2021 was a great year for the girls, as tons of women in the spotlight came out and showed us their authentic selves. These are the women who inspire us to be our best selves and help queer women everywhere figure out who they are.
Here are 31 women who came out as lesbian, queer, pan, bi, trans, or sapphic this year!
The Dance Moms alum, social media superstar, and now, Dancing With the Stars runner-up, came out back at the beginning of 2021, posting an image of herself wearing a shirt that said “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.” She has since clarified she identifies as pansexual.
Women’s Basketball legend Candace Parker officially came out this year when she made a celebratory post in honor of her second wedding anniversary to fellow WNBA player Anya Petrakova. The couple also announced that they’re expecting a baby!
Australian actress Adelaide Kane, known for her roles in Reign and Teen Wolf came out as bisexual in a cute TikTok this year.
Alexandra Shipp, known for roles in Love, Simon, the X-Men franchise, and Tick, Tick… Boom! came out as queer during Pride Month. She also starred in a new sapphic music video with Hayley Kiyoko for the song “Chance.”
The singer has been out as queer for a while, but this year she said in a video “you wanna know what’s new about me? I finally know I’m a lesbian!”
Elvira, who’s real name is Cassandra Peterson, came out in an interview with The Advocate, where the Mistress of the Dark revealed she’s been in a 19-year relationship with another woman.
The Crown star and Golden Globe winner Emma Corrin came out as queer and updated her pronouns to she/they this year. They’ve also posted pics of them binding and talked about former relationships with women.
Whitman, a popular actor and voice actor who’s been in everything from Arrested Development and Good Girls, to Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, came out as pansexual this year. She’s currently starring as the lesbian witch Amity in the Disney show The Owl House, and said she wished she had seen shows like that when she was a kid.
Indie rock singer-songwriter Angel Olsen came out as gay and introduced her partner Beau Thibodeaux to the world in an Instagram post this past April.
The face behind the viral “Leave Britney Alone” video came out as trans and started her transition this year. “Tomorrow is my appointment for hormone replacement therapy. It’s been 33 years coming and I’m happy to be in a place where I can embrace who I am,” she said.
Rapper and reality TV star DreamDoll came out as bisexual to her 4.2 million Instagram followers during Pride Month. She’s known for starring in shows like Love & Hip Hop and Bad Girls Club.
Balfour, an actress known for her roles in Bomb Girls and For All Mankind, came out on the last day of Pride Month, and then, in December, she and Abbi Jacobson revealed they’ve been in a relationship together for over a year.
23-year-old Dickinson star Ella Hunt came out as “queer and happy to be out,” on social media this year. In Dickinson, she plays Sue Gilbert, Emily Dickinson’s eventual sister-in-law who she had a romantic relationship with.
Singer Ezra Furman had been out as nonbinary for a while, but came out as a trans woman this year, saying “I wanted to share with everyone that I am a trans woman, and also that I am a mom and have been for a while now (like 2+ years).”
Former WWE wrestling star Gabbi Tuft came out as a trans woman this year in a post where she said, “This is me. Unashamed, unabashedly me. This is the side of me that has hidden in the shadows, afraid and fearful of what the world would think; afraid of what my family, friends, and followers would say or do.”
Canadian Ice Dancer and Olympian Kaitlyn Weaver came out as a queer woman. “Over the last year, with a lot of time to think, feel, and connect with myself, I’ve come to a place of acceptance,” she wrote. “I identify as queer woman and this is something I’ve known for a long time but was not ready to face.”
27-year-old WWE star Kayla Braxton came out as bi this year. “My whole life, I’ve had to choose. Are you Black? Are you white? Which bubble do you fill in on the SATs?” It’s a feeling many mixed race people can relate to,” she tweeted. “I always filled in ‘other’ because nothing applied to me. Tonight, I choose to be over having to choose. Hello, world. I’m Kayla. Oh. And yeah – I’m bi.”
At the start of Pride Month, 23-year-old Legacies star Kaylee Bryant came out as queer. On Legacies, she plays Josie Saltzman, a teen witch who is the first pansexual character to appear in the Vampire Diaries universe.
Team USA Olympic soccer player Kristie Mewis came out when she and Australian Olympic soccer player Sam Kerr confirmed they were in a relationship.
The For All Mankind and Supergirl actor came out as pansexual when she married her husband during Pride Month.
The star of season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race came out as a trans woman this year, saying she was inspired by other trans women, including her Drag Race sister, Gia Gunn.
British supermodel, environmental activist, and actress Lily Cole came out as queer in her book Who Cares Wins: How to Protect the Planet You Love.
Days of Our Lives star Lisney Godfrey came out as bi this year, saying that she’s been hinting at it for years but no one picked up on it.
Pedro Pascal’s sister, who works as an actress in Spanish-language shows, came out as a trans woman back in February.
The 26-year-old actress and star of shows like The Finder, Twisted, and Impulse came out as bisexual in early January.
The Star Trek: Discovery star came out as “queer and proud” this January, joining Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, and Tig Notaro as queer members of that show’s cast.
19-year-old model and TikTok superstar Olivia Ponton also came out as bisexual during Pride month in an interview with Teen Vogue.
The 29-year-old 13 Reasons Why star came out as a trans woman this year after privately identifying and living that way for a year.
The pro wrestler came out as bisexual when she took over WWE NXT’s Instagram stories during Pride. “I’m bi and it feels good to say it,” she said. “It’s something I’ve been really comfortable with for a long time. I just never expressed it.”
Chilean vlogger and musician Vesta Lugg came out as bisexual when she participated in a meme where fans were invited to “assume something about me.”
YouTuber and Philosophy Tube creator Abigail Thorn came out as trans this year. “Hello friends,” Thorn wrote and read in an announcement. “I’m delighted to say I’m a trans woman; my name is Abigail and you can refer to me with she/her.”
