There once was a time, not so long ago, when the great romancers of the silver screen, such as Rock Hudson and Cary Grant, would have done anything to keep their true sexuality hidden.

But that is changing -- today, artists such as k.d. lang, Elton John and Sandra Bernhard are not afraid to come out of the closet and lead the way for other artists to follow.

"There's always been queers in entertainment and maybe now people are more comfortable saying it," said Donna Dresch, a self-proclaimed "queer punk rocker."

Jeff Yarbrough, editor in chief of The Advocate, a national gay magazine, said he believes the coming-out trend is a general one and is not limited to just the entertainment world.

"We have people coming out all over the board -- it's just in entertainment where it's more visible," Yarbrough said.

Whether it is the gay character Matt on "Melrose Place" or the leading man in Philadelphia, gay and lesbian roles are now becoming more apparent in film and television.

But both Yarbrough and Judy Levinson, a Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance social/educational co-director, said those depictions are not true-to-life.

"Gay characters are constantly treated like crap," Levinson (senior-political science) said, adding that most characters are depicted as effeminate gay men or "butch" lesbians.

"Gay characters are never heroes, even though we are in real life," Levinson said. "We need to get better roles and more of the heroes."

Gay men and lesbians are often accused of flaunting their sexuality, Levinson added.

"People often look at us and say we're putting our sexuality into our work," she said. "Queers are in every walk of life -- we're all over the place and people need to get used to it."

Part of the blame for the depiction of stereotypes falls on the straight writers who can't grasp the concept of gay life, Levinson said.

"Stereotypes are going to exist until we can shatter them with our own cable-access show," she said.

Recently, films such as Philadelphia and HBO's And The Band Played On have made a dent in dispelling false images of gay men and lesbians by presenting their characters more accurately, said Tony D'Augelli, professor of human development.

"This is certainly a step in the right direction . . .," D'Augelli said. "Especially since most of the images are positive instead of stereotypical ones."

Physical acts of homosexuality are also becoming more prevalent with the increase of gay and lesbian characters. The barrier of the first on-screen gay male kiss was overcome last month when PBS aired the mini-series Tales of the City, which was based on the book of the same name by Armistead Maupin, Yarbrough said.

"That boundary is now broken and I think we'll see more of that," he said.

Locally, WPSX-TV aired an edited version of Tales of the City. Kathleen Pavelko, director of broadcasting and production, said that version was shown by mistake, but the uncut version will be used in later broadcasts.

Some gay and lesbian musicians have found the punk rock scene a hospitable arena to showcase their talents.

While gay men and lesbians have always been part of the industry, it is only recently that people have been vocal about it, said Dresch, a Pacific Northwest musician.

"We're not going to attain world domination," Dresch said about her band. "But it's good to make your mark."

Dresch, formerly of 5th Column, said she and another member of the band were once attacked after a performance. But because they want to push the limits of what type of people will accept them, the band members decided not to let the attack affect them.

"It was kind of weird being our first show -- but we're going to do it anyway," Dresch said.

Kaia Wilson, formerly of the band Addicted and now in a still-untitled band with Dresch, said her music can provide an example for the younger generation.

"It was really hard being queer in high school having no role models," Wilson said. "If people saw my band as a role model or at least as an inspiration . . . it could inspire people to do something to express themselves."

Wilson writes songs about anything she wants -- she mentioned a recent tune she wrote about the Lorena Bobbitt case.

"Usually I don't even think about what I'm writing," she said. "I don't have any limits -- I sing about girls and . . . things that happen."

Also hoping to do some good by coming out, former Junction singer Vanessa Downing (senior-sociology) addresses gay issues. The State College performer -- now a drummer for the band Samuel -- deals with lesbianism in one of her works because it was important to her when she wrote the song.

"I was still dealing with coming out and confronting the reality that homophobia was a real issue," Downing said. "It was something I felt strongly about."

"People cling to the stereotypes they have," added Downing, who, like Wilson and Dresch, was a victim of gay-bashing several years ago. "I thought that just by coming out and being open helped break some of the stereotypes. It opened a lot of people's eyes."

In the past, gay men and lesbians would relate to non-gender-specific songs because they could be applied to a lover of either sex, Yarbrough said.

But Matt Wobensmith, creator of the all-gay record label Outpunk Records and a fanzine of the same name that promotes gay acts and outs gay bands, said he wants to produce songs gay people can relate to, not songs about heterosexual relationships.

"I just hope that I'm reaching people that aren't normally exposed to this kind of thing," Wobensmith said. "It's about time we made music that makes sense to us."

As Time-Warner has sent a prototype magazine into production aimed specifically at the gay community, gay men and lesbians are receiving more recognition as consumers.

In addition to the efforts of Time-Warner and The Advocate, several other gay lifestyle magazines -- including Genre, 10 Percent and Out -- have hit the newsstands, addressing a need for a gay Vanity Fair-type publication, Yarbrough said.

"It's nice that there's other titles -- I don't like the idea of being a lone horse," he said. "I would hope we're a community that can read more than one magazine a month."

The Advocate, the oldest gay magazine with 27 years of circulation, is where stars such as k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge have come out about their orientation, Yarbrough said. Other entertainment figures have also talked about past gay experiences in the magazine, including Roseanne Arnold and Playboy mogul Hugh Heffner.

Having celebrities in the magazine lends credibility to the circulation, Yarbrough said.

"In some ways, it validates the market," he said. "We're a community that needs to be paid attention to."

Although the corporate world may be embracing the gay community as consumers, gay performance artists still have many obstacles to overcome. Although Hollywood wants the community's dollars at the box office, public expression of the gay and lesbian lifestyle is not always well received.

And despite the increasing acknowledgement by the industry toward the gay community, performance artist Holly Hughes suspects the corporate world is most likely just out to make a buck.

"It ain't about anything else," Hughes said. "It's the bottom line."

Hughes' work, which centers around her life as a lesbian, was rejected for a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990. Hughes claimed the rejection was due to her sexual orientation.

"All that was discussed was my sexuality," she said."Our lives just aren't worth talking about with federal dollars."

Despite not being backed by the NEA, Hughes will continue with her work because she feels it is too important not to.

Yarbrough agreed, adding that artists should not worry what the NEA or what anyone else thinks, that they should do what they want to regardless of what others think.

"I don't think that political correctness should enter into an artists realm," he said. "I think artists should do what they're moved to do."