In an interview with New York Magazine over the weekend, Zachary Quinto came out of the closet – or the glass closet, considering most people thought/knew he was gay, and the interview was just the first time he had confirmed it. Many of us praised Quinto for confirming/announcing his homosexuality in such a low-key way – this wasn’t some People Magazine cover, or some tabloid report that Quinto wanted to get ahead of. As it turns out, Quinto did come out publicly for a very specific reason – to do his part for hope and acceptance for gay youth in the wake of a gay teenager’s suicide last month. Jamey Rodemeyer was 14 years old and he was the victim of gay bullying, and he committed suicide just a few months after filming an “It Gets Better” video. Quinto wrote a blog post about his rationale:
when i found out that jamey rodemeyer killed himself – i felt deeply troubled. but when i found out that jamey rodemeyer had made an it gets better video only months before taking his own life – i felt indescribable despair.
i also made an it gets better video last year – in the wake of the senseless and tragic gay teen suicides that were sweeping the nation at the time. but in light of jamey’s death – it became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it – is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality.
our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay lesbian bisexual and transgendered citizen of this country. gay kids need to stop killing themselves because they are made to feel worthless by cruel and relentless bullying. parents need to teach their children principles of respect and acceptance.
we are witnessing an enormous shift of collective consciousness throughout the world. we are at the precipice of great transformation within our culture and government. i believe in the power of intention to change the landscape of our society – and it is my intention to live an authentic life of compassion and integrity and action.
jamey rodemeyer’s life changed mine. and while his death only makes me wish that i had done this sooner – i am eternally grateful to him for being the catalyst for change within me. now i can only hope to serve as the same catalyst for even one other person in this world. that – i believe – is all that we can ask of ourselves and of each other.
zq.
[Quinto’s Blog post (with minor edits)]
I buy that Quinto came out for the reason he’s giving now – because he didn’t want to live in the glass closet when there are young gay kids out there really struggling and looking for positive (gay) role models. I hope Quinto continues to speak about bullying, and I hope he will turn out to be a positive force in his community.
Here’s Quinto’s It Gets Better video:
Photos courtesy of Fame and WENN.
I usually think that celebrities should come out if they want to, don’t if they dont.. it’s too personal to choose for someone. I think ZQ’s coming out was done for an excellent reason.
I feel so sad for the boy who died, too.
It’s so depressing that people feel they have to hide their sexual orientation.
I kind of always knew he was gay, but there is something refreshing about being able to talk about your life in the same way straight people do.
As an aside, I’m wondering how many supportive commenters here will feel the need to emphasise how straight they are. That’s something I see a lot of and it’s a pet peeve of mine – why not just be supportive? Why bring in irrelevent life details?
Freedom of expression, freedom to choose.
WHO CARES if he’s gay, this dude is HOT HOT HOT.
I am glad Zach has freed himself though, this has been known by many of us for a few years.
My first crush as a child was Leonard Nimoy as Spock, so I do have a bit of a Spock fetish I guess.
Good for him for coming out–I imagine making that decision (and such a public one for a celebrity) is not easy. I hope ZQ is right and that there is a shift in consciousness and that we are moving toward equality and inclusiveness.
This guy looks a lot like eli roth…
Elizabeth, your post made me laugh – I’ve experienced the same thing. When I came out to my mum she made a HUGE deal out of emphasizing that she wasn’t into women. Well that’s a shame mum, I was totally going to come onto you otherwise but now I won’t. Er… what?
so rumour had it! another handsom gay man…damn!
He’s still smokin’ hot. I can’t wait for the next Star Trek.
your turn Jeremy Renner…
Jesus.
I’ll come out as a goth girl struggling with severe clinical depression in honor of all the depressed goth girls out there that get bullied for both their funny taste in clothing, music and interests AND their constant rainy, heavily self-destructive disposition.
Except, shit, I ain’t no celebrated role model.
I’m tired of everything that has to do with preventing bullying these days. Why? Because it always tends to make distinctions between the bullied and deem one reason for bullying more vile than the other reasons. If someone’s being bullied, help them. They all suffer, be they gay, straight, dressing funny or being too shy, what ever. This division into communities and (seemingly at least) making distinctions between the groups of the bullied will only make the problem more serious and people who are being neglected because the reasons they’re bullied aren’t ‘in topic’ in this day, angrier and give up any hope they had. And they need hope, they need it badly.
And I realize that I’m on a soap box and strayed from the initial topic. I deserve a spanking.
But seriously, just come out. You coming out already encourages gay kids, making a statement about it just drives a wedge between people who are being bullied for different reasons.
Oh he makes me want to cry. Still doesn’t matter to me, he’s cute and talented that’s all that’s important. And he seems like a nice guy. I do hope this makes it easier for others to come out if they want to.
I like how this is becoming not really much of a big deal anymore. Look at Rock Hudson, one of Hollywood’s most famous actors. He had to live a lie his whole career and that must have been difficult for him, to be something he was not.
I am ecstatic he finally came out. People shouldn’t have to hide who they are for whatever reason. I know that it doesn’t matter if he is gay or not but it does matter as he so obviously stating by doing this.
@Danziger you hit the nail on the head.
It’s highschool folks,you get bullied if your a nerd,fat,have glasses,gay,teeth are crooked you name it.
I got bullied cause i was fat!have my belly slapped in the hallways food thrown at me in the cafeteria and being called a fat f*ck!But by my senior year i had grown some and beat the crap out of one in the cafeteria in front of everybody and after that my senior year was pretty quiet.
It’s true that its great that Zach comes out to help out others but Zach cant go to every highschool in the world to protect those kids.In the end you have to live with it.It’s five years of your life.It’s been 25 years since my senior year and whatever problems I had in my life since then they were all tame and easy to get threw because what i went threw in highschool.
I love this man so much! And I’m so happy that I’ll be seeing him in a play next week, and seeing “Margin Call” as well. I’m sure he has a great long career ahead of him.
I’m looking forward to seeing him on “American Horror Story” as well, but it’s too scary for me to watch at 10PM. They need to make them available online so I can watch in broad daylight.
yowza…that top picture really showcases his beautiful brown eyes. and dude’s eyebrow game is ON POINT, as MichaelK would say.
he was so great as Spock. I just watched one of the original cast movies (IV, I think) and he really did justice to the character that Nimoy brought to life.
I love how everything in his life, even coming out, is low-key. This guy is NOT a famewhore, and is hardly ever papped that I’ve seen. He’s one of those actors who seems to be a regular guy whose job just happens to make him famous.
EDIT: AlaskaJoey, HE’S going to be on AHS?! That show is FREAKY, and pretty scary, for sure. And it SUCKS that FX doesn’t put their shows on their website…or on Hulu…or on OnDemand. They must have some deal with advertisers that the show will ONLY be on television, so they feel like they’re getting their money’s worth.
Could not disagree more about his driving a wedge. He did a GREAT thing. He is gay, so that is what he relates to. Maybe if he was obese he’d support obese kids being bullied.
He did a good thing. To say it’s making matters worse is a bit much. Bullying is being addressed school-wide, any kind of bullying.
It’s disgusting how people who are gay are treated by not allowing to get married. WTF?
Good on him!
He handled this in the most graceful way possible. I really don’t think the message is that some kinds of bullying “matter” more than others; the message here is simply ACCEPTANCE of other-ness.
It takes a lot of courage to announce your sexual orientation ESPECIALLY if your job is in the public forum. ZQ’s bravery will encourage other GBTLQ people that they are not alone.
I watched two movies with Montgomery Clift this weekend (A Place in the Sun and Suddenly, Last Summer) and I think of how men and women had to hide and the major impact it had on their mental well being. Poor Montgomery became a major alcoholic and seriously damaged his face in an accident…. all because he could not deal with being a gay man…. sad… he could have given Brando a real run for his money….
It’s getting better, but I say, “why do we have to have this conversation at all?” It’s 2011…. shouldn’t we be past this by now?
embertine – lol
First off why is this news? Who cares.
I think bringing attention to it just magnifies the fact that people are haters and that it shouldnt be accepted. Pretend its “average” and “normal” like heterosexuality and nothing newsworthy and maybe people will stop caring so much about other peoples sexuality.
I think the majority is past it. I think making stories like this news is why some people arent past it.
It will be nice when the day comes that it won’t be a big “coming out” for a gay person.
BTW, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say that one type of bullying is worse than another. Zach is gay so he relates to gay bullying. This isn’t a competition.
@ Praise StAngie -Yes, he is! On 4 episodes, which start October 26th. If you don’t want to know anything….look away now, spoilers ahoy!
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He plays one of the gay couple murder/suicide victims mentioned in the first episode.
Good for him for coming out in solidarity of another. News doesn’t faze me though, I still think he’s pretty yummy. His Mr. Spock gives me tingles.
Ladies, let us have a moment of silence. For our loss is the gentlemen’s gain.
Awesome. Now maybe he’ll do something about those eyebrows.
Someday I hope we will live in a world where one’s sexuality is nothing to quibble about like one’s skin colour, gender, dis/ability, religion, colour of eyes, age, etc.
O crazy cat lady amen! :,) and you know what good for you zach! We always knew even though we didn’t want it to b true! Lol but you took the risk of finally comming out cause yea really how you gonna preach something you haven’t done yourself I hope this does help them in the long run 🙁 sad another life taken not cause he was gay but because bullies pushed him and don’t anyone say they didn’t if he made a video for Christ sake saying it’ll get better n he took his own life that’s saying something! That’s more then letting someone getting the best of you! That’s murder! They forced you in that corner, beat you with everything they had till you had nothing left in you to survive…. Yes zach can’t go to every school and protect them but he’s putting his foot in the door what have anyone else done to make a difference? I hope someday we can live where it’s not a big deal but first to break the chain of these continued violence n bullying on someone that’s not like you cause all n all none of us are the same….