2011 Greggys: Coming Out Story of the Year: Zachary Quinto came out publicly following teen’s suicide

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Zachary Quinto coming out publicly as a gay man in October was huge news.

It’s always big news when a star comes out but there’s something about this story that really had people thinking. What deepened it, obviously, is the fact that the actor shared that he was motivated by the tragic suicide bullied 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer. which left him feeling “incredible despair.”

In an interview with MTV News in support of his movie Margin Call, the actor said the reaction to his coming out had “been enormously supportive — universally, unanimously supportive.”

He added: “I’m really grateful for that.”

Zachary, best known for his role on Heroes and as Spock in the Star Trek movie, expressed well-deserved pride in the way he decided to share this news with the public.

“I feel like I made that declaration so that I can be a part of this conversation moving forward,” he said “I did it in my own time, on my own terms, in my own words. That’s exactly the way that I wanted to do it, and I’m really proud of that. When the time is right to continue the conversation forward, I certainly will do that. That’s why I took those steps in the first place.”