In a revealing interview with the new issue of New York Magazine, Neil Patrick Harris — who grew up before our eyes as television’s 15-year-old doc Doogie Hower M.D. — speaks on his position as one of the most successful openly-gay actors in Hollywood today.

Neil finds it “weird” being called “The Great Gay Hope, says: “I appreciate that. But it feels weird to own that.”

One thing the How I Met Your Mother star isn’t shy talking about is his relationship with longtime boyfriend, Broadway actor David Burtka. “We yin and yang very well,” he says. “We’re both Geminis, but I, you can probably tell, I process what the options are, and figure out what to say, and he tends to just say what he is feeling. I’m just bowled over by him. He’s made my life exponentially more livable. He’s just — great. I’m his forever protector, and I’m happiest when he’s happy.”