For any member of the LGBTQIA+ community, coming out and living their most authentic, truthful life is a huge moment. There’s always intense pressure and scrutiny, not to mention nerves and anxieties about how family, friends, and the world will see them. Today, June 1, marks the start of Pride Month, which celebrates and embraces members of the LGBTQIA+ community and their long fight for equality. The month of June was chosen, as it also coincides with the same month that the 1969 Stonewall Riots occurred. Some celebrities have undergone the life-changing moment of disclosing their identity to the world in the public eye, especially this year! To kick off Pride Month, we’re taking a look at those stars who proudly came out in 2021.
In late March, while chatting with Joe Rogan during the March 27 episode of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, Demi shared that they identify as pansexual, meaning that their attraction is not solely based on someone’s biological sex, gender, or gender identity. “I’m so fluid now, and a part of the reason why I am so fluid is because I was super closeted off,” they shared. “I’m part of the alphabet mafia and proud.”
On May 20, Demi took an even bigger step in disclosing how they identify, revealing that they’re non-binary and prefer they/them pronouns! “Over the past year and a half, I have been doing some healing and self-reflective work, and through this work, I’ve had the revelation that I identify as non-binary,” they shared on the first episode of their 4D podcast. “With that said, I’ll officially be changing my pronouns to they/them.”
“I do have the most amazing, wonderful, perfect, most beautiful girlfriend in the whole world,” JoJo gushed. “It’s not something I’m ashamed of. I just haven’t shown the Internet yet.” Before coming out, JoJo made a TikTok video featuring the song “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. “After the ‘Born This Way’ TikTok, I was on FaceTime with [my girlfriend] talking about all the love that came in but I still hadn’t actually confirmed it. So I was like…I kind of just want to post this picture on my real story. And she was like, ‘Do it!’”
Colton’s journey was marred by a lot of difficulty, as he explained. “I would’ve rather died than say I’m gay [before],” he said, confirming that he considered “harming himself” at the lowest points. Now, though, Colton is the “happiest and healthiest” he has felt in a very long time.
“I’ve known that I’ve been difference since the age of six and I couldn’t process it and put my finger on what it was until high school, my freshman year,” Colton continued. “By that time, I’d already grown up in the Catholic church and gone to Catholic grade school. I learned in the Bible that being gay was a sin. I would make mistakes in my sports and athletic career, and ‘gay’ was always affiliated with a connotation of negativity. I think there’s a lot of things when I look back, I’m like, no wonder I’ve held it in.”
Colton, who was the star of season 23 of The Bachelor, previously dated Olympian Aly Raisman and Bachelor alum Cassie Randolph. Cassie and Colton ended their relationship in May 2020, and Cassie was granted a restraining order against Colton after filing court documents in which she accused him of stalking her. In November, Cassie made the decision to drop the restraining order without prejudice, meaning that she did not have an intention to re-file the restraining order at a later date.
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