“I don’t care if people think I’m gay. I know I’m not, so it doesn’t bother me.”

I started with ballet and then my cousin Sarah introduced me to her tap teachers.

The process of rehearsal means you learn so much and really get the chance to develop your work on a character.

People do more important jobs than acting in film that should be recognised, but for some reason it’s big money, so people are elevated in status. If I was a bus driver, I’m sure you wouldn’t be interviewing me.

If I could have anyone on speed dial it would be George Clooney. He seems like a cool guy who would give good advice.

The most famous person in my phone is Lindsay Lohan. We starred in ‘Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen’ together in 2004 and we’ve stayed in touch.

This form of dancing can’t be dated, it’s such an intriguing form of dance because the feet are also an an instrument.

I started tapping and I was okay. Then after about two years my feet knew what they were doing!

They think my life is glamourous. It’s not true. I obviously get to come in and do radio interviews. That’s the glamour. But other than that, I eat and sleep and that’s it. Eat, sleep and do shows.

I think ‘Tap Dogs’ has lasted so long because people have a natural interest in tap dancing.

At 15 I auditioned for 42nd Street in Australia. Dein Perry was in that show. I actually got the job but I couldn’t do it because I was only 15. Legally I needed to have another 15-year-old to cover consecutive nights.

During ‘Saturday Night Fever’ at the end of the first act dance number I tried to perform a split-jump

You eventually get used to looking at girls picking their leotards out of their bums and that sort of stuff.

I love travelling, and had the pleasure of being in the most developed country in the world and then parts of two of the most pristine natural areas of the world: the Galapagos islands and the Equador Amazon jungle.

My favorite thing to do is to wind those guys up by hitting on their girlfriends. I say, ‘I think your girlfriend’s gorgeous, but it’s all right, I’m gay.’ They get very nervous after a few minutes!

I do like to keep mementos from my work, whether they be photos, the backs of make-up chairs or even props and clothes.

It’s always fun teasing the person. When they ask if I’m gay, I say, ‘Oh, I don’t know.

I am very proud of the role I played in getting legal equality for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and in helping get rid of the prejudice by being visible about it, helping to block the conviction of Bill Clinton of impeachment.

Scouts should be progressive and should be adapting. If you’re gay or not it’s irrelevant, Scouting values respect.

Every gay who is in the closet is ultimately a threat to the freedom of gays.

I had always been interested in politics. I had assumed – for two reasons, being Jewish and being gay back in the late ’50s, early ’60s – that I would never be elected or anything, but I would participate as an activist.

if you search the bible, you will find no reference to birth control or gay marriage, and you will not find a word, strangely, about stem cell research. I have searched.

I know that there are people who are secularists who have problems with the rights of gay people and problems with reproductive choice, but frankly those people are few in number.

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Twenty-five, 30 years ago, the barometer of human rights in the United States were black people. That is no longer true. The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian.