The Golden Globes this Sunday awarded Darren Criss Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. He won this award for playing Andrew Cunanan, a serial killer, in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.” Cunanan also happened to be a gay man.

In late December, Criss announced he would not be playing any more gay characters because he doesn’t want to be “another straight boy taking a gay man’s role.”

Criss has made his career off of playing gay men, from his first major role as Blaine Anderson in “Glee,” to his time on Broadway as Hedwig in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” to winning an award for his role in “American Crime Story.”

Criss isn’t the only straight man to benefit from taking gay or queer roles: Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger were both nominated for Academy Awards for their performances in “Brokeback Mountain,” James Franco has played several gay characters and called himself “gay in his art, straight in his life” and many actors, including Eddie Redmayne who was nominated for several awards for his role as a trans woman in “The Danish Girl.”  

I think it’s admirable for Criss to step away from those roles because there are relatively few roles for gay men and even fewer compelling ones. Many people are applauding him for his choice and they’re right to do that.

However, I don’t think this should become the norm for actors in Hollywood. There are arguments that only gay people should be in gay roles, and I don’t agree with this. I think there is an authenticity and a depth that can be brought to these roles when they are played by actual queer people, but barring straight people from these roles will bring about problems.

Unlike race, which is something not easily hidden, many people with a sexuality other than straight in Hollywood choose to keep hidden for a multitude of reasons. Creating a Hollywood where actors must out themselves to get roles is a dangerous thing. There are many more queer people in Hollywood, and in life, than we know and they shouldn’t be pressured to come out.

The queer people in the spotlight, whether it be actors, writers, directors or artists, who do choose to come out should be celebrated. If you want to support queer creators, a much more beneficial use of time and money would be watch and buy things from queer people who are making queer content than forcing people in the closet to come out for parts. We should that people with one experience can write about people with different experiences and that content is made by much more than one person.

You can demand good representation, but make sure you’re respecting the people making it as well.