Sir Ian McKellen in 2000 responding to the backlash against casting a gay activist like himself as Gandalf.

Following the announcement that Ian McKellen was cast as Gandalf in Peter Jackson's LotR trilogy, some angry fans criticized the decision on the basis of his sexuality and activism.

One of his fans emailed him about this backlash and suggested that those homophobic comments be censored. Ian McKellen wrote back:

No, let the bigots be heard then they can be answered.

And answer he did. He posted the following response on his website:

"A Gay Gandalf"

Homophobia is Everywhere

When gay activists refer to a widespread disaffection or fear of homosexuals and call it "homophobia," our opponents are sceptical. Some, with cloying declarations of "hating the sin and loving the sinner," may even deny its existence altogether. Time and again they are proved wrong.

For instance, whenever a modest legal change is proposed to ease the disadvantages gays and lesbians endure under the law, the homophobes always react strongly. This never surprises me but straight people can be puzzled by its ferocity. Remember President Clinton's bold promise to lift the ban on homosexuals serving in the military? Gays knew it wouldn't be easy. He underestimated the united and irrational fear of those who said queers would undermine the stability of America's armed forces. And he had to withdraw bewildered under their fire.

Meanwhile, now that the United Kingdom government has obeyed the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (last week) only Turkey and the USA in NATO forbid their openly gay citizens from fighting for their countries.

My point is that Clinton was not defeated by the reasoned arguments of political opponents but was a victim of the same homophobia which imprisoned Oscar Wilde and which killed Matthew Sheppard.

So, taking a less momentous example, it was unsurprising that an uncensored Internet should recently criticise my casting as Gandalf in homophobic terms. Cranky anti-gay remarks in chat rooms remind me of verbal abuse in the playground - not that that didn't hurt too. Many unthinking people just don't like the idea of gays joining in their games, nor in the military and, it would seem, in the movies.

 — Ian McKellen, January 2000

As you can see, he was blunt, and he was political. He did not remain silent and he did not mince his words. Ever since he came out publicly in 1988, he had been one of the most vocal activists for LGBTQ rights, and publicly supported other causes relating to AIDS, nuclear weapons, capital punishment, atheist rights (he's an atheist), and more.

He has a whole section of his website devoted to activism and he has written quite a bit on the topic over the years. The full list of these writings and speeches (including some that were written about him) is here. Below is a list of the titles and topics:

1979: Acting Together (actor rights)

1979: The Most Unkindest Cut of All (actor rights)

1988: Ian McKellen, trainee-activist(gay rights and activism)

1988: Section 28 (speech on gay rights)

1989: What the Glorious Rose Has Given You (protecting the Rose Theatre)

1989: A Shade of Pink at the Rose (protecting the Rose Theatre)

1990: Out With Your Lies (gay rights)

1990: This Age of Discrimination (gay rights)

1991: Closet Homophobes (gay rights)

1992: Outing Old Stage Frights (gay rights)

1993: Through a Gay Viewfinder (gay rights)

1993: No Reason to Treat Us Differently (gay rights)

1993: On the Anniversary of Oscar Wilde's Arrest (gay rights)

1994: It is a Question of Human Rights, Not Numbers (gay rights)

1994: Gay Games IV (gay rights)

1995: Michael Barrymore Comes Out (gay rights)

1995: Foreword to "Gay Letters" (gay rights)

1996: Before, Now and In Between (gay rights)

1999: Coming Out For the Count (gay rights)

2000: A Gay Gandalf (gay rights)

2003: I Wish You'd Been There (gay rights)

2008: Stonewall Equality Dinner Keynote (gay rights)

2008: The Hobart Shakespeareans (fund raise for a elementary school Shakespeare class)

2009: Growing up Gay (gay rights)

2010: Belarus Free Theatre (supporting human rights and pro-democracy activists)

2012: What's Wrong With Us? (marriage equality)

2012: Message to the Prime Minister of New Zealand (gay rights)

2013: Margaret Thatcher and the Unions (unions and actor rights)

And of course, we all know he has supported LGBTQ rights and other causes far beyond the writings, speeches, interviews, and celebrity appearances.

He came out as gay publicly while fighting an anti-gay legislation; he founded political lobby groups such as Stonewall to push for LGBTQ legislations; he even personally lobbied politicians.

One epic story about his lobbying is that

when he visited Michael Howard, then Environment Secretary (responsible for local government), in 1988 to lobby against Section 28, Howard refused to change his position but did ask him to leave an autograph for his children. McKellen agreed, but wrote, "Fuck off, I'm gay".

Later he also commented that

I have many regrets about not having come out earlier, but one of them might be that I didn't engage myself in the politicking.

Sir Ian Mckellen is not only unabashedly gay, but also unabashedly vocal, active, and political.

From his experience, we can see a lot of parallels to what we see these days. Being an activist is not incompatible with being an actor, and being political is not shameful and should not be stigmatized or avoided. It is an actor's right and choice. It's nothing new and it's not some recent invention of "woke politics". People have voices and they want to be heard. It's one of the most ancient and basic human need, and one of the fundamental purposes and motivations of literature, film, and arts in general.

Many people these days conflate acting, writing, and marketing. Actors are not responsible for potentially political topics in the scripts or how various people might interpret their story politically. We need to treat characters as characters and treat actors as humans. Critique their acting all you want, but shaming and bullying actors (examples 1 2 3) for being who they are, being proud of who they are, and being activists for those less visible are not ok.