Posted at 4:30 p.m. Friday, June 27

I called Sharon Gless on Friday morning to talk about the July 10 return of the USA Network series “Burn Notice.” But this being gay Pride Weekend in Chicago, we kind of got sidetracked.

“Oh that’s great. I wish I were there,” she told me over the phone from Miami, where “Burn Notice” films. “Chicago is where ‘Queer As Folk’ was sneaked to me under a table. I was doing a play at the Victory Gardens Theater for one of your playwrights, Claudia Allen.

“I flew out of Chicago one day, went and saw the [‘Queer As Folk’] producers, came back and it was mine.

“Chicago has a very large piece of my heart.”

Gless cemented her standing in the gay community playing rainbow flag-waving mom Debbie Novotny in “Queer As Folk.” But she isn’t sure about being called a gay icon. Actually, it’s the “icon” part that troubles her.

“People have been using the words ‘icon’ and ‘legend’ around me in the past few weeks,” she told me. “I’m not old enough, am I?”

“It’s certainly flattering,” she continued. “I have a great affection for the gay community.”

Gless first rose to fame in the 1980s as Chris Cagney in the ground-breaking female cop series “Cagney & Lacey,” a role that she says had a huge lesbian following, mostly because viewers thought Cagney—and Gless—were gay.

“I mean, people still don’t believe that I’m not gay, and I don’t fight them. I just say, ‘OK, whatever,’” she said.

She says gay fans helped reverse a downward turn in her career post-“Cagney & Lacey.”

“I’ve always given credit to the gay community for keeping my career alive,” she said, adding that “Queer As Folk” changed not only her career, but also her life.

Gless said she feels honored to have played Debbie because of fan reaction and support. After episode tapings in Toronto, she said, fans would gather outside the studio and ask her for hugs. One young fan hugged her and began sobbing.

“All I could think about was the damage that must have been done to this boy. I held him for three or four minutes until he stopped crying.

“I was the lucky one who got to play that role.”

PHOTOS: Above, Sharon Gless stars in USA's "Burn Notice". At right, Gless as Chris Cagney on "Cagney & Lacey," and onstage in the Victory Gardens Theater's "Cahoots" in 2000. [ USA photo/CBS photo/Tribune file photo ]

Click below for more from Gless. And click here to read what Gless has to say about "Burn Notice."

PHOTO: Rosie O'Donnell and Sharon Gless in a scene from Showtime's "Queer As Folk." [ Showtime photo ]

You said “Queer As Folk” changed your life. How so?

I learned more than you guys did. I learned so much doing that show. I’ve always been a friend to the gays. I mean, people still don’t believe that I’m not gay and I don’t fight them. I just say, “OK, whatever.”

I just learned so much about what the gays go through—all the fun and all the sadness. I’m yours for life.

I recently went to Pittsburgh to campaign for Hillary [Clinton] to the real Liberty Avenue. What is it, Church Street? I went up and down the street all night talking to kids in bars.

How was it?

It was great. Hillary’s a friend of the gays. ... I guess now we have [Barack Obama] because McCain simply isn’t even to be thought about. If we voted McCain in we’d be telling the rest of the world that we approve of what [the U.S.] has done the last eight years ...

I have a co-worker who knows your “Queer As Folk” co-star Scott Lowell.

I love Scotty. Scotty’s carrying on our poker tradition. Every month I did a cast poker party in Toronto at my apartment. When it ended I gave one to Scotty and now he throws the party in L.A. When I come to town he puts out an e-mail to the cast. and the title of his e-mail is “Poke Her.” [Laughs.]

We’ve all stayed friends. This is like my 10th series and you always swear you’ll never part ,but you do, of course. But the “Queer As Folk” people, we’ve all stayed together. I think it was such an intimate show and difficult for everyone to do the kind of work they were doing. And we just bonded.

[“Cagney & Lacy” co-star] Tyne Daly’s mother has a great expression, and I attribute it to the reason Tyne and I are so close still today. Tyne Daly’s mom says, “Sweat makes a great cement.”

And these boys were sweating together—literally—for five years, and supporting each other. There was never any fighting on set.

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Never once have I ever thought that Sharon Gless was gay; in fact, she is and will always be my idol, and I'm 46, Loved her then and LOVE her now. I have alot of gay friends and I don't care if anyone thinks if I'm gay or straight. I'm a republican and I'm NOT voting for Mccain, I was hoping for Hilary, but Obama all the way!

Curt's reply: Thanks for commenting Cindi.

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