So You Think You Can Dance eighth-season runner-up Sasha Mallory says it wasn't really for viewers to know about her personal life and sexual preference while she was competing on the show.
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"I'm not afraid to tell people I'm gay. I'm proud all over the place. Ask anyone! [Laughs] It's just something that never needed to come up because it would just take the focus off of my dancing and it will put it into 'I'm gay,' you know? But I'm happy to talk about it. I'm totally open about it and I'm a very open person," the 23-year-old contemporary dancer from Bakersfield, CA.
Mallory's stance jives with that of So You Think You Can Dance executive producer and lead judge Nigel Lythgoe. Lythgoe, who also produces American Idol, had recently voiced similar comments on the matter after The Voice coach Adam Levine had expressed frustration about Idol's lack of openly gay contestants, such as eighth-season runner-up Adam Lambert, who only publicly confirmed his sexual orientation after the competition ended.
"To be frank, I didn't understand why we're talking about contestants being gay or not gay. I don't go into my dentist and say, 'Are you gay?' I don't say to contestants on So You Think You Can Dance, 'Are you gay?' What does it got to do with me? What does it got to do with anybody?" Lythgoe told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview.
"When does privacy stop in this country? If somebody wants to say they're gay, it's up to them. You don't expect us to turn around and say, 'Are you gay?' Why would we do that? -- By the way, he's a Catholic and he supports Obama and here's his sexuality -- What does that have anything to do with singing talent? Maybe it does for Adam Levine, but not for me."
During her interview with AfterEllen, Mallory also said she is not one to stereotype female dancers by assuming they are gay.
"It's a lot more on the male side than the female side in dance. I actually haven't been around a lot of girls that are gay in dance. Well, actually, I might have but maybe I didn't notice. I used to have a really bad gaydar but it's gotten a lot better. [Laughs] It's a lot better now, but I don't even think about being gay or straight or anything. I just think about being with whoever makes me happy," Mallory explained.
"I'm attracted to girls and that's what's going to make me happy. I don't even like to label myself. I've flirted with guys before and I've done stuff with guys before. I've actually had two boyfriends, but I know at the end of the day who I want to come home to and it's going to be a girl. That's what I like."
Mallory insisted her natural attraction to women doesn't affect the chemistry she portrays onstage while dancing with a male partner.
"I just look at it as another thing that I'm doing. I don't really look at a guy or girl. If I have to connect with a person onstage then I connect with them. It can be a dog [laughs] and I'll connect with them. I don't really analyze it too much. I just do it," she said.
"I don't know how to explain it but it's hard for some people to get that concept in their mind, but I just kind of go for it. I don't really think about the past or the future or anything. I focus on who this person is now and what I have to do to make a story out of it and tell the story."
In addition, Mallory admitted she has been seeing someone but that they have yet to make their relationship official.
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"I am speaking to someone right now so I'm not really single, but [laughs] I'm not throwing myself to anyone, I don't think. Yeah, I'm pretty much on the taken route, I think. It's kind of still in the talking stage but I don't want to throw myself out to anyone else because I really like this person," Mallory added.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
