Paige remembers that when he arrived in Los Angeles five years ago, people told him, "Don't think that just because it's 1997 you can come out of the closet. I was told this by actors, agents, managers, gay people. But I'm a bad liar. My acting is based on emotional truth."

Honesty and celebrity have put Cho and Paige in the position of being role models, whether they like it or not.

C [to Paige]: You may not be in it to be a role model, but guess what - you are. That's not something that you call yourself. It's something that's been bestowed upon you.

P: I love that you said being a role model doesn't have to be what you were taught when you were young. That being a bad ass can be a role model too.

C: It's being a role model for smart people.

P: I don't think that as a performer you set out to be a role model. If you' re really setting out to do that, you become an activist or a politician. Lots of incredible people took out their machetes and carved out the way for us. Ellen, obviously. Martina, big-time.

C: The guy in The Boys in the Band who says, "What I am is a 32 year old, ugly..."

C and P: "Pockmarked Jew fairy..."

C: "If it takes me a little bit longer to get ready to pull myself together..." something like that.

P: I can't watch that movie. The self-loathing inherent in it makes me sick. It's so toxic.

C: It is, but I love it because it's that broiling hot Sunday afternoon party that we're all dreading, but we all go. And we're all mean and high - and I'm always the only girl. I've had so many Sundays exactly like that. I love it because for me,