Daniel Radcliffe Out for LGBT Suicide Prevention

"I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals," said the actor, star of a new PSA

Harry Potter has turned into quite the upstanding young wizard.

Daniel Radcliffe shot a PSA Friday for the Trevor Project, an organization close to his heart that provides 24/7 suicide-prevention and crisis-awareness services specifically for the LGBT community.

For the record, Radcliffe is not gay, but he says that he has encountered homophobia in his life—and it inspired him to take action.

"I grew up knowing a lot of gay men, and it was never something that I even thought twice about—that some men were gay and some weren't," Radcliffe, 20, told reporters in New York today.

"And then I went to school and [for] the first time...I came across homophobia. I had never encountered it before. It shocked me.

"I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals," he continued. "Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it."

Radcliffe, who first learned of the Trevor Project when he was starring in Equus on Broadway, also made what was deemed a generous donation to the nonprofit last August.

"I have described myself as being 'gently eccentric' and slightly different as a person just because I've had a very different set of influences growing up than anybody else in my peer group did," Radcliffe, whose parents are both actors, said.

"I've always felt very lucky to have the life that I've had. I never had to cope with anything serious about my religion or sexual orientation or anything like that. I think it's important for somebody from a big, commercial movie series like Harry Potter, and particularly because I am not gay or bisexual or transgendered.

"The fact that I am straight makes not a difference, but it shows that straight people are incredibly interested and care a lot about this as well."

Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Milk and Neil Patrick Harris were both elected to the Trevor Project's board of directors last month.

Radcliffe's PSA will be released sometime this spring.