There are a ton of beautiful men in Hollywood, but some of Tinsel Town’s gay celebrities are some of the most exceptional examples that prove because there’s nothing better than owning and loving who you are.
Being a gay man in Hollywood or the music industry isn’t easy and, while we’ve come along way when it comes to letting gay men tell their own stories, there is always room to approve. Through the years, some of the men on this list have kept their sexuality a secret, until the world made it safe for them to come out, while others have chosen to make their sexual orientation known since the moment they became famous. Either way, these men have been proof that there is no wrong way to be who you are!
The Queer Eye cast is the perfect example of owning their queerness and spreading their joy and love to others around them. “I’m thankful that we’ve been given opportunities, but I know the five of us are always [trying] to continue to open the door for someone behind us or beside us,” Karamo Brown, the show’s culture expert, told Out Magazine. “There’s still work to be done.”
So, let’s take a moment to shine a spotlight on the men of Hollywood who are out and proud — and gorgeous.
A version of this article was originally published in April 2015.
Colman Domingo
Colman Domingo has been openly gay for pretty much his whole life, and even met his husband of nearly a decade Raul Domingo on Craigslist.
He credits his supportive family for his confidence, telling Advocate, “It was a nurturing environment, and I was loved by my mom and stepdad, and my sister and brothers. The neighborhood was community-centric. We were all there to support each other. I couldn’t have done all the things I’ve done in my life without all that love and support I had when I was growing up.”
Jakub Jankto
Czech soccer player Jakub Jankto made history as the first active international soccer player to publicly come out as gay. Per Out, he said, “Like everybody else, I have my strengths, I have my weaknesses, I have my family, I have my friends. Like everybody else, I also want to live my life in freedom. Without fears. Without prejudice. Without violence. But with love. I’m homosexual and I no longer want to hide myself.”
Jonathan Bailey
We watched Jonathan Bailey’s character in Bridgerton look for a wife for a whole season but, in real life, the actor idenifies as gay.
Jason Collins
Former NBA player Jason Collins became “the first openly gay man to play in one of the four major professional team sports,” per Stacker. And he even said he came out to inspire other NBA players to do the same proudly, and when they’re ready!
Charlie Carver
Charlie Carver at the 34th GLAAD Media Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on March 30, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California.
Chris Appleton
Hairstylist to the stars Chris Appleton, who reportedly just got married to You star Lukas Gage, is proud to be gay, but he didn’t come out until later in life. “Some people know straight away, I didn’t and it took me a minute to understand that and accept that and then come out,” he told longtime friend and client Kim Kardashian for Gay Times. “Everybody has got their stories and some people are ready with it straight away, I just wasn’t. I didn’t have that realization.
Wilson Cruz
My So Called Life alum Wilson Cruz was the first openly gay actor to play an openly gay teen on primetime TV, making history in 1994. He spoke of the experience with TODAY in 2021, saying, “I have great pride in being that person, but the freedom and the relief and the strength that people were able to garner, just from seeing him, and the feeling of validation they received by his existence — his very existence of being on a national television show about teenagers, that people like him felt seen, and included and were a part of the story.”
Dan Levy
Though David Rose in Schitt’s Creek is pansexual, Dan Levy identifies as gay, and his parents are just as cool with it. Talking to Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in 2020, Dan said that his parents, fellow actor and costar Eugene Levy and Deborah Divine, knew Dan was gay before he came out. “We knew for the longest time,” Eugene said. “We were waiting and then mom couldn’t wait any longer,” he added, noting that Dan’s mom just asked him one day and Dan nonchalantly said “yes.” We just love a supportive family!
Andrew Scott
Andrew Scott, known for his role as the “hot priest” in Fleabag, is another smoking hot Hollywood gay celeb. In a conversation with GQ, Scott rejected the label that he’s an “openly gay” celeb. “It implies a defiance I don’t feel,” he said, before noting that playing a straight or queer character is all the same to him. “You believe the relationship. That’s my job,” he explained.
Lil Nas X
As the first gay male rapper to reach astronomical success, Lil Nas X has made history. The rapper officially came out as gay in his song June 2019 “c7osure.”
“Some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care…but before this month ends I want y’all to listen closely to c7osure,” he tweeted.Carl Nassib
Carl Nassib, a linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is the first-ever openly gay man in the NFL. Talking to People in October, Nassib talked about the impact of him coming out but also reiterated he’s an athlete just like everyone else. “I was born this way. I haven’t worked for it. That’s why it’s easy for me. It’s not even on my mind,” he said. “I don’t choose every day to be gay. I choose to work hard and be a better person than I was yesterday.”
Karamo Brown
Karamo Brown, the culture expert in Queer Eye, is one good-looking gay man. And if his looks aren’t enough, he’s done an impressive job and breaking barriers too. Back in 2004, Brown made history as the first openly gay Black man in a reality show in The Real World: Philadelphia.
Many years later, he made history yet again as one of the incredible “fab five.” “We have to show up for each other, because there’s still young trans, nonbinary, gay, lesbian, pan, bisexual people who are artists that are not getting their opportunities,” he told Out Magazine. “I’m thankful that we’ve been given opportunities, but I know the five of us are always [trying] to continue to open the door for someone behind us or beside us. To honor those that we’re looking at coming up. There’s still work to be done.”
Tan France
Alongside Brown, fashion expert Tan France is another Queer Eye star. “The show has given me more than I’ll ever know, and not just financially or in terms of fame,” France told The Guardian. “It put me in a position to represent my community in a way that I had never seen. And, I’m not just talking about the gay community, I’m talking about the Asian community.”
Antoni Porowski
Much like his castmates, Queer Eye food expert Antoni Porowski is one attractive gay man. “For me personally, I’ve never really had a label for myself,” the chef, who recently got engaged to longtime partner Kevin Harrington, told the Gay Times. “Today I’m gay, I’m in a gay relationship, and that’s where I am. That’s good enough for me.”
Bobby Berk
“We don’t want to be defined by our sexuality,” Queer Eye design expert Bobby Berk told the Gay Times. “We are gay, but that’s not who we are, it’s just part of what we are. I like the fact that people don’t necessarily always focus on, ‘Oh, they’re gay guys.’ I’m a designer or a chef or a hairdresser. Yeah… we just happen to be married to men.”
Kal Penn
Kal Penn has always been an actor who’s kept his personal life as private as possible. But after getting engaged to his longtime partner Josh, the former House actor was so excited to share a new side of himself in his upcoming book, You Can’t Be Serious.
“I have one day off from The White House and this dude is unironically watching cars go around and make left turns? Next thing you know, it’s been a couple months and we’re watching NASCAR every Sunday,” Penn, who worked in the Obama White House, shared of how he and his partner bonded, per People. I’m like, ‘What is happening?’ I wanted the reader to enjoy the love and the humor through all of those stories.”
Colton Haynes
Former Arrow star Colton Haynes addressed his sexuality in 2016 after his response to a Tumblr post hinting at a “gay past” went viral. “I should have made a comment or a statement, but I just wasn’t ready,” Haynes told Entertainment Weekly of the headlines that followed. “I didn’t feel like I owed anyone anything. I think in due time, everyone has to make those decisions when they’re ready, and I wasn’t yet. But I felt like I was letting people down by not coming forward with the rest of what I should have said.”
“It took me so long to get to this point, but I’m doing so good,” he added. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been, and healthier than I’ve ever been, and that’s what I care about.”
Troye Sivan
Australian singer and actor Troye Sivan came out as gay to his fans in 2013 via YouTube video, and he’s been open about what it’s like navigating fame as a young gay man ever since. When an Express reporter asked him the invasive question “top or bottom” in 2019, Sivan took to Twitter to explain why the moment felt so jarring to him as an artist.
“I thought about asking the interviewer about his absolute fave sex position after that last question, but then I remembered how wildly invasive, strange and inappropriate that would be,” he wrote, later adding: “I highly doubt anyone would ask any of my straight peers explicit questions about who does what to who in their relationship, no matter the content of their music.”
Neil Patrick Harris
NPH is pretty much perfection. He has hosted the Emmys, the Tonys and the Oscars with style and charisma, and no one looks better when they suit up.
He’s happily married to David Burtka, and they have two children together.
Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper is arguably the classiest man in Hollywood.
Whether he’s chatting it up on his talk show or reporting live from overseas, he always reminds us how intelligent and down-to-earth he is. Not to mention that his personality is just so darn lovable.
Jonathan Bennett
Best known for his role as Aaron Samuels in the 2004 comedy film Mean Girls — Jonathan Bennett publicly came out in 2017 and married former Amazing Race host Jaymes Vaughan in 2022.
Chris Colfer
Chris Colfer came out publicly as soon as he became a household name for his role in Glee, which earned him a Golden Globe in 2010. He’s been in a relationship with Will Sherrod since 2013.
Billy Porter
This musical theater superstar first graced Broadway in the early 90s and has since taken home many accolades including an Emmy Award for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role in Pose in 2019.
Porter is married to Adam Smith who he first met in 2009 — the two were hitched in 2017.
Jonathan Groff
He broke Rachel Berry’s heart on Glee, but we just couldn’t help our attraction to his bad-boy nature. Aside from his Glee character, real-life Jonathan Groff is a sweetheart and is making his way through Hollywood. He’s the star of Netflix drama Mindhunter.
Scott Evans
Chris Evans’ younger brother Scott came out at age 19 and has starred in hits like Barbie, playing one of the Kens, and in Netflix show Grace and Frankie as Oliver.
Ricky Martin
Musical legend Ricky Martin is out and proud now but, early in his fame, he faced pressure to discuss his sexuality before he was ready to do so. In a 2000 interview, he was pressed by Barbra Walters who asked” “You could stop these rumors. You could say, ‘Yes I am gay or no I’m not.'” Martin, visibly stunned, responding: “I just don’t feel like it.”
He later said the moment haunts him. “When she dropped the question, I felt violated because I was just not ready to come out. I was very afraid,” he told People. “There’s a little PTSD with that.”
Cheyenne Jackson
This Broadway star makes us melt with his golden voice and blew us away with his performance in AHS: Hotel.
Andrew Rannells
Adorable and funny, Andrew Rannells broke out from Broadway stardom and into the Hollywood spotlight as Bryan in NBC’s The New Normal, but he’s unforgettable on Girls as Elijah. In 2013, he told Vulture that he came out at age 18 but joked that, by that point, “no one was surprised.” He’s been in a relationship since 2019.
Lance Bass
This ex-NSYNC star has blue eyes you can get lost in. Lance Bass is quite outspoken and active. Not only is he an ambassador for Vanderpump Dogs and an EMA member, but he has also spoken out in support of National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month.
Adam Lambert
Adam Lambert says he’s not here for our entertainment, but with those pipes and a face like that, we wish he were. The musician once went on a worldwide tour with Queen, which ended with an epic show in Las Vegas.
Maulik Pancholy
Pancholy has some serious comedic chops. He kept us rolling as Sanjay on Weeds and Jonathan on 30 Rock. And he authored his very first book, titled The. Best. At. It., about a gay Indian-American boy growing up in a small town in Indiana. He married Ryan Corvaia in 2014.
Daniel Franzese
“I want my pink shirt back!” is probably the bane of Daniel Franzese’s existence at this point, but we still adore him for it.
Aside from his iconic role in Mean Girls, Franzese has had a few TV appearances here and there, including GLOW on Netflix, S.W.A.T., Besties and Falling for Angels.
Jim Parsons
We seriously don’t know what our lives would be like without Jim Parsons and The Big Bang Theory. He also starred alongside Andrew Rannells in the hit Broadway play The Boys in the Band. He came out in a 2012 interview with The New York Times, revealing he was in a 10-year relationship. He has since married longtime partner Todd Spiewak.
Jonathan Knight
After pop icon Tiffany accidentally “outed” New Kids on the Block band member Jonathan Knight on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live in 2011, he published a blog post on a members-only NKOTB blog, writing, “I have never been outed by anyone but myself! I did so almost 20 years ago. I never knew that I would have to do it all over again publicly just because I reunited with NKOTB! I have lived my life very openly and have never hidden the fact that I am gay!”
Sean Hayes
During his early years on Will & Grace, Sean Hayes was very private about his sexuality despite playing one of TV’s most beloved gay characters. He came out in 2010 and, in 2018, told Attitude that he regretted waiting so long.
“It was a scary time,” he said. “We got death threats, [people] could find out where I lived, and I was playing a gay character in a big hit show.”
Hayes continued, “I was too scared. I wasn’t looking to be an activist of any kind. I didn’t have the courage and the strength at such a young age to speak on behalf of the gay community.”
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson brings the laughs in Modern Family as the better half of Mitch and Cam.
In addition to Modern Family, Ferguson’s spent a lot of time on Broadway. In 2016, he starred in Fully Committed, and he was also in Log Cabin, a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison. According to Playbill, in Log Cabin, “a tight-knit group of gays and lesbians considers the new mainstream through the eyes of their transgender friend.”
He’s been married to Justin Mikita since 2013 and has two children.
B.D. Wong
Emmy Award nominee B.D. Wong perfectly portrays forensic psychiatrist George Huang on Law & Order: SVU, but did you know he has performed on Broadway?
It’s true. The Tony winner was in the cast of The Great Leap. According to Playbill, “The Great Leap weaves a tale of history and personal identity. Set in San Francisco in 1989, the play follows Manford Lum, a basketball player who talks his way onto a college team just before they travel to Beijing for a ‘friendship’ game.”
Luke Evans
We swooned at the Hobbit star’s portrayal of the muscly Gaston in the live-action Beauty and the Beast. But it was his role in The Alienist that truly garnered attention and acclaim. The actor is openly gay but notoriously private about relationships and family.
Brad Goreski
Brad Goreski may have started out as Rachel Zoe’s sidekick, but he’s become a star in his own right — and he’s so cute we die. He moved on to be cohost of the now-canceled Fashion Police on E!, but he still spends plenty of his time as a celebrity stylist.
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean is super gifted. He’s recognized for his own songs now, but he’s also written for John Legend, Justin Bieber and Brandy — not to mention he’s super-cute.
The Grammy-winning artist made waves when he posted a statement to his Tumblr in 2012, opening up about his sexuality. “I feel like a free man. If I listen closely… I can hear the sky falling too,” he wrote.
Nate Berkus
Nate Berkus has been happily married to interior designer Jeremiah Brent since 2014. The couple share two kids.
Guillermo Diaz
Scandal star Guillermo Diaz is an incredible actor and a hilarious comedian. He is openly gay and candidly told Out in 2011 that his challenging upbringing in New York made coming out difficult. “I went to school in the Bronx. I learned to constantly try to cover up the fact that I was gay. That façade of being somebody I’m really not just to protect myself definitely helped with acting,” he said.
Nyle DiMarco
Deaf activist and winner of America’s Next Top Model Nyle DiMarco came out as sexually fluid in 2015. Following his appearance on ANTM, he started the Nyle DiMarco Fund, which aims to improve deaf people’s lives.
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian McKellen has been openly gay and an activist since the ’80s, and he says coming out, at age 49, made him both a better person and a better actor.
“I regret and always shall that I didn’t see the significance of coming out at a much earlier date because I think I would have been a different person and a happier one,” McKellen said in 2015, according to the Daily Mail.
Matt Bomer
LGBTQ activist and actor in hits like American Horror Story, Vulture Club, Jonathan and Papa Chulo, Matt Bomer came out publicly in 2012.
Ben Whishaw
“It is hard, I applaud anyone who does it,” the actor, who played Q in the James Bond film Skyfall, told the Sunday Times Magazine of coming out to one’s mother. “There is so much tension around doing something like that, that maybe you’re not quite thinking rationally. You can say absurd things because you are in a panic.”
Elton John
Music and style icon Elton John has been vocal in the past about how proud he is of being gay. “It’s wonderful to be gay, I love being gay I really do,” the “Rocketman” singer told Variety. “I think I wouldn’t have had the life I’ve had if I hadn’t been gay. And I’m very proud of that. I’m very proud that I can appreciate that.”
In the interview, John also shared some advice to LGBTQ+ youth who struggle at home with their identity. “Don’t let anybody torture you for being gay or for your sexuality,” he said, “If you’re unhappy at home, leave.” Sure did work out for him! John is happily married to filmmaker David Furnish since 2005, they share two kids together.
Ben Platt
Though the 2019 music video for his song “Ease My Mind” was the first time Ben Platt went public about being gay, he said he wasn’t hiding it before. “I’ve always been out,” Platt told Out Magazine. “Anyone that I’ve ever worked with or been directed by or written with or acted with who’s known me for longer than five minutes knows full well who I am.”
George Takei
George Takei historically came out in 2005 after same-sex marriage was granted by law. At the time, Takei had been with his partner, Brad Altman, for over 18 years. “I think it was more the political climate [that convinced me to speak to be out in the press at this time],” the Star Trek star told Advocate Magazine of his decision to finally come out. “Society has been changing.”
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow, the music icon behind “Mandy” and “Copacabana,” is out and proud to be gay, but it wasn’t always like this. Though him and his partner/manager have been together since 1978, the couple only went public with their relationship in 2015, a year after tying the knot.
“I thought I would be disappointing them if they knew I was gay. So I never did anything,” Manilow told People. That, however, couldn’t be further from the truth. “When they found out that Garry and I were together, they were so happy,” he recalled. “The reaction was so beautiful — strangers commenting, ‘Great for you!’ I’m just so grateful for it.”
Bowen Yang
Saturday Night Live‘s Bowen Yang is out and proud. Talking to Variety in 2020, he talked about being gay and how he realized his sexuality growing up. “The way I see queerness now is that, best case scenario, another queer person reflects it back at you,” he explained. “Worst case scenario, which is what happened to me, is having people say, ‘Well, you like Michelle Branch, so you must be gay.’ Someone points out how there’s something about you that’s unusual, and you go through some Kübler-Ross grief stages with it.”
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