Colin was not gay. Period.

The theme of the film is of fertility as a trait that belongs to do-gooders. Frank had no sons. Costigan impregnated Madolyn. Colin picked the room with the view of the church, and Frank has a speech, talking to the priests about boy 'rape.' Frank may have plucked Colin just like the priests did. Fighting for dominance over manipulatable young males, Frank won Colin's servitude. Having no father, Colin bent toward the more powerful male, Frank. The servitude of a villain, the abuse by priests, and the self-doubt for his entire life's cause never allowed him to find his own way with women. He's performative in the elevator, a talent he's had to develop for his career. Turning the tide on Frank sealed his redemption, but he shot his only ally, the other rat in the unit of Frank's that helped him escape arrest. In Frank's world, he had no allies. He had to control everyone around him. He had to kill a lot of people "to become me." Colin killed his first ally because he was afraid and tried to go it alone, like Frank. Colin would have had to kill a lot of people, but he opted to shy away and eat his croissants and milk from his relationship and childhood memories, nostalgia. Killing his only ally instantly returned him to Frank's world as Frank's figurative son. This happens by killing the ally. The moment when he is told he has an ally, is the only time in which he was living in his new world. Costigan's and Trooper Brown's death were the last of the loose ends, the battle for survival between their generation of males. If Colin had his ally and didn't shoot him, they would have been able to deal with Dignam. Colin wasn't even preparing for him. He was too broken by his loss of his woman, a battle he should have quickly moved on from rather than living in self-pity, going the route of the foody.

The whole web of mob controlling priests, feds always trying to clamp down on mob, mob working angles capitalizing on the conflict between feds' team of Nation against Another Nation (China)... It's like a fractal of male teams competing, and through the competition, new teams are created. They come and go, sometimes in an instant. Frank had a long reign, Colin did not. Trooper Brown wanted to stick to the rules to avoid the complication. The rule breaker team cut him up, but the institution just has a funeral. The Chinese are duped, but not by the American Government.

It's an utterly brilliant film.

He's not gay (at least probably not) he just has some severe insecurity in regards to his own masculinity. Actually, most of the characters have a degree of insecurity (Billy Costigan, Captain Ellerby and Sean Dignam included). One of the best scenes is Sullivan calling out Costello not having sons (a jab at his masculine identity) and an enraged Costello attempting to shoot him over the remark. The biggest theme of the film is masculine insecurity and identity. People need to watch this film again and try to analyze it from this perspective. It's pretty brilliant actually.

I don't think Colin was gay. I do think he was sexually abused as an alter boy though.

He's sexually confused and has performance issues due to years of sexual abuse from Catholic Priests. Gay or straight is not really the point. It's more about his sexual confusion and his own insecurity of who he is.

Calling firemen homos in the presence of another male police officer has no real significance on his true sexuality. The biggest theme of the movie is about identity and pretending to be someone you're not. "I want my identity back."

Colin works in a testosterone driven work environment. He puts on an act to fit in with the rest of the guys. That includes calling firemen homos (cops hate firemen and vice versa) and making overt looks / whistling at civilian (female) employees. Colin is simply trying to fit in with everyone based upon his perceptions of how a male police officer presents himself. He's playing a role; acting like someone he isn't in his attempts to blend in.

Baldwin's remarks about a wedding ring and what that symbolizes to men and women - that his cock works - just further illustrates the theme of outward appearance masking true inner feelings. Dignam also makes reference to this theme as well during the interview. He said some guys just want to wear a gun a badge and look the part of a police officer while others just want to "smash a *beep* head through a plate glass window."





Poetry don't work on whores.

I don't think he was gay, but there were WAY too many references about it, that the audience is defeinitely supposed to know that Colin is uncomfortable with his sexuality.

Its just another example, that he was 2-faced. He acts like this confident, lady's man hero, but he was everything but that, in reality.

Straight up gay? No.... a sexually fragile creep? Sure. There were like 10 references about it.... Film-makers don't put things in movies for no reason, let alone 10 times.