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The 100 LGBTIQ+ artists who shaped the world

Music, film, literature, and visual art: a hundred names who came out publicly and changed culture.

Por Rita Kandela · Cronista de la noche

Making a list of LGBTIQ+ artists comes with one non-negotiable rule: only people who said it publicly, in their own words, make the cut. Assuming it from rumor or from "everybody knows" is outing someone, and that's not something we do.

With that standard, here are a hundred names — music, film, literature, visual art — who didn't just make great work: they made it possible for other people to say it too.

The hundred

1
Elton John — came out publicly in 1976 and stayed visible when it could cost you your career.
2
Freddie Mercury — the frontman who rewrote what a rock singer could be.
3
George Michael — turned a humiliating 1998 arrest into an anthem and a statement.
4
k.d. lang — came out on the cover of The Advocate in 1992, at the height of her country career.
5
Melissa Etheridge — came out in 1993 and kept selling out stadiums, exactly what everyone said wouldn't happen.
6
Ricky Martin — his 2010 letter was a turning point for Latin pop.
7
Sam Smith — non-binary, they/them pronouns, with more awards than they know what to do with.
8
Troye Sivan — came out on YouTube before becoming a pop star and never separated it from his work.
9
Frank Ocean — his 2012 Tumblr letter split the conversation in R&B and hip hop in two.
10
Lil Nas X — came out while sitting at number one worldwide and turned provocation into a method.
11
Janelle Monáe — queer and non-binary, with a body of work that always spoke to it.
12
Lady Gaga — openly bisexual, and pop's loudest ally.
13
Halsey — bisexual, one of the first to talk about it without metaphors in stadium pop.
14
Kehlani — lesbian, said it publicly and put it in the music.
15
Hayley Kiyoko — "Lesbian Jesus" wasn't a nickname she gave herself: her fans did.
16
King Princess — queer, turned lesbian desire into pop-song subject matter, plain and simple.
17
Chappell Roan — the biggest pop phenomenon of the last few years, and openly lesbian.
18
Reneé Rapp — lesbian, went from musical theater to pop without asking anyone's permission.
19
Fletcher — queer, with whole albums about romances with women.
20
girl in red — "do you listen to girl in red" literally became a way of asking.
21
MUNA — all three members are queer, and their live show is basically a Pride party.
22
Phoebe Bridgers — queer, the most influential voice of her generation in indie.
23
Lucy Dacus — queer, a precise narrator of desire and friendship.
24
Julien Baker — queer and a believer, wrote about that tension like almost no one else.
25
Brandi Carlile — lesbian, got married and kept winning Grammys in a genre that didn't make it easy.
26
St. Vincent — queer, an absolute reference point for contemporary guitar.
27
Tegan and Sara — twins and lesbians, out and visible since the '90s without ever stepping back.
28
Adam Lambert — came out right after American Idol ended, when everyone advised him to wait.
29
Rob Halford — Judas Priest's frontman came out in 1998 and changed the face of metal.
30
Michael Stipe — queer, made R.E.M. a place where ambiguity was the whole point.
31
Perfume Genius — turned queer vulnerability into a formally massive body of work.
32
Olly Alexander — from Years & Years, an activist as well as a pop star.
33
Christine and the Queens — trans artist, one of the most ambitious projects in European pop.
34
Arca — Venezuelan trans producer and artist, changed the sound of the decade.
35
Kim Petras — the first trans woman to win the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
36
ANOHNI — trans artist, one of the most singular voices out there.
37
SOPHIE — trans producer who reinvented electronic pop before her death in 2021.
38
Rina Sawayama — pansexual, mixes 2000s pop with nu metal and politics.
39
Omar Apollo — queer, writes love songs between men without any caution.
40
serpentwithfeet — gay, turned gospel into a language for desire between Black men.
41
Big Freedia — the Queen of Bounce from New Orleans.
42
RuPaul — took drag out of the bars and put it on television worldwide.
43
Billy Porter — gay, broke the red carpet dress code for good.
44
Beth Ditto — lesbian, Gossip's frontwoman and a voice of queer punk.
45
Peaches — queer, turned electroclash into a manifesto about the body.
46
Laura Jane Grace — of Against Me!, came out as a trans woman in 2012 from the heart of punk.
47
Mykki Blanco — trans artist, one of the first names in queer rap.
48
Miguel Bosé — a reference point in Spanish-language pop, came out publicly in 2018.
49
Javiera Mena — Chilean and lesbian, one of the voices of Latin American pop.
50
Chavela Vargas — came out at 81 and became the lesbian grandmother of ranchera music.
51
Villano Antillano — Puerto Rican trans rapper, blew up the mold of Latin trap.
52
Young Miko — lesbian, one of the biggest Latin artists of the moment.
53
Liniker — Brazilian, the first trans woman to win the Latin Grammy for Best MPB Album.
54
Pabllo Vittar — Brazilian drag queen with streaming numbers to match a global pop star.
55
Gloria Groove — Brazilian drag artist and rapper, flawless technique.
56
Ludmilla — Brazilian, married Brunna Gonçalves in full view of the entire country.
57
Ney Matogrosso — came out in the middle of the Brazilian dictatorship, with androgyny as his flag.
58
Cazuza — bisexual, wrote about HIV when nobody else would even name it.
59
Elliot Page — came out as a trans man in 2020 and turned it into a book and a public cause.
60
Laverne Cox — the first trans woman nominated for an acting Emmy.
61
MJ Rodríguez — the first trans woman to win a Golden Globe for acting.
62
Hunter Schafer — trans actress, from teenage activism to Euphoria.
63
Ian McKellen — came out in 1988 against a homophobic British law and co-founded Stonewall UK.
64
Jodie Foster — said it on stage, in her own way and on her own timeline.
65
Ellen DeGeneres — came out in 1997 during prime time, and it cost her the show.
66
Neil Patrick Harris — gay, proved you could still be a TV leading man.
67
Kristen Stewart — queer, went from franchise star to director and lesbian icon.
68
Cara Delevingne — pansexual, one of the most visible voices in fashion.
69
Cynthia Nixon — queer, actress and former candidate for governor of New York.
70
Sarah Paulson — queer, never hid her life, not even when it would have been easier to.
71
Wanda Sykes — lesbian, came out in 2008 in protest of Proposition 8 in California.
72
Hannah Gadsby — changed what a stand-up show could be with Nanette.
73
Tig Notaro — lesbian, a master of comedy about the body and illness.
74
Pedro Almodóvar — gay, made Spanish cinema a place where queerness was the center, not the margin.
75
Xavier Dolan — gay, filmed the queer mother-son relationship like no one else.
76
Luca Guadagnino — gay, from teenage desire to adult eroticism.
77
Todd Haynes — gay, founded New Queer Cinema and directed Carol.
78
John Waters — gay, the pope of bad taste and Divine's godfather.
79
Gus Van Sant — gay, from My Own Private Idaho to Milk.
80
Lana y Lilly Wachowski — trans sisters, directed The Matrix and came out afterward.
81
Keith Haring — gay, took AIDS activism to the streets and died of AIDS in 1990.
82
Robert Mapplethorpe — gay, his work set off the American culture wars of the '80s.
83
David Hockney — gay, painted male couples when it was still a crime in England.
84
Andy Warhol — gay, and the Factory as a refuge for all of New York's dissidents.
85
Frida Kahlo — bisexual, an absolute reference point long before anyone was talking about any of this.
86
Nan Goldin — queer, photographed her community through the AIDS crisis.
87
Zanele Muholi — South African non-binary artist, documenting Black LGBTIQ+ life.
88
Félix González-Torres — Cuban-American, turned grief for his boyfriend into monumental work.
89
James Baldwin — gay and Black, wrote Giovanni's Room in 1956.
90
Audre Lorde — described herself as Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, and poet.
91
Virginia Woolf — bisexual, and Orlando is still the trans novel that predates the word.
92
Federico García Lorca — gay, murdered in 1936, author of Sonnets of Dark Love.
93
Oscar Wilde — went to prison for it and became the founding symbol.
94
Alison Bechdel — lesbian, Fun Home and the test that bears her name.
95
Ocean Vuong — gay, poet and novelist, writes about migration and desire.
96
Carmen Maria Machado — queer, In the Dream House opened up the subject of abuse in lesbian relationships.
97
Sarah Waters — lesbian, turned the historical lesbian romance into a best seller.
98
Pedro Lemebel — Chilean, a travesti (a distinct Latin American trans identity and political term) chronicler — the sharpest voice on the continent.
99
Reinaldo Arenas — Cuban, persecuted for being gay, wrote Before Night Falls.
100
Gloria Anzaldúa — Chicana lesbian, invented the language of the borderlands.

Who are the most important LGBTIQ+ artists in the world?

From Elton John, Freddie Mercury, and George Michael to Chappell Roan, Lil Nas X, and Kim Petras: the list spans music, film, literature, and visual art, and only includes people who are publicly LGBTIQ+.

How do you make a list like this without outing anyone?

With one rule: only people who said it publicly, in their own words, make the list. Assuming it from rumor is outing someone, and that's not worth doing just to fill out a list.

Who was the first famous artist to come out of the closet?

There's no single first, but clear milestones include Elton John in 1976, Ian McKellen in 1988 against a homophobic British law, k.d. lang in 1992, and Melissa Etheridge in 1993.

Are there famous trans artists?

Many: Kim Petras was the first trans woman to win a pop Grammy, MJ Rodríguez the first to win a Golden Globe for acting, and Liniker the first to win the Latin Grammy for Best MPB Album.

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