Just a week after someone tried to out him during an acceptance speech at Outfest, actor Thomas Dekker, 29, has come out as gay. Known for his roles on Heroes and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dekker posted an open letter on Instagram and Twitter that affirmed his sexuality.
Dekker writes:
“My sexual orientation once again came into question this week when a prominent gay man used an awards acceptance speech to ‘out’ me. While he did not mention me by name, the explicit details of his reference made it easy for the public and media to connect the dots.”
Dekker has been open about speaking of his character castings and has always stood behind his role choices.
In 2007, he mentioned:
“I would like it to be known by everyone, that I have played a gay character three times before in my career, one when I was twelve (which is on youtube), one when I was fifteen, and another when I was seventeen. I, nor my management have ever had any kind of problem with creating a gay character… What transpired on heroes is something far more complicated than anyone being ‘afraid’ to make Zach homosexual.”
In his open letter, Dekker also shared that in April he married his husband and his extremely happy.
While it is a little disappointing that Dekker felt like he was forced to have to come out before people “found out”, it is indeed a proud moment and he should be celebrated for embracing who he really is. More power to you, Tom! See you at Pride!
I’ve been reading a lot of
I've been reading a lot of postings and comments on various websites regarding this. I do have to say that I am happy that Mr. Dekker is living out and proud and owning his truth, however, I really have a hard time believing that Bryan Fuller "outed" him. I mean is it not possible that Mr. Fuller thought that Thomas Dekker was already out to his public, especially since he stated that he got married to another man back in April? After all, marriage licenses are public record. It is entirely possible that Bryan Fuller made an honest mistake and thought Tom was out publicly. This is a big problem with celebrities who are in the glass closet. They may not be out to the public, but their family, friends, and colleagues might not know that. I remember Stephen Amell encountered this problem at a Sci-Fi convention with an over zealous fan asking about Colton Haynes who wasn't publicly out at the time. He had to call Colton to get clarification. Glass closet celebrities now shift the burden of their secret to others who might not always know whether or not they are publicly out. I have a feeling that in the future we might see more inadvertent outings.