The 1st of June commemorates the beginning of Pride Month to honor and fight for equality and justice for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer community across the world. The members of the LGBTQ+ identify themselves with the rainbow flag and treat it as a symbol of pride. The Rainbow flag was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978.
Here are some icons who are known to be LGBTQ+
1) Freddie Mercury
Known for all time classics like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘We Will Rock You,’ ‘Another One Bites The Dust,’ the lead singer of the 70s band, Freddie Mercury was known to be ‘bisexual’ even if he never quite accepted it in public. Mercury was known to be living with Jim Hutton, his male partner of six years. However, he has taken the name of Mary Austin as the love of his life. But on an occasion, Mercury has answered about his sexuality and said, ““I’m as gay as a daffodil, my dear!” It can be contested that his status as a queer icon is contestable as he never came out openly or behaved as an ally for the LGBTQ community.
2) Elton John
Elton John, as sure established himself as one of the greatest singers but he also was one of the first artists to be open about his sexuality. He came out as gay as early as the year 1988 when he was just 29 years old. he is known for songs like ‘Your Song’ and ‘Sacrifice’, he always has been an advocate of LGBTQ+ rights. John is married to producer David Furnish and have been together for about 27 years now.
3) David Bowie
The pop idol, David Bowie came out in 1972 in an interview and stated, “I’m gay, and always have been”. In the 70s, it was definitely an act of bravery for a star so famous to publicly declare his sexual orientation. However, later he clarified that and in an interview to the Playboy magazine confirmed he was rather ‘Bisexual.’ David Bowie was known to be involved with the Rolling Stones member Mike Jagger. His answers about his sexual orientation have gone to establish that sexuality isn’t a binary construct.
4) George Michael
‘Careless Whisper’ singer George Michael publicly acknowledged his sexual identity on a TV interview in the year 1998. He also went on to accept that his songs weren’t about women at all but were specifically about men. He stated, “I define my sexuality in terms of the people that I love and my life right now is very happy living in a gay relationship.”
Michael was in a relationship with Kenny Goss for an elaborate period.
5) Kristen Stewart
The 30 year old star rose to fame with the twilight series starring opposite Robert Pattinson. She was also dating her co-star for a while before coming out as bi-sexual. She accepts of her struggle about her sexual orientation and being under pressure for not talking about it openly in many of her interviews. She however, openly came out in 2017 and said this is the most weirdest and fascinating thing she experienced.
6)Ellen De Generes
Ellen has been hosting her own show called ‘The Ellen Show’ for about 14 years now and what better place to come out. She opened up about her sexuality on the show that featured Laura Dern, Oprah Winfrey, K.D Lang, Demi Moore, Billy Bob Thornton, and Dwight Yoakam. Ellen also received severe backlash for coming out as a lesbian and therefore the show had to be taken off-air.