Devery Jacobs didn't have the 'option to be in the closet' — and she didn't want it

Devery Jacobs always knew that she was coming out for more than just herself.

The Echoand Reservation Dogs actor was "never fully in the closet," though she officially came out around the time she was filming American Gods, in which she played a bisexual Two Spirit character named Sam Black Crow. While Jacobs always believed in the importance of being authentic, it was the impact her role would have on her community that would inspire her full revelation.

"I was playing a queer character but I also thought it was important to just be out and as myself. Because that same year, I had read a study from the Trevor Project that was talking about queer youth of color, and of all LGBTQ+2S youth of color, Indigenous youth died by suicide at the highest rate,” Jacobs recently told PRIDE.com as its Grand Marshall for Pride Month. “For me it didn’t really feel like an option to be in the closet."

While Jacobs said she was "still figuring this part of myself out," she knew it was "important for me to be able to have some visibility for that rural native kid on a [reservation] somewhere who feels like they’re trapped or feels like they can’t come out.”

“That was the turning point. I haven’t looked back since, and from that point on, I’ve been able to full-throatedly stand in my queerness and find my place in this community," Jacobs said.

Jacobs said that while she aims to inspire queer Indigenous youth, she also wants them to know that coming out is a deeply personal decision that they should make on their own terms, and that "just because you’re out to some people doesn’t mean you need to be out to everybody. "

"Trust the process and your timing of where you’re at with everything," she said. "If you do choose to come out, [know] that there is a community that is waiting with open arms and is willing to embrace you and ready to have you step into it."