Over the years, many LGBTQ celebrities have used their fame as a platform for human rights. In opening up about their sexuality or gender identification, celebrities have helped young people come out, and they’ve changed how society views the LGBTQ community.
To honor these pioneers, we’ve rounded up 20 of the most influential LGBTQ icons throughout the years – from Freddie Mercury to Amandla Stenberg.
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Frank Ocean is one of only a few openly bisexual hip-hop artists – and certainly the most famous. He started his career with Tyler The Creator’s hip-hop collective, Odd Future. He’s released three major albums – Nostalgia, Ultra, Channel Orange, and Blonde – all of which garnered critical acclaim, but lays low as an artist with only a few high-profile features here and there.
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Ellen has been able to seamlessly blend her passion for entertainment and activism over the years, producing beloved TV shows and hosting awards ceremonies while supporting organizations like Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
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When Marsha P. Johnson wasn’t fighting for LGBTQ rights, she was modelling for Andy Warhol and performing on stage at drag shows. One of her defining moments was during the Stonewall Uprising in 1969, when she fought back against a police raid at Stonewall Inn, and helped incite the gay liberation movement.
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As the primary anchor on CNN, Anderson Cooper is arguably the most recognizable active American Journalist. In 2012 Cooper came out as gay, and did so with such grace that he was asked for guidance on coming out by another high-profile individual: Apple CEO Tim Cook.
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As with many flamboyant rock-n-roll superstars, Freddie Mercury’s sexual orientation was often questioned. Although he never officially came out, Freddie is still considered an icon in the LGBTQ community.
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Amandla Stenberg rose to fame when she nailed the part of Rue in The Hunger Games (and made us all cry), but she’s been making waves off-screen too. She openly discusses her identification as non-binary, and was even named “Feminist of the Year” by the Ms. Foundation for Women at just 16.
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Jim Parsons, one of the biggest names in primetime TV thanks to his starring role on The Big Bang Theory, has kept his personal life and marriage to art director Todd Spiewak mostly out of the public eye. He’s said his relationship is “an act of love, coffee in the morning, going to work, washing the clothes, taking the dogs out—a regular life, boring love.” In 2017, Parsons made it official by marrying Spiewak in New York.
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Neil Patrick Harris has somehow found time to be a star on How I Met Your Mother and A Series of Unfortunate Events while supporting a spate of LGBTQ organizations including The Trevor Project and Live Out Loud organization.
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Married in 2014, he and partner Davd Burtka are parents to twin, Gideon and Harper Grace.
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As the child of Sonny Bono and Cher, Chaz Bono’s coming out and following sex-change was highly publicized. Chaz became an icon when he used that publicity as a platform for LGBTQ rights. He is now a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, and a former writer at large for The Advocate.
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You might know her for being the hilarious co-creator and star of Portlandia, but Carrie Brownstein is also a very accomplished musician as well. She’s been in many bands over the years – most recently Wild Flag – and was named one of the 25 “Most Underrated Guitarists of All-Time” by Rolling Stone magazine in 2006.
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George Takei played Hikaru Sulu, the helmsman of USS Enterprise on Star Trek, before coming out decades later in 2005. But even before coming out, Takei supported LGBTQ organizations such as Frontrunners, and has continued to be a powerful, outspoken member of the LGBTQ community even today at 81 years old.
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Raven Symone has been acting and singing for decades, starting with The Cosby Show back in 1989. She’s worked on platinum and even double-platinum albums like The Cheetah Girls in 2003. However, she’s best known for her incredibly lovable show, That’s So Raven (which is still just as good, by the way).
Symone has been in relationships with women throughout her career, but chooses not to label herself as a gay or African-American, and rather as an “American” and a “human who loves humans.”
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Andy Cohen’s skills as a lively talk show host and reality producer have kept us watching The Real Houswives and Watch What Happens Live for years, but his bravery in coming out as the first gay talk show host makes him an LGBTQ icon.
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Darryl Stephens is best known for playing Noah on Noah’s Arc, a dramedy following the daily lives of four African-American gay men.
Fun fact: Darryl Stephens is the nephew of Yusuf Bey, a prominent black Muslim activist in Oakland, California.
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After a record breaking career in college basketball at Southeastern Louisiana University, Robin Roberts turned to journalism. She rose from being a sports anchor in the small town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to ESPN, to being the anchor of Good Morning America. A few years ago, the Equality Forum named Roberts as an Icon of the LGBT History Month.
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After becoming a TV star and sex symbol as Jackson Whittemore on Teen Wolf and leading CW’s Arrow, Colton Haynes came out as gay in 2016.
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Wilson Cruz, better known as Rickie Vasquez on My So-Called Life, has had a highly successful career as an actor and gay rights activist. Although he’s not an A-lister, Cruz has been in dozens of huge TV shows over the past 20 years – most recently 13 Reasons Why.
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Stand-up Comedian, actress, and musician Margaret Cho has been a loud force in LGBTQ rights over the years. In 2000, she was awarded the Golden Gate award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and has since garnered several awards for her work as an activist from organizations including the National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union.
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Ricky Martin has achieved worldwide fame with Latin-American hits like “Maria” and “Livin La Vida Loca,” but has also been a vocal member of the LGBTQ community after coming out publicly in 2010. In 2016, he announced his engagement to Syrian Swedish painter Jwan Yosef on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
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Mr. Smithers, the sycophantic assistant to Mr. Burns, was a closeted gay man for over 20 years (although some of The Simpsons producers called him “Burns-sexual”). But in 2016, Mr. Smither’s finally came out in an episode called “The Burns Cage.”
Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox