If you grew up in the mid-2000s, then you probably definitely know about High School Musical.
The popular Disney Channel musical-movie franchise launched the careers of heartthrob Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Tisdale, and made many the theater kids feel seen and celebrated!
One character in particular—Sharpay's twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel)—made many Broadway-loving queer folks feel like they could finally relate to someone one screen for once, and although there was nothing ever mentioned about Ryan's romantic relationships, queerness, or sexuality in the original trio of HSM films, with performances like this...
...and this...
...there really is no denying that Ryan was a veritable queer icon in his own right.
But now, fast forward to 2020, and it looks like HSM stans are finally going to get the confirmation they've needed...
In a recent interview with Variety, openly-gay choreographer and filmmaker Kenny Ortega (who directed all three HSM films) went on the record about Ryan.
"The character of Ryan in High School Musical, Sharpay’s twin brother, we decided he’d probably going to come out in college," he said when asked about the very queer aesthetic found in all of his movies, even if it's not explicitly stated. "It was less about coming out and just more about letting his true colors come forward."
When asked about whether he thinks it would be possible for Ryan to have been openly game at the time the first film was released back in 2006, Ortega continued: "I have to be honest with you. I didn’t think at the time — and Disney is the most progressive group of people I’ve ever worked with."
"I was concerned because it was family and kids, that Disney might not be ready to cross that line and move into that territory yet," he said. "So, I just took it upon myself to make choices that I felt that those who were watching would grab. They would see it, they would feel it, they would know it and they would identify with it. And that is what happened."
While it sucks there was no explicit mention of him being gay when the movies originally came out (can you imagine how big of an impact that would have been, especially in the mid-2000s?!?), when it comes to Ryan's sexuality, many, many, many High School Musical fans have already been knew...so it's still always nice to get at least some confirmation, even all these years later!
