Strickland, who currently headlines director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell’s Las Vegas burlesque Peepshow and appears on the E! reality series “Holly’s World,” said about dealing with being gay in the media spotlight, “I think the reason I never talked about it before is because I was playing Tarzan, one of the most masculine characters on Broadway. I never really hid it, but I was never asked about that in interviews because I guess most people just wanted to talk about me playing that iconic character. But recently, and especially now, I’m not going to hide any of that. I think it’s really important to be who I am and true to myself.”

Strickland said Disney did not attempt to keep him in the closet during his Tarzan days. He called the show’s producers “one of the best companies to work for, and I never had any complaints. What they did for me was put me in a class for media training. They gave me talking points about the show, but they didn’t tell me what I couldn’t talk about. I was never held back from being who I am.”

Strickland says he was aware of chat-room rumors about his sexuality during his Broadway run, but tried to avoid reading the posts and blogs. In the end, he said, “I was really tired of people making up their own answers. I’d rather just put it to rest and be myself. Nowadays it really doesn’t even matter. You see people coming out all the time, and it makes them stronger and happier. … It makes my life so much happier. I have no regrets about anything.”

Thomas Peter