“When you're young, being different is not cool. But when you're older, it absolutely is.”— Lane Moore, cosmopolitan.com
“I didn’t go to another party for a few months. (Unless, of course, you count the gigantic pity party I threw for myself on a daily basis.)”— Jacob Geers, vox.com
“Maybe it’s that queer people are more familiar with atypical timelines, and being someone’s first. Maybe this woman was special.”— Katie Heaney, cosmopolitan.com
“In a day and age when people are coming out younger than ever before – some even identifying as gay or trans pre-adolescence – it’s become harder to imagine someone waiting until middle age to come out.”— Jason A. Michael, pridesource.com
“I couldn’t do it. My God, I had no idea it was going to be so hard.”— Jill Soloway, Maura Pfefferman, Jeffrey Tambor, imdb.com
“It wasn't an option for me to be closeted or to keep it to myself. Sky's blue, grass is green. Can't fight it.”— Jonathan Van Ness, imdb.com
“I am not gay, and I am certainly not sinful. What I am is a woman, Mother. Not your son, but your daughter.”— Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy, Blanca Rodriguez, Mj Rodriguez, imdb.com
“As he reveals that he’s gay, he starts to break down and sob. It doesn’t take long before A.J.’s stepmother is sobbing, too, cradling him in her arms and telling him that she accepts him and that everything is going to be fine.”— Yohana Desta, vanityfair.com
“It hurt my feelings. I was getting jokes made at my expense on every late-night show, people were making fun of me. I was really depressed. And because of that, and because my show was cancelled, I was looked at as a failure in this business. No one would touch me. I had no agent, no possibility of…”— Ellen Degeneres, eonline.com
“Any time you have someone who is living their life openly and truthfully, whatever that means, not just in sexuality, it's a positive sign.”— Ellen Degeneres, wsj.com
“I was four years in, because the fifth year is when they canceled me. I think I've told you about a dream I had. I was struggling with the idea of coming out—what it would do to my career and to me—and in this dream, I was holding a tiny finch in the palm of my hand. I could feel how much I loved th…”— Ellen Degeneres, oprah.com
“Well, I think I've always been a searcher. But right before I decided to come out, I went on a spiritual retreat called ‘Changing the Inner Dialogue of Your Subconscious Mind.’ I’d never been to anything like it before, and all my friends were taking bets on how long I'd last with no TV, no radio, n…”— Ellen Degeneres, oprah.com
“Do it. Just say something. No, don’t. Don’t stare. Side-hug and leave. No. Ask for her number. Why are you panicking? She’s just a girl”— Alyson Stoner, teenvogue.com
“My parents and I didn’t speak for 10 years. It took a long time to rebuild that relationship.”— Gilbert Baker, miamiherald.com
“She told me she was happy if I was happy, and that she would love me no matter what.”— Katie Heaney, buzzfeed.com
“At your pace, on your terms. Your happiness and safety are paramount. Sending endless love your way.”— Lin-Manuel Miranda, twitter.com
“Coming out to myself was one of the hardest parts of my journey. Tears were shed, desperate prayers to be changed were prayed. It's been a struggle to accept myself and I couldn't have done it with the help of so many others who have paved the way for me. So, if you're religious and wondering if God…”— Shannon Purser, twitter.com
“We are all entitled to come into an awareness of our sexual orientation privately and on our own terms.”— Ellen Page, facebook.com
“Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out.”— Billy Eichner, twitter.com
“She loved him because he had brought her back to life. She had been like a caterpillar in a cocoon, and he had drawn her out and shown her that she was a butterfly.”— Ken Follett, amazon.com