Throughout the entirety of 2017 there have been so many celebrities and public figures who have used their platforms to live their truths and add some much-needed visibility to the LGBT community!
Here are 38 notable people who have made 2017 the year they came out!
The 28-year-old Atlanta rapper (known mostly for his hit song “Tuesday”) came out as gay back in January during a heartfelt string of tweets. His coming out added much needed queer visibility to the genre of hip-hop, but it wasn’t without some backlash, the most notable being homophobic criticism from rap group Migos.
Season 6 RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Gia Gunn came out as trans in an April Instagram post. The emotional video coincided with International Transgender Day of Visibility.
"I can only hope the best for each and every single one of my trans brothers and sisters," Gia said. "Let's be visible."
The beloved Country Music Television personality came out as gay in a January interview with People magazine.
"Country music is so diverse and perhaps the most supportive music industry that exists," Alan told People. "My story’s very real, and that’s what country music is: I live a real life that’s had twists and turns, ups and downs, and it’s kind of a country song in and of itself!"
With the help of his YouTuber boyfriend Michael Pavano (right), professional WWE wrestler Anthony Bowens (left) was able to confront the oppressive hypermasculinity and heteronormativity of the athletic world and come out as bisexual in March.
In a May interview with Out Magazine, Arrested Development actress Alia Shawkat came out as bi.
"How do you identify with these [queer] characters [you've played]?" Out asked her in the interview.
"I was a tomboy growing up, and I remember my mom asking me when I was 10, 'Are you attracted to boys or girls?' I said I don’t know. Now I consider myself bisexual, and I think balancing my male and female energies has been a big part of me growing as an actor,” Alia answered.
Although Survivor: Game Changers contestant Zeke Smith’s public coming out wasn’t on his own terms (he was outed on national TV back in April by a petty cast member who was trying to save himself from elimination), he has found some good in the experience, teaching people in an op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter that gender identity is very personal, and that people should be allowed to live as privately as they want to be.
Shawn Barber, Olympian and Canadian pole vaulting champion, came out as gay in a Facebook post back in April.
"Gay and proud!” Shawn said in the post. “Thank you to my parents for being such a great support. I continue to grow as a person and have a great support group. My parents are my greatest support and have helped me through a lot recently. To my friends, you are always my friends and I love you too!"
Actor Keiynan Lonsdale (known for playing Wally West on The CW’s hit superhero show The Flash) came out as bisexual on Instagram in May.
"I like to change my hair, I like to take risks with how I dress, I like girls, & I like guys" the Australian actor said. "I gotta take the next step & actually embrace who I am, which is pretty exciting. Not faking shit anymore, not apologising for falling in love with people no matter their gender."
The very private singing legend finally opened up about his sexuality and revealed that he is gay in an April interview with People magazine.
Although Kristen Stewart talked about her relationship with Alicia Cargile in an interview in 2016, it wasn’t until her Saturday Night Live appearance back in February of this year that the Personal Shopper and Café Society actress actually called herself “so gay.” Then, in a March interview with The Guardian, she talked more about sexuality fluidity, and how being bisexual isn't confusing for her.
"People still have some horrendous fucking experiences. But it’s cool that you don’t have to nail everything down anymore. That whole certainty about whether you’re straight or gay or whatever," she said. "You’re not confused if you’re bisexual. It’s not confusing at all. For me, it’s quite the opposite."
Daniel Newman, one of the stars on the smash AMC show The Walking Dead, came out as bisexual in March after posting a YouTube video talking about his sexuality.
Shannon Purser, Stranger Things and Riverdale actress, came out as bisexual on Twitter back in April.
Taylor Bennett, Chance the Rapper’s brother who also happens to be a fellow MC, took to Twitter in January to come out as bisexual.
"Growing up I've always felt indifferent about my sexuality & being attracted 2 one sex & today I would like to openly come out to my fans,” he said. “I do recognize myself as a bisexual male & do & have always openly supported the gay community & will keep doing so in 2017. #ThankYou."
The Shameless actress came out as lesbian to The Advocate in May, and opened up about her relationship with comedian Mav Viola.
The creator of the critically-acclaimed Amazon series Transparent and the new show I Love Dick came out as trans in a May interview with The Guardian.
“I identify as trans, which means that I am not seeking to synthesize my appearance with the label assigned to me at birth and instead am opting to live in a space where a label other than male or female is used to define me,” Soloway, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, said.
After being outed by Hannibal and American Gods creator Bryan Fuller (who was speaking on a panel at the LGBT film festival Outfest), Heroes actor Thomas Dekker came out as gay in an emotional July 13 Instagram post.
“My sexual orientation once again came into question this week when a prominent gay man used an awards acceptance speech to ‘out’ me,” Dekker said on Instagram. “While he did not mention me by name, the explicit details of his reference made it easy for the public and media to connect the dots. While it is an odd situation, I thank him because it presents a prime opportunity for me to publicly say that I am indeed a man who proudly loves other men. In fact, this April, I married my husband and I could not be happier.”
Although he’s been out to his family since he was 19, 27-year-old Orphan Black actor Jordan Garavis waited until June of 2017 to publicly come out as gay.
In an interview with Vulture, Garavis offered this explanation:
“I guess that’s where I’m at in terms of coming out publicly: I had this position when I started on the show that it shouldn’t matter. And I believe that. I hope that one day, the world gets to a place where you don’t need to politicize your sexuality any more than someone needs to politicize their race — that we can just act and we can exist in this Zeitgeist, telling stories about one another. And that no one’s afraid, maybe, to come out. But also that no one’s really hyperobsessed with knowing whether or not someone’s gay. That would be an amazing world to live in, where people don’t feel the need to protect themselves and other people don’t feel the need to launch an inquisition.”
Jake Zyrus, the Filipino singer formerly known as Charice, came out as a trans man in mid-June with a simple “Thank You” note on Instagram.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the love and respect,” Jake wrote on Instagram. “I love you back and I'm sending peace to everyone.”
He had previously come out as a lesbian in 2013, and in a 2014 interview with Oprah, talked about his gender identity and about how his “soul is male.”
The former New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs player came out as gay in June during an emotional interview with Outsports.
“People need to understand that we are everywhere. We’re your sons, your daughters, your teammates, your neighbors. And honestly, even some of your husbands and wives. You just don’t know it yet,” he said. “It’s not always easy being honest, but I can tell you it’s much easier and more enjoyable being yourself and not living a lie.”
The founding member of the band LCD Soundsystem came out as a trans woman in early July.
“Over the last year and a half, I went from my trans identity being something I was in touch with and worked through in one way or another, to suddenly this shift where it’s on the front burner,” Russom, who uses female pronouns and her old name, told Pitchfork. “Now it's time to become a whole person.”
NCAA Division I college football player Scott Frantz came out as gay in an interview with ESPN in July.
As Outsports points out, he is only the third active Division I player in history to publicly come out of the closet.
“I’ve never felt so loved and so accepted ever in my life than when I did that,” Frantz said about his coming out. “And ever since then it’s been great. I’ve grown so much closer to my teammates since then.”
In a July interview with NBC, actor Brian Michael Smith (who plays Toine Wilkins on OWN's Queen Sugar) came out as transgender.
"I was really working from an incomplete version of myself," he said. "I was leaning into the parts that were comfortable for me: roles around moving from one town to another or dating and things like that. Things I was comfortable with, I was able to do. It wasn’t that there was any shame or anything like that, I just wasn’t ready to explore that in my work. But the more time I spent doing the acting training and doing a lot of self-investigation and through therapy, I became more comfortable with my entire self as a person."
Continuing, Smith said:
"In my personal life I felt a little bit more complete and accepting of my entire experience, and I wanted to do the same thing in my work. There were a lot experiences I had during my transition and post transition, and I feel that I learned a lot, and I wanted to share that through my work as an artist. I felt that because of the amount of time that I’ve been training and the experiences I’ve been able to collect, I’m at a place as a performer that I could truly bring these things to work. Also, because of the work that you’ve been doing and Laverne Cox and GLAAD have been doing, there are more roles that have trans people in them that are better written and rooted in authenticity. This is definitely the time."
Four-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time WNBA championship-winning basketball player Sue Bird publicly came out as a lesbian in a July interview with ESPN. She even opened up about dating fellow queer athlete and soccer player Megan Rapinoe!
"I'm gay. Megan's my girlfriend," Bird, who has been out to her loved ones since 2002, said. "These aren't secrets to people who know me. I don't feel like I've not lived my life. I think people have this assumption that if you're not talking about it, you must be hiding it, like it's this secret. That was never the case for me."
She continued:
"It's happening when it's happening because that's what feels right. So even though I understand there are people who think I should have done it sooner, it wasn't right for me at the time. I have to be true to that. It's my journey."
The 19-year-old singing sensation (who rose to fame after his cover of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" went viral) came out as gay in a July Instagram post.
"I came to fully recognize that I was gay when I was sixteen," Greyson wrote.
He continued:
"I decided not to publicize my sexuality largely due to a matter of privacy, as I was still trying to find comfort and confidence within my own skin. Further, I always found conversations regarding music, politics, art, books—and the greatness of Nas’ catalog—to be far more interesting than what type of guy I was into. This is still true today. While this message is most definitely overdue, I encourage anyone who is navigating their sexuality to devote as much time as they need to the process of finding self-confidence, self-acceptance, and self-love. Hell, for me, it took years to write this message. Nevertheless, I figured now was the time to let a few more friends know that I am happy, I am here for you, and I am proud of who I am."
Aaron Carter came out as bisexual in a heartfelt post on his Twitter account.
"There’s something I’d like to say that I feel is important for myself and my identity that has been weighing on my chest for nearly half of my life," the “I Want Candy” singer wrote in his statement. "I grew up in the entertainment industry at a very young age, and when I was around 13-years-old I started to find boys and girls attractive.”
In the same week Aaron Carter came out as bi, up-and-coming alternative hip-hop artist Lil Peep also took to Twitter to announce that he is also bisexual.
Only months after coming out, the 21-year-old musician sadly passed away due to an accidental drug overdose.
The BBC sports host and Olympic hurdler did an interview for a Swedish documentary called Rainbow Heroes where he recalled coming out as gay to his parents in 2006. He kept his sexuality out of the public eye for many years because, according to The Guardian, he was afraid of it being "sensationalized."
In early August, Katie Sowers (the NFL's only current female coach) came out as lesbian in an interview with Outsports.
"No matter what you do in life, one of the most important things is to be true to who you are," Sowers said. "There are so many people who identify as LGBT in the NFL, as in any business, that do not feel comfortable being public about their sexual orientation. The more we can create an environment that welcomes all types of people, no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, the more we can help ease the pain and burden that many carry every day."
Sowers, who is the seasonal offensive assistant for the San Francisco 49ers, is also the NFL's first and only openly gay coach.
The Nurse Jackie actor posted a video to Twitter in late August, where he came out as gay and a "total bottom."
"I am a gay, Muslim, Arab, American man," he said in the video. "I'm gonna take it even further. Not only am I gay, but I’m also a bottom. Not only am I a bottom, but I’m also a total bottom, which means I like it up you know where."
After having walked in over 150 fashion shows since 2015, including most recently in the New York Fashion Week, model Teddy Quinlivan opened up in 2017 about being transgender.
"I've decided to reveal my trans identity because of the political climate in the world right now—particularly in the United States," Quinlivan told CNN in September. "We made an amazing progression under the Obama administration, and since the new administration took office there's been a kind of backlash."
She continued:
"There's been violence against transgender people—particularly transgender women of color—since before I even knew what transgender was. I just felt a great sense of urgency. I'm very fortunate to be in (a) position (that) I never really thought I would be. It's really important to take advantage of a time like this."
As a response to seeing anti-marriage equality messages in Australia, actor Brandon Flynn (who plays Justin Foley on the beloved Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why) identified himself as a member of the LGBT community in an emotional Instagram post in September.
He said:
"Just saw the "vote no" message in the sky, looming over Sydney. Thank you for raising money and hiring on a plane to write your lack of support amongst the clouds. I hope your hate and lack of understanding fades, just like those words will. Too many of my friends have been kicked out of their homes, kept in the closet, beat up, killed, ridiculed by church and state, institutionalized... and you are scared that if we vote YES, you won't be able to show your hate for Us. Fuck that. We've been scared shitless our whole lives thanks to all the stigmas that surround Us, stigmas that were set in place by the same kind of people who flew that plane over Sydney. We've fought, we've come out bravely even in our fear, and you wrote a message in the sky because you're scared. Equality takes courage, it worries me that too many people in this world lack the balls to stand up for what is right. #fuckhate"
The original actor who portrayed the hunky yet villainous Adam Carrington in the iconic '80s soap opera Dynasty opened up about being gay in a late-September interview with The Daily Beast.
"It was not until I was nearly 30 that [homosexuality] stopped being classified as a mental illness in the U.S. So you’re dealing with that. And the shame, the breathtaking lack of self-esteem, has only just begun to seep out of my soul," Thomson said about having an acting career while still being in the closet.
Iconic actor and martial artist Jackie Chan's daughter Etta Ng came out as a lesbian in early October in an Instagram post addressed to her fans.
"In case no one got the memo, I’m gay," she said.
Actor Dan Amboyer, from TV Land's Younger, came out as gay in October after tying the knot with his longterm boyfriend Eric Berger. Despite being "strongly advised" to keep all mention of his sexuality a secret, Amboyer had other plans in mind for his happiness.
"Being a young actor in the industry, I had a lot of people who strongly advised me to stay quiet," Amboyer told People Magazine.
He continued:
"It was a hard decision to figure out how to approach it in a public way. There are some actors out there now who just keep it as an unspoken aspect of their life and never discuss it in public. But then there are men like Matt Bomer and Zachary Quinto. I look up to them and see how them being so open affected other people and the country’s perception of gay people. And Nico Tortorella, who is also on Younger, has inspired me by the way he’s become such an advocate for sexual fluidity. I think the more open actors can be the less stigma there will be attached, which will be a positive thing moving forward."
In a distasteful attempt to deflect from a sexual assault scandal, House of Cards star Kevin Spacey came out as gay in late October. After Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making a sexual advance on him when he was only 14, the 58-year-old issued an apology on Twitter:
"I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man," said Spacey. "I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior."
After years of being closeted, British swimmer and former Olympian Mark Foster publicly came out as gay in a late November interview with The Guardian.
"I was closest to my youngest sister and I told her. A year later I told Mum," he recalls. "She cried at first because her immediate reaction was thinking no grandkids and what had she done wrong? But after five minutes she showed unconditional love. She cuddled me and said: 'I love you to bits.'"
"I am transitioning," wrote Geiger in an October Instagram comment in response to a fan's question. "I started talking about it with a couple of my close friends and family about a month ago and it's given me the courage to start the process. I feel like the next step is to tell all y'all.
"So here goes. Love it or hate this is who I have been for a loooooong time. I love u guys."
The True Blood and Queen Sugar actress came out after posting a heartfelt picture on Instagram announcing her engagement to her partner Shonda.
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