Celebrating Our LGBTQ+ Brothers & Sisters Musical Talents

"Everyone in the world should be able to be proud and accepted for who they are. I know how difficult it can be. Took me a while, but I am proud to be gay." ~ Darin Zanyar

“Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it’s a good place to start.” ~Jason Collins

“We should indeed keep calm in the face of difference, and live our lives in a state of inclusion and wonder at the diversity of humanity.” ~George Takei

“All of us who are openly gay are living and writing the history of our movement. We are no more – and no less – heroic than the suffragists and abolitionists of the 19th century; and the labor organizers, Freedom Riders, Stonewall demonstrators, and environmentalists of the 20th century. We are ordinary people, living our lives, and trying as civil-rights activist Dorothy Cotton said, to ‘fix what ain’t right’ in our society.” ~Senator Tammy Baldwin

“Everybody’s journey is individual. You don’t know with whom you’re going to fall in love. … If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality.” ~James Baldwin

“You can argue that it’s a different world now than the one when Matthew Shepard was killed, but there is a subtle difference between tolerance and acceptance. It’s the distance between moving into the cul-de-sac and having your next door neighbor trust you to keep an eye on her preschool daughter for a few minutes while she runs out to the post office. It’s the chasm between being invited to a colleague’s wedding with your same-sex partner and being able to slow-dance without the other guests whispering.” ~Jodi Picoult

LGBTQ+ people are "part of the fabric of Norwegian life. . . .Norwegians are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and boys and girls who love each other." ~King Harald V of Norway

William Wendell Gilman III (a.k.a. Billy Gilman)

William Wendell Gilman III (born May 24, 1988) is an American singer. Starting as a young country artist, he is known for his debut single "One Voice", a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and a top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2000. In November 2014, in a personal YouTube video, Billy Gilman revealed that he is gay, just a few hours after Ty Herndon's much-publicized revelation that he, too, is gay. In the video, he commented, "Today a fellow country artist and friend made it easier for me to make this video. And I wanted my fans who have stuck by me for many, many years to know.” He further commented:

Being a gay male country artist is not the best thing. If people don’t like your music, that’s one thing. But after selling over five million records, having a wonderful life in the music industry, I knew something was wrong when no major label wanted to sit down and have a meeting and listen to the new stuff. … It’s difficult for me to make this video, not because I’m ashamed to be a gay male artist, or a gay artist, or a gay person, but it’s pretty silly to know that I’m ashamed of doing this, knowing that because I’m in a genre in an industry that is ashamed of me for being me.

David James Archuleta

During Pride Month, in June 2021, after spending the last almost fifteen years as one of the most prominent celebrity faces of the Latter-day Saint community, David James Archuleta came out publicly as being queer and a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. In the year since his announcement, he has struggled publicly (and sometimes painfully) with remaining true to his faith and its anti-gay stance and being true to himself on social media and in the press.

At the time of his coming out, the then-30-year-old David explained that he was perhaps somewhere on the bisexual spectrum as he had interest in both females and males. However, he did later admit that he has a stronger sexual attraction towards males and had reached the point where he is no longer dating females. He also explained that he could probably be asexual — a term that is used for those who don’t feel sexual attraction to either sex or that don’t feel romantic attraction in the typical way.

Where does David stand now in terms of his faith? Well, he is not sure. In a recent Billboard interview, David commented, “You know what? This is where I’m at. I’m in a limbo state now.” Please take a moment to read our latest blog post about David Archuleta's spiritual journey.

Echo V was America's First All Openly Gay Boy Band

OutLoud is a boy band made up of all queer members who don't have to hide who they are and who are out and proud about their identities. The NYC-based foursome, consisting of members Cameron Cipolla, Danny, Daniel Avenu, and Sean Gray, wants to be the kind of artists future generations of queer listeners can look up to.

For more on OutLoud, follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! And listen to their music on Spotify, or wherever you stream music!

Greyson Michael Chance (born 16 August 1997) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He rose to national attention in 2010 with his performance of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" at a grade school music festival which went viral on YouTube, gaining over 71 million views. Grayson says that he has known that he was gay since he was 16-years-old and that it was a message from a fan that inspired him to finally come out.

For Jordy, liking dudes is just a part of who he is, so it was a no brainer to feature a male love interest in his music videos. "I recognize how lucky I am and how fortunate I am so if I could use that comfort to inspire other people to feel more comfortable with themselves, that's my main goal." 

Although LGBT+ representation is growing in South Korea, there are only a handful of high-profile artists that are openly queer. The country still has no national discrimination protections for sexuality and gender identity and the social stigmas attached to queer identities remain strong. A new four-member band, Lionesses, aims to challenge this by being loud and proud about their sexuality, starting with their very first track, “Show Me Your Pride”.

Joshua Bassett, the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star might not have planned to come out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community last year, but now he’s so grateful he did.

We would appreciate your feedback and comments about this section. Please help us to grow this section by letting us know in the comments section below, the names of other LGBTQ+ music artists of any genre that we should include in this section. Thank you in advance.