Zachary Quinto Comes Out As A Gay Man

Facebook Tweet Zachary Quinto's eight-month run in the recent New York stage revival of Angels in America was an eye-opening experience for him.

Since the project, the actor, 34 – who had an acclaimed role as Louis Ironson, a man who abandons his AIDS-stricken boyfriend – publicly discusses his much-questioned sexual orientation for the first time.

In a new interview in New York, Quinto calls his work in the off-Broadway play the "most challenging thing I've ever done as an actor, and the most rewarding."

"At the same time," he adds, "as a gay man, it made me feel like there's still so much work to be done, and there's still so many things that need to be looked at and addressed."

Later in the interview, when the topic changes to legalizing gay marriage and the suicide of bullied gay teen Jamey Rodemeyer, the actor once again refers to himself as a "gay man." He says that when it comes to the different rights and treatment that come with being homosexual, "there's a hopelessness that surrounds it."

"Where's this disparity coming from, and why can't we as a culture and society dig deeper to examine that?" he says. "We're terrified of facing ourselves."

The star of Star Trek and TV's Heroes had long refused to comment about his sexuality, though he has been an outspoken supporter of bully victims and has played a number of gay roles, including on Tori Spelling's TV show So NoTORIous and on the new FX series American Horror Story.

Whew, I'm glad to know he is a gay man and not a gay women. WHO THE FLIP CARES. If the gay community wants to be accepted then stop making it news. You don't see heterosexual people announcing it on the internet or anywhere else. Stop glorifying this for Pete's sake.

If being Gay is no big deal these days and we're all supposed to be so accepting, then why do publications such as People feel compelled to "report" that this guy is Gay.

Where have you been? What have you read that being gay is no big deal? I think what you meant is that people SAY it should be no big deal, but it is because they are bullied and denied certain rights because of it.

I only ever saw him in Heroes and Star Trek...so I had no idea he did gay roles at all, so I was surprised at this headline. No matter what is going on in someone's personal life, they should not be bullied for it.