#coming-out

#coming-out

2025 is already shaping up to be a big year for queer visibility, with several celebs proudly coming out as LGBTQ+. In June, Modern Family star Aubrey Anderson-Emmons (Lily) came out as bisexual in a TikTok using a scene from the show. In May, singer Lola Young casually came out in response to a hate comment, and KATSEYE's Lara Raj and Megan Skiendiel both came out - Lara calling herself a "Brown, queer girl" and Megan confirming she's bisexual on a livestream.

"Nonna was just trying to figure it out," Grande told Poehler. She was "very accepting, very loving, very celebratory. But she was just trying to figure it out. Because she couldn't believe it. You know, in her mind, he had plenty of girlfriends." "So, she goes, 'Frankie, have you seen a pair of breasts?'" Grande continued, imitating her grandmother's Brooklyn accent. "And he was like, 'Yeah. Yeah, Nonna, I've seen breasts, yeah.' And she goes, 'Didn't do anything for you?' He was like, 'No, Nonna. No.' And she's like, 'Well, you're gay.'"

Many of us idealize a day in which no one needs to "come out," when wherever someone falls on the gender or sexuality spectrum is accepted and embraced. Sadly, today is not that day - the world can be cruel (and often is) to anyone who doesn't fit into the heteronormative bubble. But if you're here, it probably means the last thing you want to do is contribute to the mental and emotional toll put on LGBTQ young people.

DEAR ABBY: My longtime friend let's call her Cindy is six months pregnant and has started sharing name ideas with me. Cindy will hear a word she thinks sounds pretty and decide it will make a great name for her daughter, regardless of the meaning of the word. I had to beg her to stop considering Chlamydia as a name. She finally agreed after I repeatedly emphasized the bullying her daughter could receive over that name.

I'm pretty close with him. I call him every couple of weeks. Usually we have a phone conversation and he asks how New York is, or school, or wherever we are. And in every single conversation he's like, "Do you have a boyfriend? Do you have a boyfriend yet? Where's your boyfriend?"

Earlier this year, IAC Chairman Barry Diller came out as gay in his memoir, Who Knew. Now, is he the first big, fancy businessman to be gay? Certainly not. But because Diller has been married to Diane von Fürstenberg since 2001, the admission generated a fair amount of discourse and made some people (read: me) very jealous. It all started in May, when New York magazine published a touching essay by Diller titled: "Barry & Diane: The truth about us, after all these years."

My home used to be a carefully curated museum of a life I wasn't actually living. The clothes I wore were a uniform, the decor was a decoy, and the entire space felt like a stage set for a character I was exhausted from playing. Coming out of the closet was the curtain call. The most tangible, cathartic part of the process was the great purge that followed - dismantling that set piece by piece.

You may have seen my TEDx talk. If so, you know its premise is having the courage to take a leap. My first story was about the first time I jumped off a high dive at the swimming pool. The second story was the leap of coming out. Both of those were scary. Did they prepare me for leaping out of plane 14,500 feet in the air? Not so much. You can't die from the first two.

Over the past little while, there have been people online trying to define me, twist things, and share conversations in ways that feel harmful. Instead of letting others write my story, I want to share it in my own words. The truth is, over the past few years, I've come to understand and accept that I'm gay. It's taken me a long time to really process this part of myself and even longer to feel comfortable enough to say it out loud.

"I'm here to tell the world today that I am queer. It feels scary, but freeing at the same time," Shoji says, emphasizing his journey of personal acceptance.

I started going by Elliott because at some point I wasn't happy with my first name because it just doesn't feel like me.

"Just as I started mentally planning out my route, a familiar voice cut through the after-school din. 'Woodhouse! I was looking for you.' My head snapped up to see Kaeden Park-Campbell, of all people, standing in front of me."

"I was told by a high up in the world's largest Christian organization that if I didn't end my relationship and denounce my homosexual lifestyle, she would call all the event planners I was already booked with and tell them I was gay and get all my gigs cancelled."