Salon: Supporting Roles

"I went to an all-boy's Catholic school in the Philippines. Every year we put on a Christmas pageant and every aspiring actor longed to be cast in the Nativity scene. In seventh grade, I desperately wanted to play the role of Mary. But as usual the part went to my arch-nemesis Lito.
"In every production with a female character, the teachers always cast the most effeminate boy with light skin. And that was Lito. He played Alice in 'Alice in Wonderland'; I played the plant. In the Hungarian fairy tale production, he played the princess and I played the tambourine while he danced. I had a theory: Teachers chose him over me because he was in the closet. Those of us who were out were relegated to supporting roles..."

A sweet piece by Roy Cruz on Salon - 'A Gay Boy Discovers His Inner Faye Dunaway'