Interview with ER's Laura Innes

AE: You've said you didn't realize, until you were on the producing end of the show, how much was at stake in putting together this kind of a story. Do you think that's still the case today?
LI: Oh, I certainly do. I don't think you're going to see the characters on Grey's Anatomy come out as gay. I wouldn't be surprised if they brought on a new character who was gay. It's about time for that, I would think. That's a show that does a lot of interesting things, but I don't think they're going to have any of those characters come out.

AE: So you think there's a difference between having a new character who's already gay versus an established character come out?
LI: I do think [that]. In a way, with Weaver it was less risky because Weaver was — people had such mixed feelings about Weaver. She wasn't America 's sweetheart by any stretch, so in a way there was room for that. But I don't think that you would see … a mainstream show … where they establish these characters that are romantic leads and have them realize they're gay or come out. I just don't think that would happen. I think it should happen, because it happens in life and it's dramatically interesting, but that's a big risk to take, you know?

AE: And that risk, you think, is financial and related to ratings?
LI: Oh, I would imagine. I would imagine. I think ER was such a strong show, and I don't think it had any effect on the ratings. In fact, it may have improved our ratings because all the sudden there were a group of people who were more interested in the show than were before. I think there was some positive effect to the ratings, and that's something that I think the industry can pay more attention to.

And certainly that's now all over the place, the positive effect of having gay and lesbian characters on television. But I think for a mainstream show that's a hit show where there's established characters — to have one of the characters come out as gay or realize they're gay — it feels to me almost like if you have someone you know in your life, like your child or your cousin, and all the sudden they say, "Hey, you know what? I'm gay." There's a feeling of "Oh my gosh, I sort of thought I knew you, and now I don't." And I think for people there's a bit of a transition in trying to understand that person now and accept them.

AE: I felt like the producers of ER gave Kerry Weaver equal time with the straight characters in terms of the amount of physical affection she was allowed to show. Were there ever any hesitations about going down that road?
LI: I don't think there were hesitations. I was happy with the fact that there was no hesitancy in showing us kiss or, you know, there was a couple of times when I was in bed with my girlfriends and stuff. I think if there was any hesitancy, it probably had more to do with my age [laughs] than my being a lesbian. I don't know that there are a lot of shows where you see women in their 40s really getting down too much. So I think they did a pretty good job in that area. ER's not a show that's particularly into sex scenes anyway.

It's funny because in one of the more recent episodes with the character of the news producer who becomes my girlfriend, there was a pretty big kiss between us. And it'd been so long since I kissed one of my girlfriends on the show, it's like, "Oh wow, I've got to make sure I bring my breath mints to work today."

And I didn't think anything about it, you know, we did the scene and we kissed and great, it all worked out. But the next day I had people commenting on it, like at my daughter's school [someone said], "Wow, we saw you kissing that woman on TV!" You kind of forget that for some people — and I think probably more than we'd like to imagine — it's still a biggish deal. Like it's something that sort of … gives them pause. Even nice, liberal people. And I kind of forget about that, you know.

A clip of Kerry and Courtney's kiss

AE: Well, you must have gotten a lot of varied reactions over the years from both lesbian and straight viewers. How have they changed over time?
LI: I think like anything, people just get used to something. Like at first … I guess that the overall reaction that I got from people that were straight — I mean, strangers, people I didn't know — was "Oh, she's not really gay." You know … like it was going to be some little exploit of hers that she'd wake up and find the right guy.

And that, to me, was pretty telling, 'cause I would imagine that's probably what people go through in their real life when they come out: that someone says, "Well, maybe this is just a sort of phase you're going through." I wouldn't say that — to my face, anyway, or in letters that I got — people were very hateful or anything. But there was that … ambivalence and kind of wishing that I wouldn't do that sort of feeling, which was almost worse, you know? It's sort of like, oh God, do you really care? Is that really affecting your opinion of me? That felt very personal, just 'cause it's a more subtle kind of distinction.

But I certainly received a ton of letters myself and … people coming up and talking to me — in L.A. and when I'm in other parts of the country — of a lot of support and enthusiasm. I got a ton of letters from people who would say, "You gave me the courage to come out," and I was like, "Oh God, I hope that works out for you." [Laughs.] It sort of feels like a lot of responsibility, but on the other hand, I felt good about that.