Jay Brannan Auditioning For ATWT

Jay Brannan is a singer-songwriter based in New York who has also done some acting gigs. You might remember him from the movie, Shortbus.

According to his latest Twitter update, he is "At an audition for...as the world turns!!" today.

He is an out gay man, which would be unusual for soaps.

In a recent blog post on his website, Brannan made the following comments about being referred to as a "gay" singer-songwriter or doing gay-themed events:

it's 2009. i think it's time that everyone, the "gay community" included, allow gay people to take their place in the world as real people, rather than continuing to be defined and separated by their sexual orientation. i want the freedom to be myself, unafraid and uncensored, without having to market myself based on a sexual orientation, or attaching that sexual orientation to my name as a title.

in recent years, an entire industry has developed around "being gay" -- gay magazines, gay tv channels, gay movies, gay pride festivals, gay radio stations, gay record labels. and in my opinion, most of these entities are built around cheesy, outdated and cliché ideas of what it means to be "gay," what gay people want, what is "sexy," or what sells.

i have turned down thousands of dollars that i could have made by exploiting my sexual orientation and building a career in the gay industry and in gay media. because i want to be a musician and an actor and a regular person...on the same playing field as everyone else. i'm not interested in being a professional gay, and i refuse to make my entire life and career about that. i'm not that interested in playing at gay bars or gay pride festivals, or doing "gay singer/songwriter" programs (though i have done these things, and may again if i feel good reason to). i dealt with my sexual orientation when i was a teenager, and frankly i'm sick of talking about it. i don't want my album or the films i'm in to be in the "gay section" of a music or video store. i think having a gay section at the video store is the same as asking black people to drink from a different water fountain, or to sit at the back of the bus. why can't films with gay characters be classified with all the other films...as dramas, or comedies, or horror? "gay" shouldn't BE a genre.

i understand why gay people of a certain generation still have this obsession with their sexual orientation, and maintain this sort of "us against them" mentality. they weren't allowed to be gay for most of their lives, so they are still really excited about it, and feel that they need a community of other gay people for support.

What role is he trying out for? ATWT is casting for "Harrison" which might be a good fit. Stay tuned.