In the wee hours of Monday [4] morning, James Franco, perhaps already the industry gold standard for straight actors defending gay rights, posted a video online blasting the Australian Classification Board for banning pal Travis Mathews’ LGBT film, I Want Your Love, from the Melbourne and Sydney LGBT festivals.

In the video, Franco, rocking a bright Hawaiian T-shirt, calls the ban “disappointing,” “hypocritical” and “silly,” among other jabs, finally ruminating that had the film featured extreme violence instead, it would have not suffered the same fate as I Want Your Love.

Ubiquitous Franco himself is no stranger to gay cinema, having just co-directed with Mathews the drama Interior. Leather Bar., which re-imagines the infamous 40 minutes of hardcore gay scenes that were edited from the 1980 film Cruising. The multi-hyphenate has played various gay men in his career including Allen Ginsberg in Howl, activist Scott Smith in Milk and poet Hart Crane in The Broken Tower.

Time will tell if Franco joins the ranks of A-list celebrities including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Charlize Theron who refuse to get married until gay marriage is allowed across the US.

Strong suspicion surrounds Franco’s choice of roles and whether or not he is gay himself, a topic the actor remains very… nonchalant about.

In a town where gay rumours fly like kites and publicists are quick to defend, Franco has simply restated his stance for desensitising all types of sex in movies, since it already permeates our lives so much, and has casually – yet masterfully – handled the question before with the riposte, “Or, you know what, maybe I’m just gay.”