Watch: Neil Patrick Harris Tells Ellen About Going To The Emmys Since Coming Out

"How I Met Your Mother" star Neil Patrick Harris went on Ellen Degeneres' talk show today. The Emmy nominee (still known to many for his teen role as Doogie Howser, MD) spoke openly about his boyfriend. He told People magazine in an interview last November that he is gay. When Ellen asked him if he had a date for the award show, which is this Sunday, he could answer honestly and describe what they'd done in years past to avoid the press.

From NBC

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[hjo4]

I never understood some people "need" to announce to the world who they sleep with,love and wear it on their sleeve,then demand they're accepted by the world.Who I sleep with is not a public matter nor anyones business.

[foofighter]

All married couples, in fact, do "announce to the world" who they sleep with. In many cases, these "announcements" are lies or misleading for any number of reasons, especially for those in the entertainment fields.

If N.P.H. chose to come out, it was presumably because he was tired of the lies and speculations.

In the film version of "The Producers" (musical), in one of Mel Brooks' more outrageous gay-stereotypical scenes, I had no trouble accepting Nathan Lane as being straight in the film even though he's been out for some years. As Mr. Ehrenstein said earlier, it's called "acting".

The movie-going public really needs to grow up.

[travelea]

I'm a straight travel writer and I was invited to spend 10 days on a "gay" cruise in the Med and Aegaen seas to write about it. I went with another straight woman writer and of course was perceived by the other 1500 on the trip as a lesbian. It was a different experience to be defined by sexuality rather than gender. I really felt a bit what it was like to be perceived as gay, even though I was among a sympathetic group.
I have to say the vibe on that cruise was exceptional. All types of people, 90 percent men, many married gay couples from around the world, some couples who had been together 50 years. I found that there was much affection and love and certainly lots of laughs and creative fun.
I just loved it and recommend gay cruises to any single woman who wants to feel cared about, no matter her age! (The staff was also having a great time and many of them came out just on that one cruise.)

[Krackonis]

NPH Rocks. I absolutely LOVED him in Harold and Kumar. And amazingly even Starship troopers.

[BrokenMirror]

And, as the womanizing Barney on "How I Met Your Mother," he's the only funny thing about the show. Plus, he's HOT.

[Dehrenstein]

foofighter, my cat is more qualified to to be President than the slug currently occupying the Oval Office.

As for N-PH, it's called "acting" sisterdebmac.
He does it very well. He also sings beautifully too. He does "Tobey" in a recently released "Sweeney Todd in Concert" DVD and his rendition of "Not While I'm Around" will floor you.

[revko]

There are gay people in show biz?!!!

YIKES!!!

[sisterdebmac]

David is very sexy. You picked a winner there, Neil! My only question is, how did Neil deal with this playing "himself" in the Harold & Kumar sequel. I mean, we're not exactly gonna buy him snorting coke off some stripper's boobs anmore, are we now?

[Ginzaman]

Is it true that there's a clause in Anderson Cooper's new CNN contract that says he can NEVER talk about his sexual orientation? I don't care if he's gay or not. But the idea that a global news network would actually put that into an employee's contract amazes me.

[NewRiver]

Why? If he's working for a news network, what does his private life have to do with anything?

Answer: It doesn't.

[brian]

I feel compelled to add "my 2 cents" as my son has to deal with the "my 2 dads" issue every day. Thanks, HypocrisyAlarm, for that eloquent summarizing statement!

My own coming out process was relatively easy compared to others: I came out while enjoying the support and counseling of my entire unit in a psych hospital, to my family I emerged in family therapy, I've never been attacked or threatened for my "gayness." But still I suffer from untold slings and arrows of persons I know surround me with misunderstanding, intolerance, and animosity towards me as a gay person. Yes, I am "out," but the coming out process never, ever, stops. And I am thrilled that the latest generation seems more tolerant, nay, indifferent to the spectrum of sexuality, however, those that set the social agendas and laws are still of a mind-set that is hostile to people of different orientations. To them, probably to my suburbanite peers, I am the anomaly: The man with a partner of 18 years, a son, a typical house, dealing with all the same issues as all of my neighbors in this typical little burg.

In light of the latest round of odd sexual behavior of those in power, I worry that it is now easier for people to decry "You see, gay people ARE freaks!" While those of us average, boring gay people continue to labor on silently with our families, houses, etc. I agree with HypocrisyAlarm's sentiment that we, as average, normal people, present a positive face for gay people, I worry that it is still too easy to compartmentalize all gay people as those just like Larry Craig. That I, indeed, am a freak because I don't fit THAT mold. And that makes me a "good" gay person.

As for my son, I feel confident that his true friends and his friends' parents will always make him feel welcome and loved, for we are a tight knit group and I well trust each and everyone of them. Him having just entered middle school, however, I worry. I worry.

[Naithom]

Brian, he has parents and friends who love him, so he's already ahead of the game.

[MikeDu]

I've got a right-wing evangelical relative who STILL condemns gays based on the bible. Funny how he's strangely silent about the next proscription dow on the list that prohibits banging his woman when she's on the rag.

[hootie1fan]

You ought to listen to my evangelical cousin talking about defending marriage and the traditional family from the gays who want equal legal rights to marriage. He should know. By the time he was 42 he had shacked up with his soon to be wife #4 while her divorce from husband #2 was wrapping up.

[BandsofBlack]

You might want to pass this on to your relatives.

It's entertaining and instructive at the same time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M33yi_2nn7M

[hootie1fan]

What are the righties going to do when the people finally figure out that not all gay men run around wearing nothing by assless chaps all day and not all lesbians wears mullets?

[Dehrenstein]

DOOGIE FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!

[foofighter]

Mr. Ehrenstein,

While I thank both you and Neil for being upfront about yours and our "lifestyles", I think maybe Doogie doesn't have the experience even if he was a teen-aged doctor.:-) (Though most anyone would be better than the present criminals in the White House and maybe Neil should be Surgeon-General instead of the nutcase Bush wants!)

[nick1936]

Senator Craig wished he had met Neil in the restroom instead of the cop

[barrycourage]

Hell with Craig.

Neil AND David. That's the ULTIMATE fantasy.

[HypocrisyAlarm]

Even today, the courage Neil Patrick Harris displays heartens me. For most gay people, coming out is a process, perhaps one or two close friends, then maybe trusted family members or open, non-judgmental co-workers. Over time, opening up to more and more people until reaching the state of "everyone knows." Neil, as a celebrity, takes an even greater risk. I stand and applaud him.

I'm reminded of a time in my coming out process. I worked in a neighborhood of working-class people with very strong attitudes about "men" and "women". I was on one occasion beaten up by one of my co-workers because, according to him, I was a "sissy". A while later, at the same job, when my orientation had become more widely known, I came to work and greeted another co-worker with my customary courtesies. He later told me that through that simple greeting he realized he could not hate a nice person because that person is gay.

That was thirty year ago. Yes, fewer people see homosexual as faceless perverts in need of instant attack and extermination, but plenty of hatred still exists. In the case of many christian extremists, that hatred has mutated into something so extreme and visceral as to be irrational. Many gay people, including me, have for years risked shunning, hatred, and physical abuse to let others see that most gay people have much in common with and little in contrast to straight people. It's hard to start hating someone you liked before you "knew".

My deep thanks to Neil, all my gay brothers and lesbian sisters, and all our loving, supportive friends, partners, and families for helping to spread love and understanding for ALL our neighbors worldwide and to share the wonderful humor, warmth, strength, love, and acceptance that the terrible, sometimes deadly tragic, adversities we've suffered have nourished in the gay and lesbian community.

[Northshoredude]

Thank you Hypocrisy Alarm for a wonderful, heartfelt post.

[BrokenMirror]

What an awesome post.

[barrycourage]

Here are some links to pictures of Neil and David.

They are a nice-looking couple.

All the best to them.

8 - )


http://www.hotmencentral.com/david_burtka/


http://broadwayworld.com/galleryphoto.cfm?photoid=26413&personid=2429


http://timmy.vox.com/library/photo/6a00c2251c8651604a00cdf7e5036d094f.html


http://www.insidesocal.com/outinhollywood/2007/02/neil_patrick_harris_and_david.html