100 Hottest Out & Proud Celebs

From coming out to overcoming challenges, these actors, athletes, musicians and politicians explain why they are proud to be gay. 

Athlete

The kiss that changed the NFL world. We hope to see Sam back on the playing field very soon.

Photo: Richard Phibbs for Out magazine

Musician

TV Anchor & Journalist

"I am a happy, healthy, gainfully employed, educated and married man. And yes, I am gay." (MSNBC)

Musician

Actor, Author & TV Host

"I didn't release a statement to them, but at the first How I Met Your Mother barbecue I brought David. I feel like it's important to be proud of who you are, so I didn't feel like, 'I should bring my friend Stephanie to this barbecue, or I'll lose my job.' Thankfully, I live in a time where I don't have to worry about that." (Out)

Designer

Filmmaker

Actor & Playwright

"It’s an experience I’d like to add to the chorus that these blue-collar, macho men, like my older brother, had the capacity to say: 'I don’t care, I love you anyway.'" (Metro)

Actor & Activist

"It was never an issue … I never felt 'in' so it didn't feel like it was terribly difficult to be 'out.' Good actors come from a place of truth and to me it just felt like I needed to have my cards on the table. It wouldn't have felt comfortable for me to be hiding a piece of myself.” (Winnipeg Free Press)

Musician

"Something as simple as standing at that dinner and saying, 'I'm gay,' creates so may emotions I've never felt before. I didn't do it earlier because of fear, and, bottom line, it was all in my head. I was seduced by fear, and I was sabotaging most of my life." (Out)

Actor

"Now I’m walking with pride. If people recognise me now they maybe recognise me as a rugby player or an ­inspiring proud gay man. I’m proud to be recognised for who I am." (Mirror)

Actor & Activist

Designer & Model

Writer, Director, Producer

Known for: Looking & Weekend
Read: OUT100: Andrew Haigh

Photo: JUCO for Out

Actor

Actor & Model

Actor

Musician

"My ideal fantasy of great success would be to have a very diverse crowd, like a mosh pit of everyone; gay, black and Latino." (Bullett)

Model

Athlete & Activist

Musician

Athlete

Photo by  John MCrae

Actor

Ballet Dancer & Performer

Actor

Politician

"I don’t mean to sound trite when I say this, but the single most important thing that we can do as LGBT people is to come out." (Advocate)

Actor & Dancer

Musician

Designer

Designer & TV Personality

Actor

"After I did Stonewall, I was doing all this gay press. My managers wanted to put a halt on me being out,' he says. 'I just don't have the patience for that shit. It seems like so much fuckin' work to keep lying. I remember them saying, 'We need to build up your body count.' They wanted me to kill more people on film. I was like, 'You guys would rather I kill more people on film than tell people I'm gay?' Needless to say, I'm not with them anymore." (Out)

Musician

Actor

Musician

Athlete

Actor & Musician

"People may have said, “The dude's gay; how are we going to market this?” But it's not an issue for me, because being out is very freeing." (The Backlot)

Actor

Model

Actor

Model, Actor, Musician

Actor & Author

Actor, Author, Producer

"I think with Kurt and Blaine, I would hope would set an example of what something should be and could be. You know, two people finding each other and really loving each other and wanting to give the world to each other." (E! Online)

Event Producer & Entrepreneur

Musician

Filmmaker

Ballety Dancer

Photography by Bjorn Iooss

Musician

Musician

"I will not be defined or victimized by my orientation. Hallelooooooo!, It ain't a DISABILITY!! It's just a disposition ya'll. the only thing that makes it 'hard to deal with' is when folks be ignant bout it. Ha." (The Hollywood Reporter)

Photo by David Roemer

Screenwriter & Activist

"Listening to Harvey Milk's recording gave me my life because for the very first time I heard a leader leading with hope not fear and that vision of hope included me. I didn't know it was possible to be out of the closet or to lead with anything other than fear. It gave me to hope to start living my life." (The Windy City Times)

Designer & Entrepreneur

Actor

"I’m not going to lie and say it was a bed of roses. But with the gift of time and grace, my parents chose love. And I think it’s important for people to know that. We always hear, ‘Oh, it gets better, it gets better,’ and [then] so many people go, ‘No it doesn’t.’ I feel lucky to say that, yes, sometimes it does." (Out)

Businessman & Former Athlete

Billy Bean was named Major League Baseball's first "ambassador of inclusion" in 2014. "As a young man, I silently walked away from baseball for all the wrong reasons, and today I am truly humbled that the commissioner's office has brought me back to lead the effort on inclusion." (CNN)

Athlete & Activist

Designer

Actor

Actor & Producer

Athlete

Musician

Musician & Producer

Journalist, Talk Show Host & Activist

Athlete

"The most important thing to me is that young people who are in a similar situation to me see my video and think maybe they can be who they want to be." (OutSports)

Dancer & Choreographer

Model

Actor

Stylist & TV Personality

Activist

Actor & Musician

Actor

Actor

Musician

Director

Dancer

Designer

Musician

Actor, Director, Producer

"If I wasn't open about who I am, and [was] careful about the roles I picked in fear of projecting anything, I would work so infrequently." (On Top)

Designer

Actor, Playwright & Singer

"I've worked with a lot of gay and lesbian organizations. I sit on the board of the Empire State Pride Agenda. I've also done a lot of work for Broadway Care/Equity Fights AIDS. I think it's important because, when we can be of service to others, it only enhances our lives. I've been helped a lot in my life." (TheaterMania)

Actor

Musician

"I saw a Christian therapist who, among many other beliefs, believed I’d be happier in a straight life. He didn’t shame me for being gay. Most of the focus, we weren’t even talking about my sexuality. But certainly his belief that I’d be living a happier life as a heterosexual was indeed harmful. In no way, shape, or form—I can’t even believe I have to clarify this—do I condone ex-gay therapy. I think it’s a horrible practice. There’s no scientific basis for it. A person’s sexuality is a part of who they are. And I certainly suffered for not having my sexuality affirmed." (Out)

Athlete & Entrepreneur

Actor & Screenwriter

"Let me be to someone else what no one was to me. Let me send a message to that kid, maybe in America, maybe someplace far overseas, maybe somewhere deep inside — a kid who is being targeted at home or at school or in the streets — that someone is watching and listening and caring, that there is an ‘us,’ that there is a ‘we,’ and that kid or teenager or adult is loved and they are not alone." (Out)

Athlete

Designer

Activist & Athlete

Actor

YouTube Personality & Entrepreneur

Actor

"I came out right after I graduated high school. I don’t think it came as a great surprise to my family -- I had been dancing around to the Grease 2 soundtrack forever, but I am really, really fortunate that my family was extremely accepting and extremely loving." (Out)

Actor, Producer, Director

“I felt supported at the time in a really profound way, by fans and people that just know me by my work. I think I’m in a really good place.” (ABC News)

Actor, Singer

Designer

New Anchor & Journalist

Producer & TV Personality

"If you look at my life before I went into television, the struggle I went through coming out would be surprising to most people, given how comfortable and how out I am being the only late-night gay talk-show host." (Brainy Quote)

Actor & TV Personality

Comedian, Author & TV Personality

"I’m just more comfortable with myself now, It’s taken me until I’m 42 to begin to feel this way." (Philly Mag)

Designer, Filmmaker, Entrepreneur

Actor

"I just love being cast… I love playing gay characters. I think it’s fantastic that there have been these rich gay characters for me to do… They’re fully-formed people, with points of view, and something different to bring to the story." (Queerty)

Athlete

Actor

"I've never considered my relationship with Todd to be an act of activism. Rather simply, it's an act of love, coffee in the morning, going to work, washing the clothes, taking the dogs [out]—a regular life, boring love." (E! Online)