Question regarding Desperate Housewives and Shawn Pyfrom *possible spoilers*

I was browsing another message board, Gamefaqs to be exact, and there was a post mentioning that the reason Shawn Pyfrom was cast for the role of Bree's son Andrew was because he really is gay in real life. Is it proffessional for directors to be casting actors simply because of their sexuality instead of acting talent?

It's unlikely that's what drawed him for the role, considering Jesse Metcalfe wasn't even told he would need to be nude for a lot of his scenes until the day of shooting. Another thing is that the character Andrew didn't even become openly gay until mid season. I really hope I'm not offending anyone with this topic, and I have nothing against him being gay in real life and getting the role, but if it is the sole reason why they hired him it seems very stereotypical and unproffessional. I don't know, what are your thoughts on this?

 

This sounds very unlikely. They cast for:

a. looks;
b. talent;
c. suitability for the role (age, match to putative parent, etc)

I have never heard that they cast because of orientation, and it is common in Hollywood not to do that.