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Famous women talk coming out

Today is National Coming Out Day, a day when every person who identifies as other than straight is encouraged to come out of the closet. While everyone has an individual decision to make on when and how to come out to the people in their lives – friends, family, co-workers – being honest with yourself and those around you makes not only your life better, but the world better. The LGBT community has come a long way, but we also have a long way to go, and if the early pioneers of the movement had remained quiet and closeted, we would never be where we are today.

Often people go to celebrities or public figures for advice on how to come out or when they knew they were gay. We’ve compiled some quotes from some inspirational women of all walks of life – all sexualities, all backgrounds, all ethnicities, all ages – on their feelings about being out or being oJoanuted, and how they feel about living life as an out woman. Some were kicked out of their houses. Some saw their career take a nose dive. Some had absolutely no aftershocks to speak of. Whatever story echoes your own, I feel you’ll be inspired by them all.

“I can’t be a part of the problem. I hate the idea of a label just as much as anyone else but I’m with who I’m with, I love who I love and I’m if not a better actress than I was yesterday and my personal life should have no effect on that. I think that the injustice of people staying in the closet is more than I can bear with a clear conscience and I couldn’t sleep at night if I was a part of that problem, if I was part of the lies.” – Amber Heard

“I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.” – Wanda Sykes “Don’t worry about society pigeonholing you or Hollywood pigeonholing you. Just don’t pigeonhole yourself. Stay open.” – Jane Lynch

“I’m coming out! Bum, bum! It’s fun – it’s like a whole new sort of subject to study now. … There are so many stereotypes that I have to learn about. t’s so new and it’s so fun because it’s basically like going to the library and finding like a whole genre of books you didn’t even know existed that now you can relate to.” – Sia

“Gay teen suicides were getting a lot of publicity and Dan Savage launched the It Gets Better campaign. I remember being on the road and talking to my tourmate about it, hoping that my young fans could look up to me, to which she replied, “Dude, then you have to come out.” Everything suddenly made sense. As soon as I got back from that tour I made an It Gets Better video and I told the world.” – Allison Weiss

“I’m not going to hide it. I’ve been very public about it and I’ve had people say, “Well, why don’t you just keep them guessing? You can hit all the markets.” No. Especially if you’re with somebody; it’s so disrespectful. It was hard for me coming out to my parents and for me, I’ve already gone through that hurdle and I’m not going to go through it again.” – Vicci Martinez

“[My sexuality is] a part of me that I really like. But it’s not the totality of me. It’s not a passion of mine to become political in any way, but I do think it’s important to see gay men and women having big careers and very full, rich lives.” – Portia de Rossi “I am transparent about my sexuality which i feel is – for lack of a better way to express it – completely open; unzipped. I make no distinctions. I do not judge myself when i feel an attraction to someone and that someone could be of any gender or sexual orientation. Chemistry is chemistry and that is something beyond my control. I have no interest in messing with chemistry. I feel lucky to live in NYC where sexuality is as open as anywhere I have ever been.” – Joan Wasser

“Some people know from birth and for some people it takes a bit of time to figure it out. I hadn’t really thought about it at all until I was a bit older – late-teens – and before then I wasn’t really interested in dating anyone. I think I needed to meet other gay people to realize my gayness, and then of course I had to try to get to know them, which can be quite daunting from an outside perspective.” – Katie Stelmanis of Austra

“For all of five minutes [I was upset] and then I didn’t care so much. I tried to look at the bright side – at least now I get more action.” – on being outed, Sara McLeod

“t was really hard at the time and no one should have to come out like that, but things are very different now and you can’t get me to shut up about loving women! I love feeling free to be myself on stage and off.” – on being outed, Jill Jackson

“When I started to grow as a musician, my band would be very supportive of who I am. Actually, in my old band, Black Veil Brides, we wore black makeup all over our bodies, it was our stage makeup and we each had our own style of doing it, I actually would put two equal signs on my hands and an equal sign on the side of my face. Everyone knows I’m a lesbian and no one really cares. I’ve never dealt with homophobia or sexism.” – Sandra Alva

“I came out to my friends in high school. And I came out to my family when I was out of the house after high school and went back and forth with it a lot. But I come from a very accepting family they were always cool with it. Any time it would come up they’d be like, ‘Yeah, go gay rights!’ Very liberal.” –

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