Celebrity Coming-Out Stories: Raven-Symone, Dan Levy, more

Share with pride! celebrities like Raven-Symoné, Dan Levy and more have become important figures within the LGBTQ community as they have championed equality both on and off screen.

the This is SoRaven Alum’s personal life made headlines in August 2013 when she tweeted her reaction to the legalization of same-sex marriage. “I can finally get married! Yay government! So proud of you,” she wrote at the time.

Three years later, she opened up about her journey to self-acceptance, admitting she “never thought” she would come out publicly.

“Being on TVs from 3 to 30 years old, that’s where I feel more comfortable,” she said in a May 2016 video for the Lexus L/Studio docuseries It got better. “I know what lines to say. Someone else chooses my clothes for me. I put make up on. i did hair And you start a family with these people who are sometimes closer to you than your own family.”

The Disney grad felt she couldn’t be honest about her sexuality because she was “branded at such a young age” to fit the network’s image. “I never thought I would come out because my personal life didn’t matter,” she said at the time. “It was just what was meant to be sold as the Raven-Symoné brand.”

Although she had known from a young age that she was attracted to women, the former The view cohost took her time when she was public about her sexuality. For his part, Levy came out to his parents when he was 18 – but once feared he would always have to hide his identity from the rest of the world.

“I rightly thought that I would have to live with this secret – my gayness – for the rest of my life because I didn’t have the security of seeing a lot of people like me celebrate in popular culture,” he said Schott’s Creek said the creator and star at the GLAAD Gala in San Francisco in September 2019. “Hadn’t I had the love of making myself feel safe, I don’t know if I would have found my way out of the closet, let alone given myself an opportunity to tell stories on TV that have some kind of impact.” positive change in the world.”

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The Emmy-winner portrayed queer romance with a positive attitude for six seasons of Pop TV Schott’s Creekwhich ended in early 2020. Though the Rose family is no more, Levy vowed to continue telling honest stories for his communities.

“Support, encouragement and love: three relatively simple acts of kindness that can change the course of a person’s life,” he said at the time. “I promise to continue to do my part to celebrate this bright community in all of my work, big and small.”

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