June is Pride Month, but why should we only celebrate being out and proud during one month of the year?
WATCH: Cody Simpson defends Miley Cyrus against LGBTQ+ backlash
Celebrities around the world have shown us time and again that being proud of who you are is a 365-day a year gig, and that’s the kind of confidence to live by.
From stars like Dan Levy and Jess Origliasso who are open with their sexualities, to Sam Smith, Elliot Page and Hugh Sheridan who have made waves in the world of gender, these are the LGBTQIA+ celebs inspiring us every day.
Whether they identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, or something else entirely, they’re showing us how beautiful it can be to love the skin you’re in.
Keep scrolling to see all the out and proud LGBTQIA+ celebs that inspire us the most.
Ian Thorpe
“For me, when I did come out, it was amazing to have such a kind of warm embrace from people,” he told The Guardian in 2016.
Kristen Stewart
“It’s cool that you don’t have to nail everything down any more. That whole certainty about whether you’re straight or gay or whatever … You’re not confused if you’re bisexual. It’s not confusing at all. For me, it’s quite the opposite,” she told The Guardian in 2017.
Dan Levy
“My mum asked me over for lunch one day and [asked if I was gay] I said, ‘Yes,’ … She almost knew. My mum and I have a very close relationship in that sense and it almost felt like she knew that I was ready,” he told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live in 2020.
Miley Cyrus
“I felt like the women I ended up being around, the role fit easier for me, because even in my relationship with men, a lot of the times, I kind of hold a more dominant space … I love people, I love who I love, I’ve had relationships with all genders and I’m down. Right now I’m kind of in the mood for some D, but I’m down for whatever, honestly,” she said, via People, in 2021.
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Hugh Sheridan
“I AM still a human (non binary/bi/me/Hughman) but I’m in a monogamous relationship with another human, who I love … I chose zero labels for no other reason except the exclusion, limitations, separation, I believe are all one, deeeeep down,” they said on Instagram in 2021.
Magda Szubanski
“I think this happens to a lot of LGBTQI people, that our potential isn’t realised. When you’ve internalised society’s homophobia, it’s like it corrupts your operating system, is the best way I can describe it,” Magda told Andrew Denton in 2018.
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Jonathan Van Ness
“For me, when I came out as non-binary, I didn’t use ‘they/them’. I am literally OK with ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘they’. I’ve never felt the binary was something I fit into anyway, even though I didn’t know there was anything I could do about it… Sometimes ‘her’ is something I totes want to dim and other times it’s not,” he told Cosmopolitan in 2021.
Tessa Thompson
“I’m attracted to men and also to women … but then later I read about pansexuality and was like, ‘Oh, these are things that I identify with too.’ I’m open to learning more about who I am,” she told Porter magazine in 2018.
Sam Smith
“I’m not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between … I’ve always been very free in terms of thinking about my sexuality, so I’ve just tried to change that into my thoughts on gender as well,” they said on Jameela Jamil’s new Instagram show in 2019.
Jess Origliasso
“For anyone struggling in silence, please know that you are not alone. And no matter what, you are free to be whoever you choose to be without question, or have your sexual preference reduced to fit anyone else’s expectations, or their ‘reality’ of you. We all do our best, and we all learn to open our minds and hearts. To do better and be better. I wish that for everyone,” she wrote on Instagram in 2017.
Anthony Callea
“My sexuality is a part of who I am, not who I am … [I’m] still learning about who I am and when you hone in on that and allow yourself to be in-tune with yourself, self-discovery is a beautiful, honest and scary process all in one,” he told 9Honey in 2019.
Brooke Blurton
“I’m just Brooke and whoever I’m dating is whoever I’m dating. Like it doesn’t matter. That’s always been my mentality even to this day… And I didn’t think I’d be screaming it out on national television, but I’m really happy that I’ve been able to show that representation,” she told Mamamia in 2022.
Jonathan Bailey
“In order to be happy [as an actor] I needed to be straight … I reached a point where I thought, ‘F–k this’, I’d much prefer to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public or be able to put my own face picture on Tinder and not be so concerned about that, than get a part’,” he told GQ in 2022.
Moana Hope
“The way I was raised, those kinds of things were not a thing. If you’re happy then you get on with life, so it’s beyond me that it’s still such a big deal … I was always kicking a football around so I wasn’t interested in romance until I was older. But I always found girls attractive as opposed to men,” she told 9Honey in 2020.
Elliot Page
“All trans people are so different, and my story’s absolutely just my story. But yes, when I was a little kid, absolutely, 100%, I was a boy. I knew I was a boy when I was a toddler. I was writing fake love letters and signing them ‘Jason.’ Every little aspect of my life, that is who I was, who I am, and who I knew myself to be,” he told Vanity Fair in 2021.
Maria Thattil
“I was on this show, talking about this [LGBTQIA+] charity and it didn’t feel right because I knew I wasn’t being honest with myself. If I’m going to put myself out there to talk about inclusion and having the courage to be yourself, then I better start walking the walk,” she told WHO after coming out in 2022.
‘Farmer Dave’ Graham
“Growing up gay in the bush within an extremely conservative and homophobic family and community there were really only two options to being my true self. Move as far away as possible or kill ourselves … I had one goal, which was to show everyone that being gay meant I wasn’t there to hurt or harm anyone. We just wanted to live normal lives,” he told WHO in 2022.
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Fiona Falkiner
“In terms of coming out stories, I feel I was very, VERY lucky. To put it in context I am 36-years-old and I had only ever taken two guys home to meet Mum and Dad so they were always a bit worried about me and my love life … I think in the long run they were just happy that I was happy and had found someone I loved, and who loved me equally back,” she told news.com.au in 2019.
Jack Vidgen
“[I was] 14, 15-years-old, I was watching the [Mardi Gras] parade with mum just in my mind going, ‘Am I gay?’ This was way before I came out … Getting to watch the parade, there’s all these little things that kind of build you up and lead you to the point to feel comfortable to come out,” he told the Daily Mail in 2021.
Ruby Rose
“For a long time, I thought there was something a bit wrong with me, or that I wasn’t the gender I was meant to be. It took years, but eventually, I came to a place where I went: ‘OK, I think I’m just very androgynous and very in tune with the masculine energy’,” she told The Guardian in 2021.
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