Today is National Coming Out Day, and we’re celebrating with some of our favorite celebrities who have come out as their true selves in recent years. Plus we’re giving you some eye candy with their hottest shots. Hey, it wasn’t my idea! Kidding, it was. Enjoy, and if you would like resources to help you on your coming out journey, check out this handy guide from The Trevor Project. Happy Coming Out Day!
Ronen Rubinstein can be found on Ryan Murphy series 9-1-1: Lone Star, where he plays a gay character. He came out as bisexual in 2021 after seeing his friends and family accept his gay role. Rubinstein told Variety: “I fully identify as bisexual. I literally just got goosebumps saying that. It feels so good to talk about it, it feels so good to finally be comfortable with it." Fans wanting to see even more of Ronen can check out his ball slip in 2020’s Smiley Face Killers.
Tyler Blackburn is another actor who identified with his queer character. He starred on Roswell: New Mexico and stated in 2019: “I’m queer...I've identified as bisexual since a teenager." He also hit the high notes during a musical gay sex scene with Cheyenne Jackson in 2017’s Hello Again!
The smoking hot Sense8 star Brian J. Smith made dreams come true in 2019 when he came out as gay. He divulged about the difficulties of being closeted in Hollywood: “I was constantly having to check myself and make sure I wasn’t looking at someone too long or making someone feel uncomfortable. I had to be very, very careful about telling people the truth about myself.” In addition to his legendary Sense8 orgy, Brian got busy with a boy in this amazing gay scene from 2009’s The War Boys.
Believe it or not, Garrett Clayton was not out of the closet when he took on the role of iconic gay porn star Brent Corrigan in 2016’s King Cobra. Two years later he came out in an emotional Instagram post, in which he also revealed that he was in a long-term relationship with Blake Knight. Three years later, and these lovebirds are still going strong!
Justice Smith came out in 2020 with this Instagram caption posted during a Black Lives Matter protest: “As a Black queer man myself, I was disappointed to see certain people eager to say Black Lives Matter, but hold their tongue when Trans/Queer was added.” In the pic you can find Smith’s celeb boyfriend Nicholas Ashe. Smith dared to bare on the queer series Genera+ion, even flashing frontal in the season one finale.
Zander Hodgson is a model/actor/social media influencer who is famous for his artful and erotic spreads with real-life boyfriend Troy Pes. He came out on YouTube in 2018, where he dropped this poignant sentiment: “Although sexuality is a small part of someone, if you shut it off, then you don’t allow yourself to be fully known. If you shut off one thing of yourself, then you shut off so many other things.” Preach! Zander has also explored his sexuality in some VERY steamy gay scenes in Halston, Ray Donovan, and Black Monday.
What hasn’t been said about Lil Nas X? This visionary recording artist came out in 2019 with THIS moving tweet. He leaned all the way into his gay with his smash hit album MONTERO, and the accompanying music videos are no damn joke. He dances naked in a prison shower in Industry Baby and bottoms during gay sex in the boy’s locker room in THATS WHAT I WANT. The world does not deserve Lil Nas X!
Juan Castano made a name for himself on the Gay Internet with his steamy gay scenes in both What / If and Tales of the City. While promoting the hit Netflix series What / If in 2019, Castano divulged: “I would say that for the majority of my life I identified as straight, but as I got older I think my sexual preference has gotten more fluid. I am, as my friends say, on the spectrum.”
The super cute Grey’s Anatomy star Jake Borelli stated in 2018: “This is exactly the kind of story I craved as a young gay kid growing up in Ohio, and it blows my mind that I’m able to bring life to Dr. Levi Schmitt as he begins to grapple with his own sexuality this season on Grey’s Anatomy.” In the romcom The Thing About Harry, Borelli bottoms for Niko Terho in a softcore-tastic gay sex scene.
The Instagram model and actor Nico Tortorella came out as gender fluid in 2018, telling their fans: “This isn’t actually anything I’ve talked about on a public level quite yet, but I just pretty recently have come to terms with the fact that maybe I’m not fully cisgender.” Watch out for their steamy scene in The Walking Dead: World Beyond as well as a revealing outfit on RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race!
