When Colton Haynes came out as gay, he mentioned the pressure he’d felt from agents and others who said that if he wanted a career, he’d have to stay in the closet. In the last few days he’s taken to Twitter to express his anger at one of the reasons so many young actors are told to pretend they’re straight – because if you’re out, in casting many people won’t be able to see beyond your sexuality. And as a result, it can unfairly limit the roles you’ll get.

It’s not the way it ought to be, but unfortunately depite its liberal reputation Hollywood can still be an unexpectedly conservative place, with a real problem with bias – in terms of everything from race to gender to sexuality – that it rarely faces head-on.

Haynes says, ‘Hollywood is so fucked up. So much of the focus is on your personal life & has nothing to do with the talent you have to bring to the table… Thank god for Ryan Murphy, Greg Berlanti, & Jeff Davis. They believe gay actors are more than just their personal lives… So disappointed in how Hollywood cant understand that playing a character has nothing to do with how u live your personal life’.

Davis (Teen Wolf), Berlanti (Arrow) and Murphy (American Horror Story) have given Haynes three of his most prominent roles. However, as his tweets suggest, there are plenty of others who’ve turned him away because he’s gay in real life, or because now he’s out, they won’t consider him for a straight role. However, he has enough discretion not to name anyone in particular.

Haynes recently appeared (in a tiny thong) in the movie Rough Night, and will shortly be seen in American Horror Story: Cult, and is also set to return for the final season of Teen Wolf. [Read more…]

Since coming out as gay, Colton Haynes certainly isn’t holding back. The engaged former Arrow star has now dropped another interesting nugget in  a radio interview, revealing that he’s not a ‘gold star gay’ as he popped his cherry at the age of 13, to both a boy and a girl.

Talking to Andy Cohen Live, he said, “I lost my virginity at 13 to a girl and a guy.  I’ve never said that before. The girl was two years older than me, and the guy was, I would say, around 16… Everyone participated. It was a real first time. It was exciting.”

While that makes it sound he decided to start out big with a full-on threesome, he then clarified that the boy and the girl were on two different occasions. She wasn’t the only woman he’s slept with, as he revealed that there are a total of four female notches on his bedpost, and that during high school he dated both men and women, as while he first came out at 14, he went back in the closet when he changed schools and dated several women.

Haynes also talked about the issues he had when he first arrived in Hollywood, when “I was literally told from the day that I moved to Los Angeles that I could not be gay because I wouldn’t work. My management team told me I couldn’t be this way and they tried to set me up with girls… It was horrible.”

Being forced into the closet didn’t help his anxiety issues, with the pressure to keep his sexuality secret leading to increasingly bad panic attacks and what he describes as the ‘mental break’ that caused his to leave Arrow, until he said, “Enough is Enough.”

Thankfully though, he’s keen to point out that since revealing his sexuality publicly and getting engaged, Colton says that he’s now, “Happier than I’ve ever been, and healthier than I’ve ever been.”

Take a look at part of the interview below. [Read more…]

Over the last few years different celebs have been competing for the subtlest way of coming out, whether it’s a brief approved mention of David Hyde Pierce’s partner in a newspaper or Matt Bomer thanking his hubby and kids during a speech. However Colton Haynes may have taken things one step further with a statement that could mean he’s gay, or not, but which the internet has decided means he’s definitely in the homo club.

Haynes’ statement came in response to someone’s Tumblr post which read, ‘When I found out Colton Haynes had a secret gay past, I got so excited even though i know it makes absolutely no difference in my life.’

Haynes then put a response on the comment via his own personal Tumblr, saying, ‘Was it a secret? Let’s all just enjoy life & have no regrets :)’

Objectively, that could mean he’s gay, has previously had same sex experiences, or could simply be a response to the fact that when he was first starting out he had a steamy 2006 photoshoot for the now defunct gay magazine XY, which saw him kissing another guy and getting up close and very personal. His representatives later tried to get the pics removed from the internet after he first found success in Teen Wolf. He was also once spotted holding hands with Arrow co-star John Barrowman in an airport (although it appears it was something done just to play with the paparazzi).

Perhaps he’s gay, maybe bisexual, possibly straight or something else. At the moment the jury is out, but some are seing extra evidence in a tweet Haynes posted on New Years Eve, which simply read, ‘No fear this year’. That may have simply been about the severe anxiety issues he’s recently talked about, but could also be about a decision he’s made not to hide his sexuality.

Whatever the truth of the matter, there is no doubt though that he has been a longtime supporter of gay rights, and has also posted pics on the web of him out with his gay brother Joshua, Josh’s husband and their child. The world may have now decided that Colton is gay too, but I think we’d better hold off giving him his official big gay sash and tiara until we have a little more confirmation – however the fact he hasn’t taken it down yet or issued a clarification is very suggestive.