We all remember being a preteen. That time was filled with cheesy cartoons, arguing with friends, and most importantly, High School Musical 1, 2, and 3. These movies were the epitome of entertainment during my preteen era(I remember seeing High School Musical on Ice and dying of bliss). There was an issue though. Chad, Troy Bolton's best friend, and Ryan, Sharpay's twin brother, seem to have something going on. Could this possibly be a hidden gay couple that went unnoticed, or just a fangirl's deluded thoughts? Let's find out.
First off, let's get some background on the two. Chad and Ryan are in the same class, but are involved in wildly different activities. Chad is the co-captain of the basketball team and is best friends with captain Troy Bolton. Ryan is the opposite. He is co-president of Drama Club and he has been in 17 productions with his twin Sharpay. These activities don't indicate anything about a possible gay couple on the surface, but if you dig deeper it'll become clearer.
Ryan being in Drama Club and in musical productions could get the stereotype of being gay since those areas are dominated by females. Those activities are so heavily dominated by females that it has become a common assumption that any guy involved is not straight. You may say well if Ryan is gay because he's involved in theater then the great William Shakespeare must be gay. That could be the case since he is believed to be bisexual due to a sonnet addressed to the "Fair Lord."
Now, you may ask how Chad fits into gay stereotypes. He does because of the song that he and Ryan sing. It's called "I Don't Dance" and in the song Chad gets invited to compete in the talent show by Ryan, but declines because he claims he doesn't dance. The song proves otherwise, and Chad and Ryan dance on a baseball diamond. At the end of the song, you see Chad and Ryan sitting together and smiling. There's a detail a few people fail to notice. Chad is wearing Ryan's clothes, and Ryan is wearing Chad's. That may not seem like a big deal, but how did the clothes get switched in the first place? They would need to be somewhere, together, possibly naked, and they hurry to get dressed, thus causing the switch.
The final piece of evidence is the rumor that Chad was supposed to come out as gay in High School Musical 3, but Disney dropped the idea because a gay character doesn't sell. This was shared in an article on Hollywood.com and the article was aptly titled "16 Things You Never Knew About The 'High School Musical' Series. This little tidbit of information was number 8 on the list.
All of this evidence comes together to support a possibly gay character, and couple, from Disney. This is a huge break for the LGBT community, even if they are making something out of nothing. Fortunately, we will always have the movies that changed my generation, even if there is no gay element.
