Darren Criss is opening up about his upbringing and relationship with the LGBTQ+ community.

The 37-year-old Glee alum, who identifies as straight, opened up about growing up in San Francisco, Calif. and starring in the hit musical series at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) on Saturday (April 27) in Chicago, Ill.

When asked about his character Blaine’s groundbreaking same-sex relationship on the show with Kurt (Chris Colfer), he reflected: “It was f—ing awesome…. Nowadays, we just call it a relationship on TV. But to contextualize it, a gay relationship on mainstream Fox, that’s a pretty cool thing to be a part of.”

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“I have been so culturally queer my whole life,” he continued, via EW.

“Not because I’m trying — you know, actually, I was gonna say not because I’m trying to be cool but I’m gonna erase that, because I am trying to be cool. The things in my life that I have tried to emulate, learn from and be inspired by are 100 percent queer as f—. It was in queer communities that I’ve found people that I idolize, that I want to learn something from,” he said.

“And I’d say that’s a gross generalization, that’s a lot of things and a lot of people. But I grew up in San Francisco in the ’90s. I watched men die. There was an awareness of the gay experience that was not a foreign concept to me. So, it was a narrative that I cared deeply about,” he continued.

“[I wasn't] like, ‘I’m the man for the job,’” he explained of his role. “They hired me…They said, ‘You’re the guy,’ and I said, ‘Okay, I’m the guy, I will do my best. I will do my best to talk about it in the way I believe and a way that I’m passionate about.’”

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