90210 star Brian Austin Green talks about how he supports his gay son in the face of hate

Brian Austin Green describes the experience of parenting his gay son as both “fascinating” and “a challenge.”

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star was a guest on the most recent episode of Lance Bass’s iHeart Radio podcast Frosted Tips, where the conversation turned to parenting. Bass, who has two young twins with husband Michael Turchin, noted that Green’s 21-year-old son Kassius is “out and gay and proud.” He went on to describe Green as “open-minded” and added that he thought Kassius was “lucky” to have such an accepting family.

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As Out notes, Green and 90210 co-star Vanessa Marcil dated from 1999 to 2003, welcoming Kassius in 2002. According to Page Six, Kassius, an actor and content creator, has been open about his romantic life on social media since 2019. Marcil has also celebrated her son’s identity and relationship on social media.

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“So many kids out there don’t get that,” Bass said. “And even if their parents accept them, there’s a lot of times where the kid still knows that they still disagree with it.”

“It’s been fascinating. It’s been a challenge,” Green said. “Just because, honestly, my son being gay—it was unknown for me.”

“I think a lot of people are afraid of the unknown, whereas I’m not,” Green continued. “To me, it’s intriguing. And I want to learn about it.”

Green said that conversations with Kassius helped him understand his son’s experience. “I really wanted to understand the things that seemed so different to me at first,” he said. “And then you realize, ‘Oh, this isn’t different at all.’ It’s just your choice of partner. It doesn’t affect me at all.”

“That’s the thing I’m always trying to beat into people now — it does not affect you,” he added. “Why do you care so much? And why are you trying to somehow bully your feelings and your opinion into something that literally does not affect you at all?”

Green, who also has three children with ex-wife Megan Fox and one with current partner Sharna Burgess, has also defended his younger son Noah against anti-LGBTQ+ and transphobic comments.

“My son, you know, he’s four, and I’ve heard from some people that they don’t agree, they don’t agree with him wearing dresses,” Green said in 2017 after a photo Fox posted on social media drew criticism from conservative trolls. “To them I say, I don’t care. He’s four, and if he wants to wear it, then he wears it. I feel like at four or five, that’s a time when he should be having fun. He’s not harming anyone wearing a dress. So if he wants to wear a dress, awesome.”

The couple’s three children again became a target of anti-LGBTQ+ hate this year when failed congressional candidate Robby Starbuck accused Fox of child abuse, claiming that she “forced” her sons to wear “girls clothes.”

“This person trying to claim this is true is a perfect example of someone with selfish motives that does not care about negatively affecting a parent-child relationship,” Green told TMZ at the time. “As a society I hope we continue to push to be better. This Robby Starbuck person is full of s–t, and I have no idea who he is.”