Archive for Zachary Quinto

Star Trek star Zachary Quinto has publicly acknowledged his homosexuality for the first time in a New York magazine interview. Though a voice in gay rights for many years, the 34-year-old actor had previously declined to speak about his sexuality up until now. He says that it was his role in the recent Broadway re-staging of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America that helped spur his decision to come out formally and become an more active participant in the fight for LGBT equality.

The Broadway drama centers around a gay man who leaves his AIDS-afflicted boyfriend, and Quinto called the part “the most challenging thing I’ve ever done as an actor and the most rewarding.” It exhausted him mentally and made him rethink the current gay community. “As a gay man, it made me feel like there’s still so much work to be done,” he continued, “and there’s still so many things that need to be looked at and addressed.”

While great strides have been made, including the legalization of gay marriage in the State of New York, Quinto is concerned about the abuse that still gets hurled at homosexuals. He was particularly horrified by the death of young Jamey Rodemeyer, who took his own life after being bullied at school for his homosexuality. “As a gay man I look at that and say there’s a hopelessness that surrounds it,” he admits. “But as a human being I look at it and say ‘Why? Where’s this disparity coming from, and why can’t we as a culture and society dig deeper to examine that?’”

The actor spoke more about Jamey’s suicide on his website, and also offered his own video for the “It Gets Better” project. Check it out under the jump.
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