'It hit me like a gut punch': Walking Dead star Daniel Newman comes out as gay on Twitter... before explaining why in powerful YouTube message

He's helping mobilize an army against oppressors and monsters — and not just on The Walking Dead.

Daniel Newman came out as gay on Twitter on Thursday night, and followed it up with a powerful message explaining why on YouTube.

The 35-year-old explained that he was volunteering at a homeless youth center when a young woman thanked him for supporting the LGBT community, even though he was straight. 

When he told her he was gay, she immediately asked: 'Why have you never said that publicly before? You could help change our lives'.

'It hit me like a gut punch. It felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me,' he recalled.

'And I I realized how important it is in this day and age to be visible; have people know who you are.

'When you are accomplishing incredible things and you are hiding who you are, you are hurting hundreds of millions of people,' he said.

He claimed that around the world there was an estimated 300million to 700million LGBT.

'That's larger than any army ever in history,' he proclaimed. 'Do you realise how powerful that is?'

He said LGBT who 'stay quiet' are partially to blame for kids getting beat up and ridiculed, stereotypes and stigmas.

The reason he did not 'come out' until now, he explained, was because he was raised in Irish Catholic family, in a farm town in Georgia in the South.

'It wasn't even about homophobia or anything; you just keep your private life private. So that's the way I've always been. 

'But now is not the time any longer to keep it private,' he added. 'Everybody needs you. I need you.' 

He credited the "effeminate, sissy" guys who were forced to come out because they couldn't hide their sexuality as  - ironically - being the strongest; but he urged those who were 'trying to fit in with normal society' to come out to show the entire spectrum of the LGBT community.

He pointed to his own example where as an actor, people discouraged him from coming out because it would put his career in jeopardy.  

'The whole world, the industry, is like, "Here’s your big break, you’re on ‘The Walking Dead,’ you can’t come out, you can’t be in the press, because everything you work so hard for is going to be gone. There’s no gay or bi leading men, no action heroes, your career’s going to be over."

'I don’t care. Because I know what’s right. I'm standing with you guys.'

He concluded by calling on everyone to show their support on social media with the hashtag #outandproud.

Daniel, who plays Kingdom member Daniel in TWD and Daniel Warren in The Vampire Diaries, has also appeared in Sex And The City, Homeland, Heroes and One Tree Hill.