I’m queer. I have a lot of really wonderful friends who are of very different sexes and genders. I am very much in love with no one in particular. I’ve been trying to figure out relationships, you know? I don’t know if it’s responsible for kids of my age to be so aggressively pursuing monogamous binds, because I don’t think we’re ready for them.
"The way I would choose to identify myself wouldn’t be gay," he elaborated in an interview with the Daily Beast. "I’ve been with many people and I’m open to love wherever it can be found."
But Ezra has now opened up about the aftermath of the Out Magazine interview, which people told him was a mistake that would negatively impact his career.
In an interview with Shortlist published on Wednesday, Ezra revealed that people told him coming out was a "silly" thing, and that he had "thwarted [his] potential".
This is an interesting thing to talk about. I was told by a lot of people I’d made a mistake. I won’t specify. Folks in the industry, folks outside the industry. People I’ve never spoken to. They said there’s a reason so many gay, queer, gender-fluid people in Hollywood conceal their sexual identity, or their gender identity in their public image. I was told I had done a "silly" thing in thwarting my own potential to be a leading man ... I was given a lot of stern talking-tos.
And, he said, while those conversations sometimes made him question his decision, he ultimately believes he did the right thing.
"You’ve made a mistake" is such a hard thing to hear. Maybe if I’d actually made a serious mistake? But not for this. I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong, though there have been moments of doubt as a result of those conversations. But what they said was, in fact, "rubbish", as you might say. We are the ones. It’s up to us to manifest the world we want to exist in.
Ezra also explained that, though he's the first person who publicly identifies as queer to play a superhero onscreen (as the Flash in Justice League), he doesn't feel any pressure to be an LGBTQ role model.
"I don’t feel pressure," he said. "Pressure would only come from a dam, or a block. And when I came out I took the block away, removed the dam. I’ve undammed my identity in the world."
