Benedict Cumberbatch Thinks Being Gay In Hollywood Is A "Huge Obstacle" To Overcome

After Benedict Cumberbatch's latest role in 'The Intimidation Games,' he will certainly have a huge fan base in the LGBT community. In the forthcoming drama, the British actor portrays gay mathematician Alan Turing, who was responsible for breaking the Enigma code used by the Nazis during World War II, only to be later condemned and sent to prison for his sexuality.

After taking on such a challenging role, Cumberbatch can now relate to the struggle homosexuals may go through in the movie industry, which he recently opened up about to Out magazine, while slamming anti-gay religious extremists.

"People are being beheaded in countries right now because of their beliefs or sexual orientations," the 38 year-old star told the mag in astonishment. "It's terrifying. It's medieval-a beheading! I'd take up arms against someone who was telling me I had to believe in what they believed or they would kill me. I would fight them. I would fight them to the death. And, I believe, the older you get, you have to have an idea of what's right or wrong. You can't have unilateral tolerance. You have to have a point where you go, 'Well, religious fundamentalism is wrong.'"

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Although in 2014, many may think a gay leading man in Hollywood wouldn't make any difference, but Cumberbatch did admit that there is still a sense of fear for an actor to come out of the closet.

"I think if you're going to sell yourself as a leading man in Hollywood to say 'I'm gay,' sadly, is still a huge obstacle," he said. "We all know actors who are [gay] who don't want to talk about it or bring it up, or who deny it. I don't really know what they do to deal with it."

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"Human rights movements and sexual and gay rights movements have made huge social progress in the last 40 years, without a doubt, but there's a lot more work to be done. I think it's extraordinary that every time we get to a point where there's any kind of trouble in society, people are scapegoated very, very, very quickly," he added.