June was chosen as LGBTQ+ Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots. On June 28th in 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York. Tired of all the harassment by authorities, NY’s gay community erupted in neighborhood riots that lasted three days, and it’s considered the event that caused the LGBTQ+ community to see the importance of uniting behind a common cause.
Many artists are a part of or support the LGBTQ+ community, here’s a list of nine of them that became pride icons for you follow and support:
1. Hayley Kiyoko
She is a pop singer and actress named “the Lesbian Jesus” by her fans. In her songs, Hayley celebrates women who like other women, and her openness helps many people that struggle with accepting themselves as LGBTQ+. Also, as an Asian-American woman, she speaks up about representativity in the music industry, telling Vice that to see a queer Asian-American woman in the entertainment industry is very rare, and by being herself she can be someone that underrepresented groups can look up to.
Image Source: Papelpop
2. Harry Styles
Singer, songwriter and actor, Harry Styles has said in an interview that he doesn’t feel the need to label himself, but we can definitely say he is a pride icon. On every show of his world tour, Harry Styles: Live On Tour, he says “feel free to be whoever you want to be in this room”, holds and waves the movement’s flags and posts pictures of them on his social media accounts. In celebration of Pride, Harry added two new shirts to his online store during the month of June, all proceeds will go towards GLSEN, an organization working to ensure safe and inclusive schools for LGBTQ+ youth.
Image Source: instagram.com/hshq / Hélène Pambrum
3. Rico Dalasam:
The Brazilian singer, songwriter and rapper Rico Dalasam is openly gay and works closely to the LGBTQ+ community on the so-called queer-rap, the movement created to try and make the music style that has been, for a long time, associated to homophobia, a safe place for gay rappers and MCs. “There is a risk in my existence due to color, social class and sexuality”, he told Veja São Paulo. His lyrics are often about acceptance, defending minorities with a political tone.
Image Source: trendr.com.br
4. Rowan Blanchard
At the age of fourteen, the actress Rowan Blanchard tweeted saying that, even though she personally doesn’t want to label herself, she identifies as queer, saying that she is “open to liking any gender in the future”. Rowan speaks out about various important matters, such as feminism and LGBTQ+ rights. Now as a sixteen-year old, she uses her social media accounts, mainly Twitter and Instagram, to raise awareness towards those subjects. Interesting fact: before ”Girl Meets World”, the Disney Channel series that had Rowan as one of the protagonists, was canceled, she said how important it was for her to have representation on the show.
Image Source: instagram.com/everlane
5. Liniker
Liniker is a black, trans, Brazilian singer and songwriter. The vocalist of the band “Liniker e os Caramelows” has said, on an interview in 2016, that “I don’t know If I’m a man or a woman. I’m in the process. I’m who I’m.” Today, Liniker identifies herself as a woman, and ever since success hit the band in 2016, she has spoken in interviews about LGBTQ+ and black empowerment, adding that having a supportive mother whist growing up was and still is a very big incentive.
Image Source: bahiasocial.com.br
6. Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan is an actor and singer who gained more visibility with his new film “Love, Simon” that launched this March and already became a huge icon on the movement. Although he had already told his family and friends years ago, it was only on May 2017 that Keiynan came out publicly with a very emotional tweet and Instagram post, he said: “I hope we can all learn to embrace who we are and not judge people who aren’t exactly the same as us.” Besides that, this year, he released a song, called “Kiss the Boy”, that is considered a “queer anthem” by the North-American magazine Billboard.
Image Credit: Hornet
7. Troye Sivan
Singer, actor, songwriter and youtuber, Troye Sivan released an EP called “TRXYE”, in 2014, with a trilogy of music videos that followed the narrative of two gay teenage boyfriends. Although he has, in a recent interview for “Wonderland”, politely declined the role of “gay icon” for a very understandable reason: the term includes the entire community and he feels like he can’t represent all of these people; he’s still seen as a pride icon for celebrating, defending and talking about the LGBTQ+ community, its rights and fights.
Image Source: Getty Images
8. Janelle Monáe
“A queer black women in America”. That’s how Janelle came out to the Rolling Stone magazine this year. Singer-songwriter, actress and dancer, this year she released her album “Dirty Computer” which is dedicated to young people that are confused or ashamed of their sexuality, telling them: “I see you; be proud”. Janelle has openly written songs about freedom and about loving people no matter the gender, such as “Q.U.E.E.N.” and “Mushrooms & Roses”.
Image Source: newyorker.com
9. Bruna Linzmeyer
Brazilian model and actress, Bruna Linzmeyer said that coming out in 2017 was extremely important because it helped women and girls that were afraid of coming out. “How many famous lesbian women are there in the media? This is very important”, she said. Also, Linzmeyer understands how crucial it is to talk about being lesbian in a homophobic society and uses her visibility to do so, speaking about the political act of defining your sexuality and being part of a community.
Image Source: Paraná Online