Support groups

One of this year's courageous lawmakers, Nevada Senator Kelvin Atkinson (D-North Las Vegas) came out of the closet during a floor speech debating a bill that would repeal a constitutional provision passed by voters in 2002 banning same-sex marriage. Said Atkinson: "I'm black. I'm gay...I know this is the first time many of you have heard me say that I am a black, gay male...If this hurts your marriage, then your marriage was in trouble in the first place."

Olympic champion figure skater Brian Boitano came out publicly on December 19, 2013:  "I am currently skating in Europe but want to provide a statement regarding my appointment to the US Olympic Sochi Delegation.  I have been fortunate to represent the United States of America in three different Olympics, and now I am honored to be part of the presidential delegation to the Olympics in Sochi.  It has been my experience from competing around teh world and in Russia that Olympic athlets can come together in friendship, peace and mutual respect regardless of their individual country's practices. Boitano becones the third openly gay member of the Sochi delegation, which also includes tennis icon Billie Jean King and women's ice hockey silver medalist Caitlin Cahow. 

Kristin Beck, a former member of the elite U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6, who earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, and served in the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, (though retired shortly before that raid) made headlines when she revealed her gender transition in a book called Warrior Princess in June. Beck decided to undergo hormonal therapy shortly after retiring in 2011, and came out to colleagues by posting a photo of herself on LinkedIn. Support flooded in shortly thereafter, according to "The Atlantic": Soon, the responses from SEALs stationed all around the world suddenly started pouring in: "Brother, I am with you ... being a SEAL is hard, this looks harder. Peace" * "I can't say I understand the decision but I respect the courage. Peace and happiness be upon you...Jim" * " ... I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you that Kris has all the support and respect from me that Chris had ... and quite possibly more. While I'm definitely surprised, I'm also in amazement at the strength you possess and the courage necessary to combat the strangers and 'friends' that I'm guessing have reared their ugly heads prior to and since your announcement. ..."  Beck's unique story brought attention to the plight of transgender service members, who are banned from serving openly or entering military service.

Just one of several people inspired enough by the plight of LGBT people in Russia to come out of the closet in response, Belle Brockhoff, a 20-year-old Australian snowboarder with Olympic dreams, announced she is gay in August:  "I have a feeling that I would have to kinda go back into the closet a little bit because I don't want to risk my, like, you know, safety, being arrested or deported. I want to be able to compete and live my dream and become an Olympian. That's always what I've wanted to do. ... I honestly find it a little bit disrespectful and a little bit sad not only to me but to other athletes and it's my dream, and I want to be able to be who I am, I want to be proud of who I am and be proud of all the work I've done to get into the Olympics and not have to deal with this kind of law."

Like Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff, Anastasia Bucsis came out in response to Russia's anti-gay laws and the controversy surrounding the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.  A Canadian Olympic speed skater, Bucsis had been out to family and friends but was prompted to make a public statement by what is going on in Russia.  Said Bucsis:  "I could never promote that message of concealing who you are with all of this going on in Russia. I'm kind of happy that I did it on my own terms."

Mister Cee, the hip hop producer and DJ from NYC's Hot 97 was wrapped up in a scandal in September involving the solicitation of a trans sex worker which led to his resignation (and eventual rescinding of that resignation) from the station. The controversy prompted him to address his fluid sexuality in a four-minute PSA about sexual health and STD testing for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.  "The decision I've made this week to open up about my sexuality has definitely been the most difficult thing that I've ever had to do in my life. But I felt like this was the time to do it personally and professionally. For me, I felt worried about how my family would be affected, how my coworkers, and my friends, and even my fans would be affected by this decision, because in this hip hop community of ours, it's not cool to be gay. It's not cool to be bisexual. I felt that if I was to actually be honest about myself, that nobody would actually just want to deal with me anymore. But the more that I kept lying, and the more that I kept trying to deceive you and myself, the more that I was being more closed in, and not really being who I really am.  "I also realized that the more that I kept this secret, and kept lying, and kept trying to be deceitful to the people that I loved, I wasn't really helping myself, or anybody else that could need help out there. But with the grace of family and good friends around me, they made me feel comfortable to exercise my human right for sexual freedom, instead of finding myself being self-detained by discrimination, judgment, criticism, and even violence from my own community. Thank God that I have friends and family that's gonna hold me down and make sure that I'm alright. I got tired of lying and hiding. But I'm here to tell you today that you don't have to lie and hide no more about your sexual freedom."

We now live in a world where a high school student's graduation speech can have an effect on thousands of people thanks to social media and Ted Chalfen, a senior at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado, made a viral splash back in May when he stood at the podium and said:  "I'm going to skip all of the clichés I want to rattle off right now, and get right to the point...I'm gay. Many, if not most, of the students here today know this, and most of them don't really care. That is exactly the reason why I decided I had to give this speech."

Charice, a Filipina megastar who was championed here by Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres and played Sunshine Corazon on Glee, came out of the closet in an interview with ABS-CBN's The Buzz in June.  Said Charice:  "Yes, I am a lesbian. But to those who can accept me, thank you very much. We are all equal, whether you are gay or straight. I just wanna say thank you, personally... to all the people supporting me, to all the people who are still there for me. Honestly, I'm very, very happy. I can't explain how happy I am right now hearing all [these] positive things."  Charice's coming out made a huge difference in her largely Catholic, socially conservative home country.  She told the Philippine Star:  "What's most important to me is the reaction of Filipinos. Ever since I started showbiz here in the Philippines, there were a lot of naysayers. Sadly, most of them were Filipinos. What I did here, parang buwis-buhay naman talaga kasi either Filipinos love you or they don't accept you. So it's a big achievement for me that now, Filipinos are telling me, 'we respect you.' I hope someday, sexual preference will no longer be a big deal. Like, when you see people, you won't need to ask them. You wont' need a confirmation, you know? Whatever you see is what it is, and people are equal, basically. That's what I want for everyone. I know this will happen. The time will come.

On April 29, boundaries in the sports world were shattered with the groundbreaking news that free agent Jason Collins is gay, making him not only the first openly gay player in the NBA, but in a major professional sport.  Said Collins in a Sports Illustrated cover story:  I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay.  I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, "I'm different." If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand...Why am I coming out now? Well, I started thinking about this in 2011 during the NBA player lockout. I'm a creature of routine. When the regular season ends I immediately dedicate myself to getting game ready for the opener of the next campaign in the fall. But the lockout wreaked havoc on my habits and forced me to confront who I really am and what I really want. With the season delayed, I trained and worked out. But I lacked the distraction that basketball had always provided.  The revelation sparked a major conversation about out players in professional sports, prompting many pro players and officials to speak out in support of gay players and LGBT equality.  Collins even received a phone call from President Obama thanking him for his courage.  Collins's coming out has of late been shadowed by the fact that seven months later, he has still not been signed to a team, fueling speculation that his sexuality is at the root of his ongoing free agent status.

In one of the man "so what" coming out moments of the year, Nickelodeon actor and star and creator of the popular YouTube series Fred, came out of the closet in a Q&A video posted to his channel.  Said Cruikshank:  "I'm gay. It feels so weird to say it. My family and friends have known this for like three years I just haven't felt any need to announce it on the internet. I feel awkward!"

Matt Dallas, best known for his role as the navel-less Kyle XY, came out shortly after the first of the year via Twitter, tweeting a photo of his fiancé, the musician Blue Hamilton.  Tweeted Dallas: "Starting off the year with a new fiancé, @bluehamilton. A great way to kick off 2013!"  Hamilton had been spotted with Dallas before, fueling rumors that the actor was gay. Dallas made a splash later in 2013 as a recurring character in the ABC Family series, one with a belly-button.  As of June, Dallas was still engaged to Hamilton, though no wedding date had been set.

Music industry icon Clive Davis roared out of the closet in February with a new memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life, in which he declared himself bisexual and said he's currently involved with a man.  Said Davis: "After my second marriage failed, I met a man who was also grounded in music. Having only had loving relationships and sexual intimacy with women, I opened myself up to the possibility that I could have that with a male, and found that I could....Bisexuality is misunderstood; the adage is that you're either straight or gay or lying, but that's not my experience. To call me anything other than bisexual would be inaccurate."

An mutant with the power of sympatico (becoming like the person he's talking to and weaponizing it on behalf of the X-Men), Benjamin Deeds came out in November in Uncanny X-Men #14.  His sexuality is, notably, just a small facet of who he is.

Starting 2013 with a bang, Jodie Foster's Cecil B. DeMille Award acceptance speech at the Golden Globes was in turn hilarious, confusing, and bizarre, as she came out of the closet, acknowledging her longtime partner Cydney Bernard and their two kids together, but turned the speech into a sort of chastisement of the media and a meditation on privacy.  It was certainly the most unique 'coming out' speech of the year.  Said Foster, in part:  "So while I'm here being all confessional, I guess I have a sudden urge to say something that I've never really been able to air in public. So, a declaration that I'm a little nervous about but maybe not quite as nervous as my publicist right now, huh Jennifer? But I'm just going to put it out there, right? Loud and proud, right? So I'm going to need your support on this. I am single. Yes I am, I am single. No, I'm kidding — but I mean I'm not really kidding, but I'm kind of kidding. I mean, thank you for the enthusiasm. Can I get a wolf whistle or something?" [Audio goes out]"  ...be a big coming-out speech tonight because I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age, in those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family and co-workers and then gradually, proudly to everyone who knew her, to everyone she actually met. But now I'm told, apparently, that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a prime-time reality show. You know, you guys might be surprised, but I am not Honey Boo Boo Child. No, I'm sorry, that's just not me. It never was and it never will be. Please don't cry because my reality show would be so boring. I would have to make out with Marion Cotillard or I'd have to spank Daniel Craig's bottom just to stay on the air. It's not bad work if you can get it, though."