14-Year-Old Disney Star Comes Out as ‘Queer’ on Social Media

Young Disney Channel star Rowan Blanchard opened up about her sexuality over the weekend, publicly revealing in a series of Twitter posts that she identifies as queer.

The 14-year-old Girl Meets World actress tweeted Saturday that she doesn’t believe in labeling her sexuality, preferring to stick with “just existing.”

“In my life – only ever liked boys,” Blanchard wrote, “however I personally don’t want to label myself as straight, gay or whateva so I am not gonna give myself labels to stick with – just existing.”

When a fan asked her to specify what she meant, Blanchard replied that she identifies as queer:

The actress followed up shortly afterward, saying she had been criticized by other social media users for divulging her sexuality:

Despite her young age, Blanchard has become something of a cultural critic over the last few months. On Friday, the actress penned an essay for Rookie magazine in which she detailed how she has begun to “quit apologizing for existing.”

“My codependent relationship with self-blame and self-deprecation, as a means of self-defense has held me tightly since I can remember,” she wrote. “It has felt safer and less terrifying to silence myself to a degree, than to actually engage with people, and make them take responsibility for their own actions.”

In August, Blanchard wrote an essay about “intersectional feminism,” the different ways in which white and black women experience discrimination.

“Issues that are commonly thought of as feminist issues include sexual assault, rape, abortion, Planned Parenthood, domestic violence, equal education, and the wage gap. Feminists have also adopted marriage equality and gay/lesbian rights as their issue which is wonderful,” Blanchard wrote. “However, with as many issues as feminists have succeeded in adopting, many of us seem to have not accepted the fact that police brutality and race issues are our issues too.”

“I have made a very big point at making sure my personal feminism includes everyone – and educating myself and discussing these topics have really helped,” she said.