"High School Mil" Director Explas Why Ryan Evans Wasn't Openly Gay | Teen Vogue

Contents:

• THANKS TO WHNEY HOTON, ‘HIGH SCHOOL MIL’ HAS S FIRST GAY ROMANCE
• GAY TEENS ON 'HIGH SCHOOL MIL' SERI HOPE TO BE THE REPRENTATN THEY NEVER HAD
• THE DIRECTOR OF "HIGH SCHOOL MIL" EXPLAED WHY RYAN WASN'T OPENLY GAY AND SAID HE WOULD "COME OUT IN COLLEGE"
• "HIGH SCHOOL MIL" DIRECTOR EXPLAS WHY RYAN EVANS WASN'T OPENLY GAY
• 'HIGH SCHOOL MIL': WHAT LUS GRABEEL SAID ABOUT RYAN EVANS BEG GAY
• DISNEY’S HIGH SCHOOL MIL FALLY TRODUC FIRST GAY ROMANCE
• ‘HIGH SCHOOL MIL’ DIRECTOR KENNY ORTEGA CONFIRMS LUS GRABEEL’S CHARACTER RYAN EVANS IS GAY
• THE HIGH SCHOOL MIL FRANCHISE JT GOT ITS FIRST-EVER GAY COUPLE

THANKS TO WHNEY HOTON, ‘HIGH SCHOOL MIL’ HAS S FIRST GAY ROMANCE

After three h movi, a ncert tour and untls stage productns, the “High School Mil” anchise troduc s first gay love story wh Friday’s episo of “High School Mil: The Mil: The Seri. ”“Today’s world” was the operative amework for approachg a kd of story that never played out the earlier “High School Mil” films, spe many speculatg — and hopg — that the anchise’s origal choreographer character, Ryan, might be gay.

Gay marriage wasn’t legal, so even though seems like that was 50 years away, really wasn’t, ” Rodriguez said.

GAY TEENS ON 'HIGH SCHOOL MIL' SERI HOPE TO BE THE REPRENTATN THEY NEVER HAD

”It wasn’t until 2017’s “Andi Mack” that Disney Channel troduced s first gay ma character middle schooler Cys Goodman. The romance between East High School’s gay teens epens on “High School Mil: The Mil: The Seri” this week wh the but of a tenr love ballad.

Season 1 of “High School Mil: The Mil: The Seri” garnered praise ahead of s 2019 Disney+ premiere for troducg Carlos as the anchise’s first-ever gay teen. Rodriguez stars on the Disney+ seri as stunt choreographer Carlos at Utah’s East High School who ― what was billed as a anchise first at the time of the show’s 2019 but ― is gay.

” So, hdsight, may surprise viewers that “HSM” never clud an openly gay character until now. Disney+/Fred HayThough the origal “High School Mil” featured Ryan Evans (Lus Grabeel), the tw brother of Ashley Tisdale’s Sharpay who was wily assumed to be gay, the character never formally addrsed his sexualy.

THE DIRECTOR OF "HIGH SCHOOL MIL" EXPLAED WHY RYAN WASN'T OPENLY GAY AND SAID HE WOULD "COME OUT IN COLLEGE"

Related: Disney’s new “High School Mil” seri will feature a flamboyantly gay character. High School Mil: The Mil: The Seri won the GLAAD Media Award 2020 for Outstandg Kids & Fay Programmg, part for s reprentatn of a gay lato stunt Carlos, who is played by out actor Frankie A. News·Posted on 1 Jul 2020The Director Of "High School Mil" Explaed Why Ryan Wasn't Openly Gay And Said He Would "Come Out In College""I was ncerned bee was fay and kids that Disney might not be ready to cross that le.

In a new terview wh Variety, director Kenny Ortega opened up about his experience makg the High School Mil seri and said he thought the character of Ryan would have e out as gay later life. A lot of them see both Ryan and Kelsi — who went to prom together and had a subtle romantic storyle High School Mil 3 — as gay. Both Ryan and Kelsie are gay and they were each other's beards for senr year.

n you believe hsm they tried to pass off kelsi, a leral lbian, as a heterosexual who was datg ryan, a leral gay. Ryan om High School Mil has officially been nfirmed as gay and hontly we been knew.

"HIGH SCHOOL MIL" DIRECTOR EXPLAS WHY RYAN EVANS WASN'T OPENLY GAY

Here is the gayt HSM song om the whole three movi. everyone who grew up wh hsm, 10 years later, as adults: He Is Gay.

I Dont Dance Is Gay. But now Ortega has nfirmed Ryan would probably have e out as gay " llege", addg that his character the movi was "ls about g out and jt more about lettg his te lours e forward".

He went on to say that while Disney is "the most progrsive group of people" he's ever worked wh, he had ncerns that they "weren't ready" to have an openly gay character a Disney Channel movie 2006.

'HIGH SCHOOL MIL': WHAT LUS GRABEEL SAID ABOUT RYAN EVANS BEG GAY

I wanted people to thk, "That character's more plex than I thought, " stead of sayg, "Oh, he out pk and you know he's gay.

Even as a teenager watchg High School Mil, was obv to me that Ryan Evans was gay. But now, a later, Disney+'s High School Mil: The Mil: The Seri is givg the LGBTQ+ muny the reprentatn the origals never one, there are at least two gay characters Carlos, a choreographer, and Seb, a teen boy who dns to play the tradnally female role of Sharpay East High School's productn of High School Mil.

Though the movi never addrsed Ryan's sexualy, Lus Grabeel, who played him, seemgly nfirmed the character was gay a 2016 terview wh BuzzFeed. "After readg the script, the first thg I said to [director Kenny Ortega] was, 'OK, Kenny, Ryan's gay, right? I know 's Disney Channel so I'm not really gonna be gay, but I mean, yeah, right?

DISNEY’S HIGH SCHOOL MIL FALLY TRODUC FIRST GAY ROMANCE

Yeah, I knew I was gay high school, but I didn't tell anybody.

‘HIGH SCHOOL MIL’ DIRECTOR KENNY ORTEGA CONFIRMS LUS GRABEEL’S CHARACTER RYAN EVANS IS GAY

"Ryan is not officially gay any of the movi, " Grabeel said.

" Now image how helpful havg out gay characters will be. And by closure, we mean explag why the character, played by Lus Grabeel, wasn't openly gay the movie anchise. Kenny also revealed why he did not feel a versn of the seri wh an “openly gay” Ryan would have been possible when trilogy kicked off 2006.

In the terview, Lus revealed that while he did envisn Ryan as a gay character, he wanted to portray his high school experienc as a close reflectn to Kenny’s own — and that meant not beg openly out. High School Mil had a late addn to Pri Month this year when out director Kenny Ortega revealed an terview that the character of Ryan Evans (played by Lus Grabeel) was gay the trilogy of Disney movi. 'High School Mil' director Kenny Ortega has nfirmed that Ryan Evans (left) was d as gay.

THE HIGH SCHOOL MIL FRANCHISE JT GOT ITS FIRST-EVER GAY COUPLE

While the origal High School Mil film seri featured a character most viewers jt assumed was gay (Lus Grabeel’s Ryan Evans), this new show marks an out and proud LGBTQ character the form of Carlos (Frankie Rodriguez). “I hope that viewers n take away that beg yourself really will get you so much further than tryg to be somebody else, and I thk that n spread across lerally anythg, ” Frankie told back November for his GAY TIMES Amplify ver. “Growg up there wasn’t a lot that I was able to watch on televisn that I uld intify wh, wasn’t really until Will & Grace that I saw gay men on televisn jt livg their liv, and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, they’re normal jt like everybody else’.

While havg an openly gay uple was already a tone for Disney, the pair would soon be makg even more history. The HSM director, who is openly gay himself, nfirmed that Lus Grabeel’s character, Ryan Evans, was as well — even if wasn’t discsed the movi. When the mil film me out 2006, Ortega revealed that he wasn’t sure an openly gay character would’ve been possible.

Kenny Ortega: There are some tertg thgs that have happened my life as a gay man.