In an emotional
YouTube video (below), he said a chance meeting with a girl at a homeless youth
centre he was volunteering at had changed his mind about hiding his sexuality.
The actor, who
has also starred in Vampire Diaries, Homeland and Sex and the City, said the girl
had thanked him profusely for helping the LGBT community.
After he had
questioned why she was thanking him, she said: “Because you’re straight.”
“I’m not straight,” the actor,
who plays Daniel in the show, had responded, and the girl’s answer floored him.
“Why
have you never said that publicly before? You could help change our lives.”
“It hit me like
a gut-punch,” Newman said. “It felt like someone knocked the wind out from me.
“And I realised
how important it is in this day and age to be visible – to let people who know
you are.”
He added that
there was no excuse to hide your sexuality when, as the girl pointed out,
revealing it could help so many people.
In the video
posted later in this article, he said: “When you’re accomplishing incredible
things and you’re hiding who you are, you are hurting hundreds of millions of
people.”
The Emmy Award-winning
show, which is now in its seventh season, has featured six LGBT characters
throughout its run.
Last year,
Walking Dead star Norman Reedus said
that fans of the show “get mad” at him for weighing in on his character’s
romantic life.
Fans of the
zombie drama – which routinely features graphic violence and gore – last
year were up in arms after the show included a gay kiss.
See Daniel’s
coming out video here:
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