‘Oh, Goodness!’: Internet Goof Forces Vine Alum Thomas Sanders To Admit He’s Gay Two Days In A Row
Fans of YouTube darling Thomas Sanders are filled with pride over the bubbly social commentator’s brave admission of being gay in his latest video.
The heartwarming clip entitled “Having Pride” which the Florida native, 28, put together to honor and celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month, begins with a smiling Sanders acknowledging the importance of honoring the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer and/or questioning community, while continuing to grow from the strength from the collective’s movement in order to persevere in the days ahead.
“This month is [LGBTQ] Pride Month and it’s a very wonderful time for me,” Thomas says.
“For me, it’s a wonderful time to educate myself and pay tribute to those [in the LGBTQ community] before us,” Thomas goes on to tell his audience, “[and those who fought] for equality and against oppression, and to be made aware of the struggles that still exist today.”
Later in the video, Thomas holds an impromptu group chat with several of his friends including Joan and Talyn, who identify as non-binary and have popped up in many of Sanders’ others videos, and fellow non-binary actor Jay Harper from Sanders’ Ultimate Storytime, Thomas’ 2016 travelling musical, as reported by the Inquisitr.
Throughout the chat, Thomas and his friends casually converse and answer LGBTQ-related questions that were sent to Sanders’ social media accounts from his “Fanders,” including the very first query, when someone outright poses the proverbial million-dollar question to Thomas Sanders himself.
“Thomas Sanders,” Joan reads from a tweet sent in by a fan.
“Are you gay and why?”
Without missing a beat, Thomas responds, “[Because] I was born that way,” effectively confirming — but as Thomas later tells us, not actually outing — himself as being gay.
“I [have] a running joke where I’ll post something [online] about liking guys and every single time [I do], someone asks me, ‘is this your coming out post,'” Thomas states to the group later in his “Having Pride” video.
“And I’m like, ‘I guess so! If you didn’t it you know it before, well, here’s my coming out post!”
When it came time for Harper to share her story, Jay, like Thomas, also made mention of having to come out as being non-binary more than once in her life, albeit both by choice and as it Jay tells it, in a way that meant more to her than anyone previously realized.
“[I] came out [during] every single [Ultimate Storytime] performance as ‘Mr. Contemptible,’ a male character who is played by a non-binary [actor],” Harper explains in the video.
“I was in the most darkest phase [of my life] coming into that because I was struggling so hard with myself [and] letting other people accept me. I was uncomfortable, but I also wanted to be free.”
After the east coast run of the musical came to an end, Harper says she was able to begin to come to terms with whom she truly was thanks, in part, to Thomas’ ongoing love and support of Harper as a person and good friend, as well as those who came to cheer Thomas and Jay on every single night during the run of Ultimate Storytime.
“[There] were all of these people, these kids,” Jay reveals to an emotional Thomas, “of all types of identities, who absolutely love you. There are people out here who are looking up to me now, the one who was in the dark place, as a light.”
Speaking of things that illuminate, a Wikipedia user who still took it upon themselves to incorrectly categorize Thomas as “bisexual” following the release of the “Having Pride” video was corrected by a befuddled Sanders less than 24 hours after he shared his “Having Pride” video to YouTube.
“Oh, goodness,” Thomas told a fan about the mishap on Twitter.
“I’m gay!”
Check out the very gay and very proud Thomas Sanders’ LGBTQ Pride Month video below.
Note: Non-binary actor Jay Harper says she is comfortable being referred to by both male (“him”/”he”) and female (“she”/”her”) pronouns.
[Featured Image by Dave Kotinsky/Stringer/Getty Images]
