Dan Kloeffler, an ABC News correspondent and occasional anchor on the overnight “World News Now” — inspired by actor Zachary Quinto’s announcement this weekend that he is gay — has publicly acknowledged that he too is gay.

During the early morning broadcast on Monday, Kloeffler, 35, joked that he might drop his rule about dating actions after delivering the news of Quito’s coming out.

Later, on his ABC News blog, Kloeffler wrote:

I’ve never shared that I’m gay on-air, even though I’ve been out to my family, friends and co-workers for years. In fact, an old boyfriend – now best friend – has always given me a hard time about not doing so. But for the same reason that Zach decided to come out, I too, no longer wanted to hide this part of my life.

There have been too many tragic endings and too many cases of bullying because of intolerance. As a kid I wanted someone to look up to, someone that could relate to the feelings I was having. Most of all, I wanted to know that it would get better.

And it did.

As a journalist, I don’t want to be the story, but as a gay man I don’t want to stand silent if I can offer some inspiration or encouragement to kids that might be struggling with who they are.