During Pride Month, 9 people in the public eye, including the US president, spoke positively about and to LGBT+ people on coming out, role models and their family.
To discover who said what, click on the quote and all will be revealed…
(From left) President Joe Biden signs executive order to combat LGBT+ discrimination & conversion therapy (15/6/22); Colin Scott (pictured right), the first openly gay UK state-school head teacher, introduces his husband in assembly (14/6/22) and actor Rebel Wilson speaks out about coming out after a newspaper tried to reveal her sexuality (13/6/22)
(From left) Peter Caruth is the first international Olympic hockey player to come out as gay (24/6/22); reality TV show Married At First Sight star Daniel McKee inspires LGBT+ teens to come out (26/6/22) and rugby player Nick McCarthy goes public about coming out as gay to his team in January (20/6/22)
(From left) Jake Daniels, age 17, is the first UK male footballer to come out in 30 years (16/5/22); during a trans conversion therapy ban debate, Labour MP Luke Pollard talks about being closeted (14/6/22) and Olympic medallist Dame Kelly Holmes reflects on coming out in her new ITV film Being Me (21/6/22)
1 🌈 I’ve been hiding the real me and who I really am. I’ve known my whole life that I’m gay. I’ve hated lying. I want to be a role model myself. You don’t have to change who you are, or how you should be, just to fit in. You being you, and being happy, is what matters most 🌈
2 🌈 “My brain was doing all these back-flips since I was 14, thinking: ‘Can I tell someone?’ The amount of times I almost did tell someone and then backed out of it. My parents were upset I had held it in so long” 🌈
3 🌈 “Just be you. You are loved. You are understood. You do belong. All of us have your back” 🌈
4 🌈 “My mother wanted me to just live my life, to always be me. And I just couldn’t. This is such a big step – to be open and honest about the true me” 🌈
5 🌈 “ I have realised that anyone who cares about you just wants you to be happy. I’m lucky to have grown up in a loving environment. My parents, my sister, grandparents and wider family are totally accepting of me” 🌈
6 🌈 “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess #loveislove” 🌈
7 🌈 “I am an unapologetic fan of Heartstopper. I remember being both Nick and Charlie at school. This message should go out to young LGBT people: regardless of who you are and who you love, you have the right to be loved, safe and valued” 🌈
8 🌈 “I was hiding behind this fictional brick wall of my own construct. Yet the young people are not now afraid of who they are. Do I not have the ability to stand up as a role model to be ‘whoever you want to be’? So here I am” 🌈
9 🌈 “Mums message [me]: ‘I hope my son finds someone like you – he just came out.’ Younger fans say: ‘You empowered me to come out to my parents because you showed me that gay people can find love’” 🌈