Is Daniel Durant gay? His sexuality detailed
Daniel Durant didn’t qualify for the finals of Dancing With The Stars. Still, he left an indelible mark on the show: during one performance, Durant and his partner, Britt Stewart, danced without music, demonstrating how dancing felt for deaf people like Durant. The performance received near-perfect scores from the judges.
Derek Hough, who was moved to tears, said: “Daniel, that was so insanely powerful. Because it made me realize how much I depend on the music, and so to share that experience, that was impactful, man.”
“I really want to give the audience and the judges an idea of what it’s like to dance from a deaf perspective,” Durant said in footage shot during rehearsals.
Daniel’s sexuality is unclear, though he reportedly dated a girl in the past
Daniel’s sexuality is unclear, and he’s reportedly single. A September 2015 interview with The New York Times implied that Daniel’s girlfriend at the time inspired him to start posting videos on YouTube.
The interviewer revealed that Daniel’s ‘online storytelling began as video dispatches to a long-distance girlfriend.’ “I decided to create American Sign Language stories and jokes on YouTube and just throw them out there for the hell of it,” Durant said.
Durant reportedly had no qualms about getting paired with a male dancer in Dancing With The Stars. Lori, Daniel’s mom, told GLAAD:
“He’s like ‘I’d be happy with either [a man or a woman],’ and I was like so proud. I knew he was inclusive but just to have it really share that and be sincere about it was like so cool.”
Durant is deeply appreciative of the LGBTQ+ community
Durant’s biological parents, who were deaf and struggling with addiction, abandoned him at a neighbor’s house when he was nine months old. Nine months later, he was adopted by his paternal aunt and her female partner. He talked to The New York Times about growing up with two moms:
“I would change absolutely none of it, because I am proud of being deaf and I am proud of being raised by my loving mothers. Who wouldn’t want more moms?”
Daniel often speaks glowingly about his parents, Lori Durant and Mary Engels. The couple attended the premiere of Dancing With The Stars to support Durant. Daniel told Pride that his mothers saved him and he owes a lot to the LGBTQ+ community:
“The LGBTQ+ community has supported me when I was growing up and now it’s my turn. I’m here for you all. I want to support everyone and represent for us. All of us need to love each other. We’re all human.”
Durant described being in a diverse Dancing With The Stars season as ‘beautiful’: the series featured its first drag queen contestant, Shangela, and its first all-male pairing. Daniel told GLAAD:
“I support Shangela and I support the LGBTQ+ community because I was adopted by my mums, and I became successful because of them – really they saved me from a sad situation. I could have had a way worse life.”
