Noah Schnapp has attended his first ever Pride parade in New York, five months after he came out as gay.
The Stranger Things star shared that he was gay on social media in January, after confirming that his character in Netflix’s sci-fi series is also gay.
On Monday (26 June), Schnapp shared a series of photos to Instagram after attending NYC Pride for the first time the day before.
The 18-year-old was pictured wearing a black vest that reads “Straight Outta The Closet” in rainbow colours, along with a rainbow-patterned headband.
In the first image, Schnapp is shown dancing in the street while water sprays above him, surrounded by other rainbow-clad revellers.
He also shared images of him and his mother Karine embracing and jumping in a swimming pool.
The posts delighted Schnapp’s fans, with actor Katherine Langford writing: “Happy Pride [heart emojis].”
“Yess!! Welcome [heart emojis],” added Anne with an E star Amy Beth McNulty.
“Happy pride, Noah!!! so happy for you,” one fan wrote.
“The pure joy in that first picture is so beautiful,” another added.
Fans were also quick to defend Schnapp against homophobic trolls in the comment section.
“People that say they’re going to unfollow him just because of his sexuality need to grow up,” one fan wrote.
Another said: “These comments are not the vibe anyway, happy Pride y’all.”
“All these homophobes in the comments are embarrassing,” one commenter added.
Schnapp came out in January— (Getty Images)
Before coming out as gay, Schnapp confirmed in June 2022 that Will Byers, his character on Stranger Things, was “100 per cent” gay.
On TikTok, Schnapp shared a clip of himself lip-syncing to the audio: “You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious.”
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He wrote over the video: “When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was ‘we know’.”
Schnapp captioned the post: “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.”
NYC Pride took place on Sunday, with the year’s theme being Strength in Solidarity. Christina Aguilera was the headliner at this year’s event.
Pride in London takes place in the English capital on Saturday (1 July), with a march starting at Park Lane and ending in Whitehall. You can find the official route here.
At least 1.5 million people are expected to take to the streets to cheer on the parade. Adam Lambert will be headlining this year’s Pride in London.
The Independent last month announced a year-long news partnership with Pride in London, including the relaunch of The Pride List, a celebration of influential LGBT+ changemakers.
The list includes Lioness Beth Mead, comedian Joe Lycett, comedian Jordan Gray, Grammy-winning singer Sam Smith, model and activist Munroe Bergdorf, former professional footballer Jill Scott and presenter Paul O’Grady, who died this year.
Pride in London’s 2023 campaign is called Never March Alone: Championing Trans Allyship.
