Prison Break Star, Michael Scofield Confirms He Is A Gay.
The Prison Break star decided it was time to publicly reveal
his sexuality after being invited to attend a film festival in Russia.
"Thank you for your kind invitation.As someone who has enjoyed visiting
Russia in the past and can also claim a degree of Russian ancestry, it would
make me happy to say yes," Wentworth, 41, says in a letter to Maria
Averbakh, director of the St. Petersburg International Film Festival.
"However, as a gay man, I must decline. "I am
deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and
women by the Russian government," he continued in the letter, posted on
GLAAD's website. "The situation is in no way acceptable, and I cannot in
good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where
people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live
and love openly.
He also said "if circumstances improve, I'll be free to
make a different choice." GLAAD spokesman Wilson Cruz praised Miller's
actions. "Wentworth's bold show of support sends a powerful message to
LGBT Russians: you are not alone," Cruz said. "As people from across
the globe continue to speak out against this horrific law, more celebrities and
corporations should follow his courageous lead in openly condemning Russia's
anti-LGBT law." Implemented last month, a controversial new law has banned
"propaganda of nontraditional intimate relations around minors,"
including the public discussion of gay rights and relationships anywhere
children might hear it.
The law has been condemned by Russian and international
human rights groups as highly discriminatory. The anti-gay propaganda law
quickly stirred up controversy, with people calling for a boycott of the 2014
Winter Olympics in Russia to gay bars in Los Angeles and New York holding
"vodka-dumping" protests.
