‘It’s hard living in the closest. There’s hat boxes in the way.’

David Renzi

Friday, April 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

These truly are the gay '90s for Jason Stuart, the comedian and actor. Since he came out of the closet in 1993, he has seen the doors on his career open a little wider.

There were guest spots on "seaQuest," "The John Larroquette Show" and "Murder, She Wrote." There is a starring role in a play, "Scenes From My Love Life," which opened Thursday in Los Angeles, and another in a film, "Gay TV: The Movie," which debuts later this year.

And, if all went well at the audition, he'll co-star in "Kiss Me Guido," a film, Stuart says, "about a tough (gay) guy that's sort of sexy but not very bright about the world." Stuart would play his best friend.

He is also up for a role in a Broadway play and a job as a segment host on Comedy Central.

If that's not enough, the standup comedy act he's maintained for the last 11 years continues to take him on the road.

"I'm gay comedy for the whole family," Stuart says.

Actually, gay issues don't comprise the entirety of his act, but Stuart comments on topics from the viewpoint of a gay man. Consequently, his act contains a gay sensibility.

"Everybody has their own agenda," he says. "I think some people think my act is all about being gay, and some think it's multifaceted. I don't know what people feel. I know what I think; I think most people are really sweet and supportive."

Stuart says his personal and professional life have improved since he disclosed his sexual preference (first to an audience at a comedy club in Houston, then to the nation on "Geraldo").

"It's hard living in the closest. There's hat boxes in the way."

But seriously...

"It's changed my life," he says. "It's made me more comfortable with who I am. It's made me a better person and given my life more meaning."

Stuart, 33, says he himself would not "out" anyone, "but I will take them by the hand and support them to come out. It's so important, because if we can't stand up and be counted, then we have no power."

Both of his upcoming projects have gay themes. "Gay TV: The Movie" is about a brother and sister trying to start the first gay cable network -- Stuart calls it "high, campy comedy" -- and "Scenes From My Love Life" focuses on nine gay guys looking for love in all the wrong places.

At the moment, Stuart himself is looking for love. Asked what the politically correct term is for a gay man's partner, Stuart quips: "Sex buddy?"

"If you live with them, it's your husband. If you don't, they're your boyfriend. My brother always asks, 'What role do you play?' What do you mean, 'What role do I play?' That's ridiculous."

Ultimately, Stuart believes homosexual humor "will become less distant and more interwoven into the tapestry of the heterosexual community."