Disney actor, Joshua Rush has come out and used his platform to bring attention to internalised homophobia, the life expectancy of trans women of colour and finding the courage to come out.
Joshua Rush as his character Cyrus Goodman in the Disney show, Andi Mack.
Joshua Rush, who starred in the Disney show, Andi Mack has come out as bisexual. The 17-year-old actor, who turns 18 in December, became the first openly gay character in a Disney show, when, his character Cyrus Goodman uttered the words, “I’m Gay”.
The actor came out in a series of tweets,
He took to Twitter to write, “I’m bi. And now that I’ve said that, I have a few things to rant about. There are more important things to talk about than me liking a whole bunch of genders, but I do want to share a few things with you guys.
“I saw so many of you watch Cyrus come out and said “Hey! I can be me!” How ironic, isn’t it, that me, playing that character, never had mustered up that courage?
“Instead of feeling the courage to tell you today that I am an out and proud bisexual man because of the character I played for four years, I feel that courage thinking of all of you, who felt emboldened by Cyrus to come out.
“I had a close friend of mine come out to me in fifth grade. FIFTH GRADE! That was well before I had any clue of my own identity and orientation. I suffered with some level of my own internalized homophobia even while playing the first openly gay character on Disney Channel.
“Release it into the world”
“I stuffed the existential crisis of talking about my sexual orientation into a box in my mind for years. Today, I release it into the world.
“Being bi isn’t all of my identity”
The star also used his coming out as an opportunity to bring attention to the life expectancy of trans women of colour – who’s life expectancy is just 35-years-old in some parts of the world.
He continued, “Being bi isn’t all of my identity, nor is it the most important part of my identity. Bi erasure and issues like it are important, but trans women of color still have a life expectancy of THIRTY FIVE YEARS and that is absolutely unacceptable.
“So. I want to encourage you all to donate to GLAAD. Our show wouldn’t have existed in the form that it did without them, but also because their hard work in furthering acceptance in media helps an uncountable number of people”.
