More actors should be like WILLIE GARSON.  Willie played the gay character Stanford Blatch on “Sex and the City”.

But he decided not to “come out” as straight in real life . . . because he thought that would be offensive to gay people.

He says, quote, “People playing gay characters jumping up and down screaming that they’re not gay, like that would somehow be a bad thing if they were . . .

“When I was on ‘White Collar’ no one ever asked me if I was a conman, and when I was on ‘NYPD Blue’, nobody ever asked me if I was a murderer.  This is what we do for a living, portray people.”

Still, Willie admits that the character hampered his dating life.  Quote, “At the beginning, you would approach someone at a bar and realize, ‘Oh, they want to be Stanford’s best friend.’  They don’t necessarily want to sleep with you.”