Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (October 31, 2008)

WHEW! HSM’S RYAN IS STILL GAY (SORT OF)
So Ryan Evans, High School Musical’s “artistic” character, made it to the big screen with his gay-ambiguous sexuality more or less intact. In HSM 3: Senior Year, he has to be talked into taking Kelsi to the prom, and eagle-eyed viewers will catch a half-second shot during a dance number where he ogles a shirtless guy. For the rest of the movie, he’s his usual sharply-dressed, choreographing-obsessed self.

Some of Ryan's many wardrobe changes in HSM3

We’ve already wasted too many pixels here at AfterElton.com discussing whether coded-gay Ryan is a good thing or a bad thing. Is it an admittedly imperfect, but still valuable validation of younger gay or theater-inclined teens? Or is it a ridiculous, anachronistic insult put in the movie to salve the conscience of the creators who don’t have the guts to take the series’ message of “be true to yourself” to its most obvious conclusion?

I go back and forth on this myself. (As to whether or not Disney deserves credit for the character of Ryan, when Michael asked what you thought in a recent blog post, 54% of you said “No fricking way”.)

But what does Lucas Grabeel, the actor who plays Ryan, think about all this? He’s still never addressed Ryan’s sexual orientation, but I zipped over to his website where he did have some fascinating things to say to his young fans about a gay character he’s playing in the upcoming Milk:

Lucas Grabeel: I'm sure your parents haven't told you about oppression in the seventies, but it was a real issue. People were KILLED without questions for just being "different". Harvey Milk tried to stop all of that…People at that time thought that being a homosexual meant that you were sick and needed to be healed before you were viewed as a normal citizen. He gave people hope for a bright future of equality by inspiring everyone he encountered. The movie also shows that in 1978 someone was so afraid of change and new hope, that they walked into his office one morning and killed him and the Mayor of San Fransisco. Crazy, Huh?

I know that a lot of you will not understand (until you're older) that in the film industry, as an actor, you play roles. What that means is you completely embody another person and become someone you are not. I'm NOT Ryan Evans. I'm NOT Kelly Kuzio from Veronica Mars, I'm NOT Lex Luthor... I'm Lucas. But when I go to WORK (just like your parents go to work everyday) I assume the character of whom I'm playing and create a story for people to enjoy. In the movie Milk, I PLAY a homosexual... that doesn't mean that I am gay. Sean Penn, one of the greatest actors of our generation, is playing Harvey Milk, a gay character... but He is married to Robin Wright-Penn. (Princess Bride... if you haven't seen that movie see it!!!) Most people in this movie are straight men playing gay men.... Emile Hersch, James Franco, and Diego Luna are just a few....

Lucas Grabeel plays HSM's "Ryan" and also appears in the upcoming Milk

Photo credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage

A lot of us forget that the market for High School Musical isn’t actual teenagers. It’s the under-12 set. There’s absolutely no reason why there can’t be an age-appropriate gay character for these viewers, but let’s face it: many of the parents of the movies’ target audience would go berserk if Ryan was openly gay. If Disney had “gone” there, it would have been the biggest cultural explosion since Brokeback. I can already hear the Billy O’Reilly rant.

I’m not saying that makes what Disney did right. But it does sort of make it unsurprising.

Next page! A rogues' gallery of gay celebrities.