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16 Celebrities Who Came Out This Year

October 11 is National Coming Out Day.

October 11 is National Coming Out Day, when members of the LGBT community are encouraged to share their truth with friends, family and others.

In celebration, we're looking at 16 famous folk who have come out since last Coming Out Day—actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and more. Do you have anyone to come out to?

Charlie Carver

The Teen Wolf actor started 2016 with a bang, coming out in an Instagram post in January.

"So now, let the record show this: I self-identify as gay," he wrote. "I owe it to myself, more than anything, to be who I needed when I was younger,” he wrote in a message that spanned five different posts.

He admitted he worried being out would "be limiting myself to a type, to a perception with limits that I was not professionally comfortable with,” but, with some guidance, realized that didn’t have to be the case.

He closed out his note with a nod to bro Max: “Let the record show my twin brother is just as cool for being straight.”

Kristen Stewart

Stewart and Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson were one of Hollywood's power couples in the mid-2000s. But she's been dating Alicia Cargile since July, telling Elle UK, “Right now, I’m just really in love with my girlfriend."

"To hide this provides the implication that I’m not down with it or I’m ashamed of it," she added, "so I had to alter how I approached being in public. It opened my life up and I’m so much happier."

Aubrey Plaza

Plaza, a.k.a. April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation, came out as bisexual in an Advocate interview from July.

Commenting on her "masculine" energy,” she said, “Girls are into me—that’s no secret. Hey, I’m into them, too. I fall in love with girls and guys. I can’t help it.”

The 32-year-old actress credited having gay relatives—including her aunt, uncle and sister—with teaching her early on that it was okay "to stand out and let your freak flag fly.”

Trey Pearson

Pearson, frontman of the Christian rock band Everyday Sunday, came out in May, publishing an open letter to fans about how his decision to live openly relates to his faith.

“I never wanted to be gay,” he wrote. “I was scared of what God would think and what all of these people I loved would think about me; so it was never an option for me.”

He described how he married his wife, Lauren, believing he could simply will his homosexuality away.

“Trying not to be gay, has only led to a desire for intimacy in friendships which pushed friends away, and it has resulted in a marriage where I couldn’t love or satisfy my wife in a way that she needed." (The two are now close friends.)

He said he's come out publicly to help foster change in the church.

"It’s not just me," he added. "There are millions of people going through what I’m going through right now.”

Bella Thorne

The 18-year-old former Disney star might have set a record for shortest coming out annoucement.

After a Snapchat surfaced of her kissing Bella Pendergast went viral, a fan asked "are you bisexual?" on Twitter.

Her reply? "Yes."

Colton Haynes

After dancing around the issue with some coy social media messages, 27-year-old Haynes came out in a May interview with EW.

“People want you to be that GQ image that you put out, but people don’t realize what it’s like to act 24 hours a day. I’d go home and I was still acting,” he said.

“People who are so judgmental about those who are gay or different don’t realize that acting 24 hours a day is the most exhausting thing in the world.”

The actor, who has grappled with anxiety and depression, revealed that he was told his father committed suicide after he heard Haynes was gay.

Lilly Wachowski

One half of the acclaimed filmmaking Wachowski siblings (Bound, The Matrix trilogy, Sense8), Lilly came out as a trans woman in March, four years after her sister Lana had done the same.

Lilly's acknowledgement, however, was predicated by media outlets threatening to out her against her will.

"I knew at some point I would have to come out publicly," she explained in a statement.

"You know, when you’re living as an out transgender person it’s... kind of difficult to hide. I just wanted—needed some time to get my head right, to feel comfortable. But apparently I don’t get to decide this."

Nick Adams, GLAAD’s Director of Programs for Transgender Media, insisted “journalists must learn that it is unacceptable to out a transgender person, in the same way it is unacceptable to out a person who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual.”

The Wachowski’s most recent project, Sense8, presented a broad spectrum of gender and sexuality. It returns in December.

Holland Taylor

If you're going to come out as dating a woman, having it be one of the most beautiful and talented women in Hollywood is a good way to go.

Taylor discussed her relationship with Emmy winning actress Sarah Paulson last December.

“There’s a very big age difference between us which I’m sure shocks a lot of people, and it startles me,” Taylor teased, “But as they say, ’If she dies, she dies.'”

Taylor seems blissfully happy but isn't in any rush to put a ring on it.

“Given my generation, [marriage] would not be something that would automatically occur to me,” she said. “[But] just from a spiritual point of view, from a heart point of view... as a deed that has a very rich symbolic gesture to it, it has its attraction.”

Sara Ramirez

Less than a week before National Coming Out Day, the Grey's Anatomy actress came out as bisexual during an speech at the True Colors: 40 to None Summit on LGBT youth homelessness.

"Because of the intersections that exist in my own life: Woman, multi-racial woman, woman of color, queer, bisexual, Mexican-Irish American, immigrant, and raised by families heavily rooted in Catholicism on both my Mexican and Irish sides," she said, "I am deeply invested in projects that allow our youth’s voices to be heard."

Robin Lord Taylor

The Gotham actor had kept a low profile about his personal life until this June, when he tweeted in celebration of his fifth wedding anniversary to his husband.

Sadly, while got many well wishes, he also got some ugly remarks. That those remarks came just days after the horrific tragedy in Orlando made it all the harder to stomach.

Justine Greening

Greening, Education Secretary under British PM Theresa May, came out during London Pride, tweeting "Today's a good day to say I'm in a happy same-sex relationship. I campaigned for 'Stronger In' but sometimes you're better off out! #Pride2016"

Greening was previously Secretary of State for International Development and became the first out cabinet minister in the UK.

Her announcement received an outpouring of love from constituents and colleagues, including former Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne.

Greening’s announcement fit in perfectly with Pride London's theme of "No Filter."

Elizabeth Gilbert

Earlier this year Gilbert, the celebrated author of Eat, Pray, Love, announced her relationship with Brazilian businessman José Nunes—called “Felipe” in the 2006 memoir—was over.

She’d fallen in love with a woman: Syrian-born filmmaker Rayya Elias, a longtime friend recently diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer.

“Death—or the prospect of death—has a way of clearing away everything that is not real," she wrote on Facebook, "and in that space of stark and utter realness, I was faced with this truth: I do not merely love Rayya; I am in love with Rayya. And I have no more time for denying that truth."

She chose to go public with the relationship—and Elias’ diagnosis—because she needed to live in truth “even more than I need privacy, or good publicity, or prudence, or other people’s approval or understanding.”

Reid Ewing

Best known as Haley’s boyfriend Dylan on Modern Family, Ewing actually came out while discussing a more serious matter: His battle with body dysmorphia and cosmetic surgery addiction.

“I genuinely believed if I had one procedure I would suddenly look like Brad Pitt,” he wrote on HuffPo.

One became more, and Ewing detailed the procedures he had over several years—from implants, fillers, injections. The 27-year-old actor, who has also appeared in Fright Night, The Truth Below and 10 Rules for Sleeping Around, turned to less and less reputable doctors, who were being sued repeatedly and making up lawyers’ fees with sheer volume.

“My history with eating disorders and the cases of OCD in my family never name up,” he said, adding, "I think people often choose cosmetic surgery in order to be accepted, but it usually leaves them feeling even more like an outsider.

Brian Anderson

The legendary skateboarder spoke about his sexuality for the first time in on an episode of Vice Sports’ Reda for the World with Giovanni Reda.

“People ask, ’Why are you doing this now and not earlier?'" he confessed. "Because I was pretty freaked out, you know what I mean? I was really scared, and people would have perceived it a lot differently, I think, had I said this 15 years ago.”

Anderson was able to slip by because he was, in his words "a big, tough skateboarder," adding his fellow skaters "weren't gonna question that... Nobody thought anything.”

He says carrying the secret of his sexuality may have pushed him to take more risks on his board. “A part of me was so irritated and angry from holding that in so it made me more of an animal on my skateboard.”

Elena Delle Donne

As if playing in the Olympics this summer wasn’t exciting enough, 26-year-old WNBA champ Elena Delle Donne came out to Vogue magazine, announcing her engagement to girlfriend Amanda Clifton.

“They came into my home, spent a couple days with me—and [my fiancee] Amanda is a huge part of my life,” said Delle Donne, an MVP with the Chicago Sky.

“To leave her out wouldn’t have made any sense. It’s not a coming out article or anything. I’ve been with her for a very long time now, and people who are close to me know that, and that’s that.”

The X Games champion shared his truth in a ESPN magazine story last October, becoming one of the first extreme sports stars to come out.

He had put off coming out over fear his hometown would turn its back on him, that sponsors would drop him, and friends and family would turn him away. He was so certain, in fact, that he contemplated taking his own life.

Kenworthy earned a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Games, but says "I never got to be proud of what I did 
in Sochi because I felt so horrible about what I didn’t do."

He says he knew he was gay well before he started competing at age 15, but even the "alternative" sport of free skiing urges athletes to fit the mold of the skirt-chasing bro.

“I don’t want to make skiing less cool,” Kenworthy told the magazine. “I want to be the guy who comes out, wins shit and is like, 'I’m taking names.'”

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