Zachary Quinto has been doing multiple interviews to help promote the Netflix movie, The Boys In The Band. Quinto stars alongside an all-gay cast in the new, screen version of Mart Crowley’s seminal 1968 play of the same name. Quinto first came to attention in the 2006 sci-fi drama Heroes, in which he appeared in all four seasons. In 2007, it was announced that he was to play Spock in the big-screen reboot of Star Trek.
He came out in 2011. Talking to Variety last week, he said that before this, he had concerns about revealing his sexuality. “I did feel like me coming out would have potentially had an impact on my career and it wouldn’t have been a good one.”
However, reading about young gay people killing themselves made him realize coming out could have a beneficial effect on others. He says he felt obliged to speak out. “That was at a time when a lot of young gay kids were killing themselves around the country because of bullying. There was a huge spate of teen suicides that were happening“.
“I just felt like I had an obligation at this point,” he said. “Having enjoyed a certain level of success, I felt like 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. I felt like it was actively harming a group of young people who the choice to come out could benefit.”
He soon realized that times had changed and being an openly gay actor was not career suicide. He told The Telegraph in 2015, “I work more now than I ever did when I was in the closet and I’m doing a wider range and variety of roles than I ever did before I came out. I feel like that’s what I need to keep demanding of myself and what I need to keep demanding of the industry.”
“But then I went right into another job after the play was done. By the time I would have watched the movie, our movie was on the table. And so I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to watch it now.’ So I’m going to wait until we’ve put it out into the world. I very much look forward to the experience.”
Via Queerty
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