical idea for the show. So I came in and let him know about the issue — which he was already somewhat familiar with — and then that evolved into the idea of gay Republicans. Both of us were very curious about how they do that — how they reconcile their orientation with their political values.

Then I got a call this fall asking if I'd like to do another episode. I didn't know what it was about. But when I got the script, it was all about what Aaron and I had discussed. And in the course of the episode, my character, Congressman Skinner, comes out as gay.

PlanetOut: Even before he came out, was it your understanding that Skinner was a gay, albeit closeted, character?

CL: No. There was nothing to indicate that in the material that I had done before.

PlanetOut: Why does Skinner, as a gay man, support the Marriage Recognition Act?

CL: Well, it's interesting. Being a gay man myself and a Democrat, it was an interesting challenge to get inside the mind of a man who is gay and who would support something like this. The beauty of Aaron's writing is that he doesn't write black-and-white characters. They're not good guys and bad guys. Everybody he writes has a real, credible humanity. And he makes a case for Skinner, because Skinner gets challenged on the episode. People ask him how he can be a member of a party that disagrees with who he is. The upshot of it is — as my character talks about — that he has a lot of other priorities; his life isn't all about being a homosexual.

PlanetOut: Did you feel that how your character dealt with these conflicts was true to life, true to how gay Republicans might really feel?

CL: To tell you the truth, I don't know a lot about it. I know people who are gay Republicans, but I haven't had this conversation with them. I haven't really gotten into it. But the way that it was brought out in the episode made it make more sense to me than it ever had before. I felt it was a window inside the experience that I had never thought of. In fact, it made me more curious and made me want to have these dialogues. That's what I'm hoping the show will do — foster dialogue between very polarized elements of the gay community.

PlanetOut: What kinds of insights did you think you gained into the experience of a gay Republican?

CL: It is a very polarized situation. We, as gay Democrats, are [often seen as] the good guys, and gay Republicans are the bad guys. But I went online to the Log Cabin Republicans' site, and there's some very interesting stuff there. It's not just a black-and-white issue. I believe that there's a way for us to come together and be truly interested in the philosophy that the "other side" holds. Being polarized is not to anyone's advantage.

There are a lot of one-issue voters in this country. My parents, for example, vote for anyone who is anti-abortion. I think in the gay community people can vote similarly; anyone who is for a certain list of issues will get their vote. But I don't believe that gay Republicans are all bad guys. Some of them have larger issues, and the idea of infiltrating and effecting some change from within the Republican Party has some merit. I'm not saying that they're all brilliant at it. But there are people who are working in that way, and they have their eye on a bigger picture. That should not be discounted.

PlanetOut: How was Aaron, as a straight, liberal man, able to get such a good window into the experience of a gay Republican?

CL: Well, all I can say is that I've seen his work, and I've seen him in operation on the set, and he's a brilliant artist. He writes for people from real life. I think he was turned on by the fact that I was a gay man who was active on this issue. He tends to write from what he knows and from the people he has cast in these roles. And that's what the best writing is — writing from real-life experience. He's a wizard at that. I've never seen anything like it.

PlanetOut: So far this season, The West Wing has done an episode on which a Dr. Laura-like character was berated for her anti-gay views. And now they're tackling this topic. It seems like a very gay-positive show. Was that your experience working on the set?

CL: Yes. The two episodes I did last year didn't have that element. But this time around, there's an openly gay director directing this episode. And Aaron himself, while not a gay man, is incredibly gay-friendly. When you're shooting, there's a crew of 50, and for some of them it might have been a challenge. But I didn't feel the effects of that. And it's the trickle-down theory: When it comes from the top, it's the sort of feeling and attitude that everyone has.