Jane Lynch - AIDS Walk

As funny and kind as she is tall, out actress Jane Lynch is the honorary chair for the 28th annual AIDS Walk Wisconsin & 5K Run, to be held Oct. 7 at the Summerfest Grounds in Milwaukee. Following in the illustrious footsteps of past honorary chairs for the event, including Bette Midler, Lance Bass, Tim Gunn, Taye Diggs, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Bon Iver, Lynch says, “I’m going to show up and do the walk. I’m the celebrity and I hope that will bring people.”

After years of paying her dues playing guest roles and memorable characters in a multitude of sitcoms and series such as The L Word and Party Down, Lynch got the role of a lifetime playing ruthless gym teacher Sue Sylvester on Glee. Since then, she’s gone on to do even more TV work, including hosting the popular NBC game show Hollywood Game Night, for which she won a 2015 Primetime Emmy Award. I had the pleasure of speaking with Jane in September 2017.

WiG: Have you participated in other AIDS Walks?

Jane Lynch: I did the AIDSRide in Los Angeles … from San Francisco to Los Angeles. I have something to do with the AIDSRide as much as I can. I’ve been at the closing ceremonies several times. I’m a supporter of the AIDSRide and L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.

LGBTQ folks are well-aware of the immeasurable part the lesbian community played during the AIDS crisis, how they were visible and vocal activists from the very early days. What does that mean to you?

I love that you brought that up. Sometimes it’s forgotten. The girls were the first to step up and help the guys. I look at healthcare today in our country and it’s the ladies on the Republican side who are saying no to these horrible plans. Hopefully they will continue to. I think it’s a wonderful thing, it’s in our nature as women. I know a lot of men are this way, too. I don’t mean to broad-brush. It seems that the feminine sex are the first to stand up for care and compassion. I love that you brought that up because the lesbians back then took care of the guys when no one else was taking care of them.

Have you lost friends to AIDS?

It was in the 1980s. I remember the first person I knew of was a man who directed a play. His name was Stuart White. I was at Cornell University in the Master’s program, and he directed me in a play called Early Dark. He had a cold the whole time. He kept saying, “I can’t shake this cold.” Within a couple of months, we heard about this horrible disease AIDS. Then I heard that he was living in New York and he was in a hospital dying from it. That was the first person I knew of. Then, like many people who were coming of age in the ’80s, my phonebook was full of people who we lost.

Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, did you visit Milwaukee frequently?

No [laughs], we did not go to Milwaukee. Chicago had so much going on and it’s such a terrific town. I didn’t get to Milwaukee until I toured there with Second City. I just loved it! I should have come earlier. You don’t think of going to Milwaukee when you have Chicago. You don’t think of going to Hoboken when you have New York.

You recently portrayed Janet Reno in The Discovery Channel mini-series Manhunt: The Unabomber. As an actress what are the challenges and rewards of portraying a real versus fictional person?

You get to see that person in real life because there’s film footage. Of course, she’s iconic. There was a love/hate relationship with her in this country, but I fall on the side of the love. I was always a huge fan of Janet Reno’s. Now I’m even more of a fan after having done research into her. Of course, the curse, which I didn’t think about too much, is that people will compare you to the real person. But that’s their problem and not mine.

What do you think about the increased presence and visibility of LGBTQ characters on TV, including those in the Emmy-winning Transparent, written, directed and produced by your old Annoyance Theater compatriot Jill Soloway?

God bless Jill Soloway. I’ve known her for probably 35, 40 years. We did a lot of plays together. We did The Real Live Brady Bunch together. She’s probably the most inclusive person in the world, not just LGBTQ. She’d go and talk to a homeless person and give them 10 bucks and ask them what their dreams are. She’s one of the most open-hearted. I think it’s great in Hollywood now. I just did a taping of Will & Grace last night, one of the new episodes. I was there all week and I got to watch everybody rehearse. What pros they are! How they changed the landscape back there in 1998 when they started! There was no big hoopla about it. There wasn’t resistance. There weren’t people picketing. They were kind of afraid of that in the beginning, but that never happened. They’re such wonderful, lovable people. Just like everybody is.

Produced by the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, the 28th annual AIDS Walk Wisconsin & 5K Run takes place Saturday, Oct. 7 at the Summerfest Grounds along Milwaukee’s lakefront. A free opening ceremony with Jane Lynch begins at noon.

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