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Zachary Quinto Comes Out of the Closet

'Mr. Spock' says gay teen's suicide filled him with 'despair'

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 16, 2011 3:42 PM CDT

(Newser) – Plagued by despair over a gay teenager's suicide, actor Zachary Quinto has come out as a gay man in a new magazine profile. The inheritor of the Mr. Spock role in "Star Trek" said the suicide of a bullied gay teen filled him with "indescribable despair," the Huffington Post reports via New York magazine. "As a gay man I look at that and say there’s a hopelessness that surrounds it," he says, "but as a human being I look at it and say, ‘Why?'"

The star of the upcoming movie "Margin Call" also credited his part in the Broadway play "Angels in America"—about a man who leaves his AIDS-ridden boyfriend—with helping him understand the challenges of gays and lesbians in America. Quinto has long advocated for gay rights, but kept his private life under wraps. "These things are such hot-button issues right now, socially and politically," he said last year. "I would much rather talk about that than talk about who I sleep with."

Actor Zachary Quinto credits his role in "Angels in America" with helping him understand the struggles of gay and lesbian Americans. (Getty Images)

Actor Zachary Quinto came out of the closet in an interview with "New York" magazine. (Getty Images)

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Zachary Quinto Comes Out of the Closet

'Mr. Spock' says gay teen's suicide filled him with 'despair'

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