Self-proclaimed 'gay icon of the universe' John Barrowman gets activism award

John Barrowman laughs it off when asked about his social media profiles that describe him as “Gay Icon of the Universe.”

He says it was done in jest. But, for many who look up to the openly gay, intercontinental, bi-dialectical and television cult favorite – it’s not a joke.

Barrowman is best known for his roles as Captain Jack Harkness on BBC’s “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood,” and as Malcolm Merlyn in CW’s “Arrow” and “Legends of Tomorrow.”

He has an MBE, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, from the Queen under his belt, for his service to charity and entertainment.

Now, the Palm Springs resident is being honored with the Visibility Award from the Human Rights Campaign for being unapologetic about who he is and what he stands for. He will receive the honor during the organization’s annual Garden Party on Saturday at a private Palm Springs celebrity residence. The event is typically held to coincide with Pride Week in Palm Springs.

“If anybody wants to give me an award because of me just being me, I’m absolutely chuffed at that. I think that’s amazing,” Barrowman said on Tuesday from Vancouver, where “Legends of Tomorrow” is filmed.

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“You know, very early on in my career I never really talked about my sexuality, which I didn’t think it was an issue. And I’ve never really treated it as an issue. I always said people have to accept me.  They don’t accept who I go to bed with if they don’t want to. But I don’t have to accept who they go to bed with. I may not like them, but it has nothing to do with their sexuality,” he said.

Barrowman said he won’t stand for anyone speaking ill of anyone within the LGBT community or beyond.

“I won’t have it. And if someone is saying their opinion, I always feel I have a right to say mine. If that offends that person, I don’t care,” he added.

Trevor Eade-Hill, co-chair of 2016 Garden Party, described Barrowman as a great ambassador for the LGBTQ community because of the way he lives his life, so open and honest.

“He’s out and proud and talks to the community at large about equality,” he said.

The Human Rights Campaign will also hand out two other awards during the garden party —  Brad White and Alexis Ortega will receive the Advocate for Equality awards for their service to the LGBTQ community in the desert.

Barrowman, 49, said he was nine-years-old when he knew he was gay. It was also the same year his family moved from Scotland, where he was born, to the United States.

He has dual citizenship and still maintains an accent, but said it only comes out when he speaks to his parents - who also live in Palm Springs - or when he is back in Scotland.

“When I was a kid, they bullied me for my accent and I knew I was going to be bullied for being gay … and I decided rather than be bullied for two things I was going to learn to speak like everybody else and so that’s why I did it. It’s a very conscious thing,” he said.

Though he knew he was gay as a young boy, Barrowman didn’t come out as gay to the public until later in life.

“I’m also of a generation when growing up there was fear in revealing who you are and in my autobiography that I wrote, called “Anything Goes,” there was a point in my life where I had to make a decision. Either I live my life secretively and in the closet and don’t tell anybody and I have one life that is a public life and one life that is a private life, or I just be honest and open about it,” recalled Barrowman.

Though he had already come out to his family and those in the industry knew he was gay, he never felt the need to come out until he became "more of a name."

It was when he was filming the short-lived "Central Park West" around 1995 and he was dating his now husband Scott Gill, whom he met in 1993.

“We were only able to call them our partners in those days …. And so I talked to him about it and I said ‘I can’t lie, I can’t live my life as a lie,’” said Barrowman.

He and Gill were legally married in California in July 2013 after the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of an appeal to overturn Proposition 8.

Barrowman is very passionate when it comes to the election and who gets to select the country’s next Supreme Court justices. The future of LGBTQ rights hinges on it, he said.

“Here we have a buffoon who is going to try to get into the White House and then he and his party … elect some supreme court justices who more than likely would take all of our rights away again,” he said about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

“I hope it doesn’t happen. Then there will be an extreme outcry from people because too many people have too many people in their lives who are LGBTQ and we all know now, it’s not a disease, it’s not a choice, it’s not an affliction, you can’t change it, we’re born this way and that’s it. And we have to make the laws and rules to accommodate everybody and that’s gonna be Democratic Supreme Court Justice choices, not Republican,” he said.

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In addition to being a seasoned West End and Broadway actor and singer, Barrowman is proud of his role of Captain Jack Harkness, an omni-sexual time traveler whom, he says, was groundbreaking for TV.

“In fact the character of Captain Jack Harkness was one that changed the face of television in the UK because here was a character that didn’t care what people thought about his sexuality played by an openly gay man who didn’t care what people thought about his sexuality,” Barrowman explained.

That character was first unveiled on “Doctor Who,” a noted family show, but then he got his own spin-off in “Torchwood.”

“When I say “gay icon of the universe” … it’s very tongue in cheek, but I kind of mean it deep down,” he said.

IF YOU GO:

The Human Rights Campaign will hold its annual Garden Party from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday at a private Palm Springs residence. John Barrowman will receive the Visibility Award while Brad White and Alexis Ortega are honored with the Advocate for Equality awards.

Tickets start at $75.  To purchase or for more information go to www.HRCPalmSprings.org.