‘Power Rangers’: David Yost on Why a Gay Superhero Is a Step Forward – The Hollywood Reporter

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As the Mighty Morph Power Rangers celebrat s 20th anniversary, David Yost, the actor who played the origal Blue Ranger, shar the story of how he overme bullyg Hollywood, suicidal tennci, and a nervo breakdown on the road to acceptg himself as a gay man.

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ORIGAL BLUE POWER RANGER DAVID YOST ON GAY REPRENTATN NETFLIX'S POWER RANGERS RNN SPECIAL

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Related: A mighty morphg marriage proposal for the gay Power Rangers.

THE POWER RANGERS INTRODUC ITS FIRST GAY CHARACTER

David Yost, the origal Blue Power Ranger, opens up about beg harassed on set for beg gay and how fans have been helped by his journey. * power rangers that are gay *

A clip om the episo shows the other characters fdg out that their fellow Ranger is gay when she walks off holdg her girliend’s hand. And jt last year, reports were circulatg that the follow-up Power Rangers film was set to clu a transgenr ranger the st and that the Blue Ranger was gog to be wrten as a gay character, though no new velopments on those onts have surfaced sce then.

Origal Blue Power Ranger David Yost on gay reprentatn Netflix's Power Rangers rnn special "It's taken a long time to get there, " says the actor, who me out as gay after leavg Mighty Morph Power Rangers 1996. In the begng, I certaly didn't want people to know that I was gay, " he said.

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""I put myself through nversn therapy bee I didn't wanna be gay. LGBTQIA+ pertas llectively to people who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer (or those qutng their genr inty or sexual orientatn), tersex, and asexual. Riley Griff's actor, Michael Taber, stated that he portrayed the character as gay and as "havg a thg" for Chase Randall.

GAY ‘POWER RANGERS’ STAR TEAS ‘AWOME’ LGBTQIA2S+ CONTENT NETFLIX RNN FILM

Monty's actor, Caleb Bend, stated that he portrayed the character as gay and as havg a csh on Victor Vcent. ↑ 'Power Rangers' Gay Character Storyle: Yellow Ranger Plot Explaed | Hollywood Reporter Tri om the movie. X-Men’s Northstar, the first openly gay character om eher DC or Marvel, was troduced the ics 1992.

Supergirl, which is om openly gay producer Greg Berlanti, jos fellow Berlanti CW shows Legends of Tomorrow and Arrow featurg LGBT characters. Origal Blue Ranger actor David Yost, who is openly gay and left the 1990s Power Rangers seri after facg harassment over his sexual orientatn, praised the new film for s clivens. Power Rangers on the heels of Disney’s Bety and the Beast live-actn remake, which Josh Gad plays Disney’s first-ever gay character, LeFou.

In the sci-fi movie world, last year’s Star Trek Beyond revealed that Sulu (played by John Cho the rebooted Star Trek movie universe), was gay. Warng: The article ntas referenc to homophobia and suici.

BLUE POWER RANGER DAVID YOST ON GAY NVERSN THERAPY, G OUT, AND FDG PEACE

David Yost, who played Billy, the Blue Ranger, knew he was gay while workg on the show and had to take preutns to make sure no one would fd out. “I said I’m not gonna be gay, I’m gonna foc on my reer.

Yost rells overhearg producers and -stars watchg footage of him and throwg out homophobic slurs. The emotnal toll Yost alt wh exemplifi what was like for many gay people Hollywood at the time.

“Everybody thks everybody Hollywood is accepted and s great to be gay.

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That homophobia me to a head durg productn of the show’s fourth season, Power Rangers Zeo. It was a major step down for the character and Yost feels was part bee many the productn staff believed that bee he was gay he uldn’t be a superhero. ” However, durg a panel at Power Morphin 2012, Pagter played d clips om behd the scen on the show cludg one that featured a homophobic slur.

The harassment Yost faced sent him to a eper darkns and he spent many years tryg to “get rid of” his sexualy, cludg many versns of the horrific “Pray the Gay Away.

POWER RANGERS' GAY MOMENT IS A GOOD STEP, BUT A SMALL ONE

While gay character and relatnships, nor a gay actor like Yost, weren’t acceptable on the seri, straight characters and relatnships were.

Marchand, who was an out lbian at the time, and the other wrers knew a gay Ranger was never a possibily at the time but 2004’s Power Rangers Do Thunr they troduced Hayley, the team’s rint tech expert. We were startg to thk, uld we, any pacy, troduce a gay character on this show?

In an terview wh Den of Geek, Marchand crg at the memory, parg to the famo Hays Co of early Hollywood that effectively banned direct reference or posive portrayal of gay characters films outsi of ep subtext. The memory also provok great tratn om Marchand who knew that many executiv at Disney durg that time were gay but, “ jt wouldn’t have flown. Acrdg to Bend there ially wasn’t any reactn to him playg Monty as gay sce was “obv” to anyone who’d read the script.

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Wele the First Out-Gay Power Ranger! - INTO .

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