Garrett Clayton Comes Out As Gay On Instagram, Talks About His New Role In ‘Reach’, And More!

If you know about Disney’s Teen Beach movie series, you know about Garrett Clayton. The young actor has come out as gay in a post on Instagram in which he also talks about his upcoming movie Reach and his long-term relationship with Blake Knight.

Congratulations to Garrett Clayton for deciding to publicly come out! The Instagram post he wrote is sweet. Also, while I’m not sure how long his relationship with Blake Knight (an LA-based screenwriter) has been going on, the important thing is that he’s happy.

In his upcoming movie Reach, Clayton plays the role of Steven, a socially awkward geek who begins to take steps to kill himself. However, things change for him when he befriends a new student.

“REACH deals with some very serious and timely topics that have affected me personally, and have likely influenced many of your lives as well,” Clayton wrote in his post. “I have personally dealt with suicide within my own family, intense bullying in high school, and – on top of it all – myself and the man I’ve been in a relationship with for a long time (@hrhblakeknight) have both experienced shootings within our hometown school systems, and have witnessed the heartache that takes place in affected communities after such tragic events.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

With the release of my new movie REACH coming up, I thought it was important to explain why I took on this project in the first place. REACH deals with some very serious and timely topics that have affected me personally, and have likely influenced many of your lives as well. (I also prefer to share things that are particularly important for me here on my IG) instead of in some random magazine or online article – because you are the ones that have been rooting for me and following me on my professional and personal journey in life. When I read the script for REACH, I immediately knew it was a film I had to be a part of. I have personally dealt with suicide within my own family, intense bullying in high school, and – on top of it all – myself and the man I’ve been in a relationship with for a long time (@hrhblakeknight) have both experienced shootings within our hometown school systems, and have witnessed the heartache that takes place in affected communities after such tragic events. These topics – not always easy to discuss- are all close to my heart, and, knowing how serious they are, I wanted to share this with you all. This film has come from the perspectives of people who care deeply about these issues, and if watching it helps even one person… then it was all worth it. ♥️

A post shared by Garrett Clayton (@garrettclayton1) on Aug 20, 2018 at 10:01am PDT

Considering how passionately Clayton feels about addressing such serious topics, I hope Reach is able to talk about them in an impactful manner and doesn’t go with the typical shock-value route we see in media content.

According to Variety, Reach will debut theatrically through Christian Meoli’s Voltaire Media in 10 major markets on October 19, 2018, along with a day and date VOD release. So, keep an eye out.

Along with his role in Disney’s Teen Beach movies, Garrett Clayton also played real-life gay adult movie star Sean Paul Lockhart/Brent Corrigan in King Cobra which also starred Christian Slater, Molly Ringwald, and James Franco.

His other upcoming projects include Between Worlds with Nicolas Cage and Peel with Emile Hirsch. So, yes to Clayton continuing to work and getting his name out there!

In related coming out news, young talent Josie Totah (Glee, Champions) came out as transgender in an essay for TIME. Now the community has two more talented individuals to stan!

Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

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Important note: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers 24/7, free and confidential support.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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