Andrew Garfield’s sexuality is, in a word, confusing. The actor has taken on numerous LGBTQ roles in the past, from portraying a transgender woman in the music video for Arcade Fire’s “We Exist” to playing Prior Walter in the AIDS-era play Angels in America.
He’s also been a staunch LGBTQ ally – he even dedicated his 2018 Tony Award to the community and spoke up about wanting more LGBTQ representation in superhero films like The Amazing Spider-Man.
But being a straight ally and identifying as a member of the LGBTQ community are two different things. So, in which camp does Garfield belong?
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“Gay Without The Physical Act”
Garfield came under fire in 2017 when, in promoting the London National Theatre’s production of Tony Kushner’s acclaimed Angels in America, he said watching RuPaul’s Drag Race was his “life outside of the play” and described himself as “a gay man right now just without the physical act – that’s all”.
“As far as I know, I am not a gay man,” he added. “Maybe I’ll have an awakening later in my life, which I’m sure will be wonderful and I’ll get to explore that part of the garden, but right now I’m secluded to my area, which is wonderful as well.”
The backlash from the community was swift, with some accusing Garfield of oversimplifying the LGBTQ experience and others calling his statement another clear example of queerbaiting.
He was also criticized for being a straight (or at least physically straight, following Garfield’s line of thinking) man playing a gay role – something that has been a strong point of contention for LGBTQ advocates, given that LGBTQ actors tend to be overlooked for both straight and queer roles.
To Garfield’s credit, he did clarify his statement later on, saying that what he meant to say was that, in deep respect for the community, he intended to “dive in as fully as I possibly can” in the role.
Did Andrew Garfield Come Out As Sexually Fluid?
While Garfield may not identify as gay right now, he told OUT magazine in a 2018 interview that he’s open to the idea of his sexuality being fluid.
“My stance toward life, though, is that I always try to surrender to the mystery of not being in charge,” he said. “I have an openness to any impulses that may arise within me at any time.”
However, he later clarified that if he had to label his identity at the moment, he’d identify as straight.
What Does Andrew Garfield Think About Straight Actors In LGBTQ Roles?
While promoting Lin-Manuel Miranda’s film adaptation of Tick, Tick… Boom!, an autobiographical musical about the life and tragic death of Rent creator Jonathan Larson, Garfield was once again asked in an interview about his views on reserving LGBTQ roles for queer actors.
In response, Garfield said, “If we only allow people to be cast exactly as who they are, it’ll be the death of empathic imagination.”
“I think it’s two different conversations getting conflated,” said Garfield. “One is about equality of opportunity, and I’m completely in on that. Because we should want a world in which, no matter your sexual orientation, your color, or your heritage, everyone gets a fair whack.”
“The two separate conversations have to happen simultaneously. Because I’m not willing to support the death of empathic imagination. It’s what we need most as a culture, and it’s beautiful. It’s the only thing that’s going to save us right now,” he added.
So, Is Andrew Garfield Gay?
Andrew Garfield is definitely, probably straight…right now, at least. He may identify as sexually fluid – or at least be open to the idea of fluidity – but, as it stands, Garfield identifies as heterosexual. But whether his stance on straight actors taking LGBTQ roles is problematic is a question – albeit a far more complicated one – for another time.
RELATED: A brief history of Andrew Garfield’s LGBTQ allyship…including a few stumbles
southernway
Who cares? He’s an actor and that’s what he does for a living. Speculation on his sexual proclivities is nothing more than not having enough to do in your own lives which means get a life and leave his alone. With all that is going on in the world, Garfield’s dick placement should be the least of our worries.
redzebra1
They do the same with Harry Styles lately. It’s obscene
Paris in Santiago
I don’t like this kind of media speculation. It puts incredible stress on people, and its no one’s business but their own. Unless the person comes out themselves on their volition, I don’t care. I don’t begrudge them.
There are many performers in the entertainment industry who remain closeted. In time, that may change. Know that many of them work behind the scenes on causes. I’m just glad they’re in the industry to effect change from within.
dbmcvey
These guys feed the media speculation. It’s part of their mystique.
Donston
It’d be nice for people to stop reducing “sexuality” to sexual behaviors and dick placement. It’s condescending as hell.
Y’all have already done this type of speculative article about Garfield a couple times. Let it go. It’s been apparent that you guys are purposely avoiding actual closeted performers while highlighting folks that most people believe to be “straight” or at least overall hetero-leaning. You think it’s “safer” to gossip about the latter as opposed to folks many people know are queer/in gay relationships. You think you’re “protecting” actual closeted performers. But it just leads to empty, redundant articles like this. You want to be a messy, gossip-y site without actually committing. So, it just comes off corny.
At least half of these actors probably have queer dimensions/are somewhere in the gender, sexual, affection, romantic, emotion, commitment spectrum. I will say there’s no doubt that being a cute, likable, “straight” passing, “straight”/hetero-leaning presenting actor has given Garfield a lot of privilege. It has allowed him to get a bevy of big “straight” roles while being seen as “edgy” for taking on gay roles and getting acclaim and cache for it. I don’t resent him for it, but it’s privilege nonetheless.
GlobeTrotter
OMG, just give it a rest already! If an actor plays too many gay roles then you want him to be gay. If he plays too many straight roles then he needs to be cancelled. Maybe it’s your own needs and expectations that are the problem, and not Andrew Garfield. Just let the poor guy live his life in peace! Whom he goes to bed with is NONE of our business! Get your own life in order and stop looking for external validation!
This absurd obsession with race, sexuality and gender driven by many elements from the left is exactly what is dividing and has divided society, which has accomplished exactly the opposite of what Martin Luther King meant when he demanded that we “judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character”.
Jeffrey
Orientation is far more than “whom he goes to bed with.” Please stop with the reductive behavior.
MLK said that he had a dream that “one day” that would happen. It was quite clear then as now that we’re nowhere near that dream. The attacks by the right, calling us “groomers” and introducing over 300 pieces of antigay legislation are what is dividing us. Blaming the left is asinine.
Donston
Jeffrey, people still like to use that basic, dated “who cares who someone sleeps with” phrase in order to justify being closeted or to shame people for “coming out”. It’s an old-fashioned, reductive and probably “problematic” perspective, which is a reminder that many commenters here are higher on the age demographic and/or are hardly progressive in their politics. Sex, sexuality, lifestyle, being “out”, identity, love, sexual politics, sociology, the gender, sexual, affection, romantic, emotion, commitment spectrum- these things have way more going on than who someone is sleeping with. And people who reduce all those things to sexual acts usually don’t have much to add to any real or nuanced queer discussion, sometimes nothing to add to any discussion.
It seems like Queerty is trying to shame Garfield for taking on all these queer roles, getting awards for them but being “straight presenting” and still getting big “straight” roles. But instead of actually writing an interesting article about his privilege, they decide to put out some basic and click-bait nonsense… again. They need to get off Garfield’s dick if they’re not contributing anything.
bachy
The mania to induce people to “confess” and wear a label brings to mind Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. It’s a form of Puritanism masquerading as “liberation.”
dbmcvey
I don’t know that anyone has pressured him into making these comments. He’s been putting out this vibe for a long time, no one is forcing him.
dbmcvey
I suspect he’s a bit of a tease.
Texasholdem
He kissed Ryan Reynolds on the mouth at an awards show. A bit?
johncp56
Have not read yet I,m just hoping he is a flaming gay, as his smile and sweet tude, on talk shows heis lovely,
still_onthemark
Hey Queerty Editors, why don’t you just ask him? Afraid he’ll tell you to “sod off”?
Alex_S
Do we really need to know? And if so – why?
Boybussy
Didn’t he do a gay kiss at an award show one time??
Albie
Wow, a whole article about the possibility of the possibility of a possibility. Who cares? Leave the man alone and let him do what he does best, spurn the fantasies of a grateful nation.
southernway
Absolutely Agree and I think some on this comment line like to project on others much like the article or even transfer their issues on to others. Nothing like overthinking someone else’s sex or sexuality much less preferences.
Paulie P
but is he hung?
dbmcvey
All the people complaining that this is unfair of the media and so on, Andrew Garfield has pushed this narrative himself. He’s not running away from this speculation. He’s using this as part of his persona. Harry Styles does the same thing. The media isn’t going after this out of nowhere.
Manrico Jimenez
I don’t see any red flags with Andrew as I do with Sean Mendez.
PolishBear
Who the hell cares whether Andrew Garfield is Gay or not? In 2022 it should be utterly inconsequential. Why is this such tabloid fodder for you?
Steve
I’ve now written pages of thoughts on this issue, and there are only a few useful things I can say.
This issue is not as simple as it’s being made to be.
I’ll be honest, I’ve thirsted for Andrew Garfield since his small but consequential role in LIon for Lambs.
There is no reason for me to worry nor wonder if he is gay or not as long as he doesn’t mind if gay people have crushes on him. I get no impression he minds, and since he and I, gay or not, have no future, my heart isn’t broken nor will he ever know of my crush either way.
Fundamentally, I believe that speculation is wrong. I have been the victim of speculation my whole life because I didn’t come out to anyone until I was over 40, and I’m still not out-out mostly due to fear of losing my job. So, I totally understand and relate to why people don’t want to or cannot come out.
Speculation hurts everyone. Gay people as well as straight. It’s also not necessary.
Do I feel better at my present age, because I now know there are loads of gay people which didn’t seem to be the case when I was 13 and thought I was the only one on the planet? Yes. I am very grateful for all of the people who have brave enough or lucky enough to be able to come out. But, I also have tremendous heartache for everyone who has had to come out who didn’t want to, wasn’t ready, was forced, or speculated about leading to all sorts of potential problems. I don’t know what good the speculation does. And I feel sad that we live in a world where the only way to feel good about ourselves is to know we are not alone and the only way to get that feeling is some people have to make a potentially very terrifying journey not everyone is ready to take. As much as I can see that the world, in many, many ways, is better now for gay people than it was when I was 13, it is still not even close to being ‘there’. There are still far, far, far too many anti-people. And not just anti-people but anti-people working actively to make the lives of gay people as terrifying as ever. That is something everyone needs to face, and speculating only fuels that terror. Do, I take a gay role and face speculation? Do I have to date opposite gender people I don’t like to decrease speculation? Do I have to tell anti-gay jokes to ensure no one will guess the truth? Do I have to come out in order to be safe from speculation while simultaneously falling into a different set of terrors? The act of speculation is toxic. Let people be who they are and come out to whomever they choose to come out to. You don’t have to come out just because you are any sort of celebrity — but please know when you do, you do help millions of people feel less alone and that is worth more than gold, but please don’t feel pressure to do it just because of that. Everyone deserves to live their own life journey free of speculation. If all of the hate in the world were replaced by love, there wouldn’t need to be so much of any of this. Unfortunately, for some reason there are haters.