Zachary Quinto Opens Up To New York Magazine About His Sexuality

During a recent New York magazine interview supporting his recent stage turn in "Angels In America," Zachary Quinto decided he'd lived a closeted life long enough.

For Quinto, who has gained acclaim taking up Leonard Nimoy's mantle as Spock in J.J. Abrams' reboot of the "Star Trek" film franchise and as super-human serial killer Sylar during all four seasons of NBC's "Heroes," the idea of "the right role at the right time" has probably never held more truth than his "Angels In America" role right now.

Quinto officially told New York's Benjamin Wallace that he decided to open up about his own sexuality while playing a man who abandons his boyfriend amid his battle with AIDS.

"Doing that play made me realize how fortunate I am to have been born when I was born. And to not have to witness the decimation of an entire generation of amazingly talented and otherwise vital men," Quinto said.

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

All things considered, though, Quinto's decision reaches much further than being compelled by his craft. In an Oct. 16 message on his official website, Quinto explained that it was 14-year-old activist Jamey Rodemeyer's Sept. 18 suicide that compelled him into living as an openly gay man.

Both Quinto and Rodemeyer posted separate YouTube videos supporting the "It Gets Better" project, an internet-rooted movement against teen suicide. Rodemeyer had shared his experiences enduring severe bullying centered on being openly gay. On Sept. 18, he was found dead by sister at the Rodemeyer family's Buffalo, NY home.

"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," Quinto wrote.

"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."

Quinto himself has worn several hats supporting gay rights.

He performed in a one-night El Portal Theater performance of "Standing On Ceremony" supporting gay marriage's legalization and in a production of "The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later," connected with the tragic murder of Mathew Shepard in Laramie, WY that became a symbol for the advancement of "hate-crime" legislation and gay rights initiatives.

Watch Quinto's own "It Gets Better" video, posted on YouTube on the "beforethedoor" account.