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Actress Maria Bello (Permanent Midnight, Payback, Coyote Ugly, The Cooler, A History of Violence, Thank You for Smoking) came out as bisexual in a NYT column about coming out to her 12-year-old son Jack. "So are you romantic with anyone right now?" he asked.  I took a deep breath, knowing that my answer, and his response, would have an impact on our lives for a very long time.He was right; I was with someone romantically and I hadn't told him. I had become involved with a woman who was my best friend, and, as it happens, a person who is like a godmother to my son. How and when should I tell him? When I explained the situation to a therapist, she smiled and said, "Your son may say a lot of things about you when he's older, but he will never say his mother was boring."  Her advice was to wait until he asked. And now here he was, asking.    Bello's decision to come out while consciously eschewing a label is a sentiment echoed by many of those on this year's list who felt no need to declare themselves L-G-B or T but still found it necessary for some reason, like Hot97 DJ Mister Cee, to declare their "sexual freedom".

British Olympic diver Tom Daley came out of the closet in December in a 5-minute video posted to his YouTube account in which he says that some of the past statements he has made denying he is gay bothered him, so he wanted to speak out and feels it's time:  "Come spring this year my life changed massively when I met someone and they made me feel so happy, so safe, and everything just feels great - and well that someone is a guy. And it did take me by surprise a little bit. It was always in the back of my head that something like that could happen but it wasn't until the spring of this year that it clicked, felt right. Like I said, my whole world just changed, right there and then. And of course I still fancy girls but right now I'm dating a guy, and I just feel safe, and it really does just feel right. Is it a big deal? I don't think so."  Daley chose not to label himself with 'gay, bisexual', or any other term that might define him.The British Olympic diver Tom Daley told UK talk show host Jonathan Ross, "Everything is all pretty new so I don't see any point in putting a label on it - gay, bi, straight, any of those kind of labels. All that I feel happy about at the moment is that I'm dating a guy and couldn't be happier, it shouldn't matter who I'm dating and I hope people can be happy for me."  

Actress Michelle Rodriguez put an end to years of speculation with a blunt statement to EW in October in which she refused a label but said she's fluid in her sexuality:  "I don't talk about what I do with my vagina, and (the media are) all intrigued. I've never walked the carpet with anyone, so they wonder: What does she go with her vagina? Plus, I play a butchy girl all the time, so they assume I'm a lesbo...Eh, they're not too far off. I've gone both ways. I do as I please. I am too f---ing curious to sit here and not try when I can. Men are intriguing. So are chicks."  Rodriguez echoed that fluidity in a characteristically blunt manner, responding to people who call her a "lesbo": "Eh, they're not too far off. I've gone both ways. I do as I please. I am too f---ing curious to sit here and not try when I can. Men are intriguing. So are chicks."

Jacob Rudolph, a high school senior in Parsippany, New Jersey, came out of the closet to his entire class at their awards ceremony in January. The video of Rudolph's coming out has since been viewed more than 1.8 million times.   Said Rudolph in the clip: "Sure I've been in a few plays and musicals, but more importantly, I've been acting every single day of my life. You see, I've been acting as someone I'm not. Most of you see me every day. You see me acting the part of 'straight' Jacob, when I am in fact LGBT. Unlike millions of other LGBT teens who have had to act every day to avoid verbal harassment and physical violence, I'm not going to do it anymore. It's time to end the hate in our society and accept the people for who they are regardless of their sex, race, orientation, or whatever else may be holding back love and friendship. So take me leave me or move me out of the way. Because I am what I am, and that's how I'm going to act from now on."  Rudolph was feted for his bold move, appearing on MSNBC with Thomas Roberts and on Anderson Cooper's daytime talk show.  Rudolph also proved himself a leader by taking his high-profile status to the New Jersey legislature and testifying for S2278, the bill that was later passed banning gay conversion therapy for minors.High school senior Jacob Rudolph went another route, adopting all the labels. He told his high school class, in a video that went viral: "I've been acting every single day of my life. You see, I've been acting as someone I'm not. Most of you see me every day. You see me acting the part of 'straight' Jacob, when I am in fact LGBT."

Rudolph later told Thomas Roberts: "I intended to come out as an LGBT and not say bisexual or gay or straight because I feel like those are the labels of the past. Especially in modern times when people are really questioning who they like and what they like I think that saying 'I'm bisexual', it could change in the future, I could be exclusively for one sex or another. So I think that putting it in a more general term like LGBT is extraordinarily appropriate even though I'm not a lesbian or a transgender."

But while the eschewing of labels is a major trend this year, there are still plenty of people happy to declare, "I'm gay" — though fewer are doing it on the front covers of magazines and many more are using more subtle forms of delivery, like the mention of a "husband" or "partner' buried in the third page of a magazine profile, or by posting an Instagram photo with a significant other.

One thing is certain. The act of coming out in 2013 remains as powerful as ever. Though tolerance, acceptance and equality have made great strides this year, there are still many pockets of the U.S., and certainly many countries abroad where LGBT people are forced to hide because being open about their sexuality would threaten their lives and their livelihoods.