Kenny Ortega, director of all three High School Musical films, has officially confirmed what we’ve all suspected for years – Ryan Evans is gay as hell. The character, portrayed by Lucas Grabeel, has long been claimed by the gay community due to his love of musical theater and his flamboyant fashion choices, but this seems to be the first time that anyone from production has confirmed his queerness.
The director announced the news in a recently published interview with Variety. While Ortega said that “Disney is the most progressive group of people” he’s worked with, it was ultimately decided that Ryan would probably “come out in college.” He also remarked that the popular movie series was “less about coming out and just more about letting his true colors come forward.”
“I was concerned because it was family and kids, that Disney might not be ready to cross that line and move into that territory yet,” said the out director. “So, I just took it upon myself to make choices that I felt that those who were watching would grab. They would see it, they would feel it, they would know it and they would identify with it. And that is what happened.”
Luckily Disney has progressed in the years since the original series debuted. The Disney+ High School Musical spin-off, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, actually has an out gay male heavily featured on the show. Plus the character is played by an actual gay actor – we love to see it.
Like we said, it’s been long rumored that Ryan is gay. As the above video gets into, one big piece of evidence fans have used to confirm Ryan’s sexual preferences is a scene in High School Musical 2 where he trades clothes with Corbin Bleu’s character, Chad. The movie never gives a real reason the two characters swap clothes in the middle of the day – it just sort of happens. But if you ask us, randomly switching clothes with your bro after an intense dance battle with them is pretty gay. So again, we’re not that surprised that Ryan is a member of the community.
What do you think of Ryan being gay? Should they have had him come out in the actual series and not a decade after the movies were released? Sound off in the comments below.
Ive known this since high school and hell I wasn’t even out myself back then lmao. But hey better late never sis, live your truth.