Russell Tovey believes coming out as gay in 2019 ‘is so average it’s incredible’

Russell Tovey came out as gay at the age of 18 but has suggested that nearly 20 years later, the process is no longer ‘special’ as it has become ‘so normalised’.

Russell has long been an advocate for the representation of LGBT characters in the media and the Being Human and Legends Of Tomorrow actor believe that gay marriage and the changing face of LGBT depictions on TV and the big screen have helped.

‘Each generation that comes by, it becomes more average,’ said the 37-year-old.

‘It used to be special and a big thing but now it’s just average – it’s the best thing ever to come out as gay and for it to just be average, what an incredible thing!

‘My nephew is 14 and there are kids in his school who are completely out. He was telling me one of the girls in his year fancies his girlfriend, and he said “yeah, and she fancies my girlfriend so she gives me dirty looks” and I was like, “oh right, and everyone knows in school and it’s fine?” Oh my God, that’s amazing, that’s just so normalised, what an amazing thing!

‘I think gay marriage is what normalised it, it became institutionalised. And the presence of LGBTQI people in the media is a lot broader than 20 years ago as well, gay rights has changed completely – it’s representation and history changes things.’

Russell starred as The Ray in the Arrowverse, a TV franchise based on the DC Comics, and the series has been praised for featuring a number of gay heroes and villains, such as David Singh and the Pied Piper, as well as openly bisexual character Black Canary.

‘If I look back and think about when I was a kid, that would have been a huge thing for me so I felt how incredibly exciting it was to play The Ray,’ says Russell.

‘He was out and comfortable – and that’s when gay roles are most exciting, when it’s not the be all and end all of that character’s persona.

‘The way they handled it was so beautiful.’

Up next for Russell however is a completely different role as he steps into charity work with Magic Breakfast which aims to reach disadvantaged children across the UK and ensure they have access to a healthy breakfast meal at the start of the school day.

He had been looking for a way to work with low incomes families and schools – ‘if you are hungry then you can’t concentrate so how the hell are you supposed to learn? The knock on effect is huge’ – but admits that more needs to be done by the government so the reliance isn’t solely on charities.

‘The government should totally be doing more but if we don’t raise awareness then people won’t know about it and assume it’s all sorted,’ says Russell.

‘But it’s not, not every kid is getting breakfast and it’s not always the parents fault, issues come up so this is a safety net.’

Magic Breakfast offers schools low sugar cereals, fruit, bagels and fruit juices that help set the children up properly, which is especially important for those year groups who in the coming months will be taking SATs.

It’s those years groups who will benefit from the new campaign Russell has now launched, which hopes to raise £60,000 to deliver over 200,000 healthy breakfasts.

‘That school was so inspiring, so beautiful and they had a competition to design a Stephen Lawrence memorial and one of the students won and so it’s in their garden and each year has a vegetable patch and they have a little forest area that they are letting overgrow for the insects – I would send my kids to that school,’ laughs Russell.

It’s clear he’s a big fan of children and he reveals that if by the age of 40 he hasn’t met the right person, he is prepared to become a father on his own.

Russell split from his partner Steve Brockman in 2018 and admits that right now ‘there is no one in my life’ but he’s already thought about the parent he wants to be.

‘I would just want to be hands on all the time,’ he says proudly.