Zachary Quinto Reveals That Queer Youth Suicide Led Him to Come Out

Zachary Quinto is currently starring in Netflix's BoysIn the Band adaptation, starring a cast of all out gay men. And while that is certainly a new development, now the actor is revealing why he came out in 2011.

"There was a huge spate of teen suicides that were happening," Quinto told Variety. "I just felt like I had an obligation at this point."

Back when he first gained international fame for his portrayal of the mixed race half-Vulcan, half-human Spock in the 2009 Star Trek reboot, Quinto feared "coming out would have potentially had an impact on my career and it wouldn't have been a good one."

He spoke of one instance where he and a gay friend bumped into a studio executive, and how the encounter caused him to grow concerned about potential "ramifications" of "even the appearance of possibly being gay."

Then came 2011 and a disturbing rise in the number of LGBTQ+ teens who were dying by suicide because of homophobic bullying and abuse.

"That was at a time when a lot of young gay kids were killing themselves around the country because of bullying," Quinto revealed, later adding "the hypocrisy was too much to bear for me to be enjoying this life that I had created for myself and not acknowledging my identity as a gay man."

The situation was so dire and he believed his lack of making his voice and identity know to be such a disservice to the community that he "felt like it was actively harming a group of young people who the choice to come out could benefit."

At the time, Quinto told Out he saw nothing positive to be gained by staying silent. "One of the defining conversations that I had with myself was that absolutely no good can come from me staying quiet about [my sexuality]," he revealed.

The conversation about coming out is one other Boys In the Band stars are also having. Charlie Carver recently revealed that he faced a policing of his mannerisms when another gay actor slapped him the face, and it eventually led him to open up publicly about his sexualiy.

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