We think so too.
NEIL PATRICK HARRIS:Have you seen this bar set?
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:It’s pretty fantastic.
We’re really happy that you all have chosen to be a part of that.
What motivates you to be not only visible but also vocal members of the community?
MELISSA ETHERIDGE:Oh, well, shoot.
Every time one of us who is visible comes out, it is so monumental.
I grew up in Kansas in the ’70s, and there were no gay people.
You know, it was still [considered] a mental-health issue.
You get to show the beautiful rainbow of people.
HARRIS:It’s totally to the normalcy element of it.
Because you’ve seen it before, right?
I feel like that’s what our potential obligation can be.
And I think just existing, in a lot of ways, creates change as well.
CRUZ:Thank you for saying that.
Because, for me, there really was no one.
He gave me permission to be me.
And he was long gone by then.
They were literally being hospitalized or forced hospitalization or in jail, but they still found ways to love.
It’s sad but also has always made me hopeful.
I am so moved when I think about our history.
RUBY ROSE:I was very isolated in a country town in Australia.
And that would always be devastating, and I would stop that show.
It was what I really needed at that age.
I thought that was really amazing.
I liked the “Yep” in it.
It seemed relatively inconsequential.
It didn’t seem like big news, even though it was the cover of this magazine.
And now, look at what she’s done.
MOCK:That story is a story of resilience as well, right?
That wasn’t automatic.
HARRIS:For sure.
People had to band around her a little bit.
ETHERIDGE:It’s a beautiful community we had there in Hollywood.
It was supportive, and we all kept saying, “Are you gonna come out?
Are you gonna come out?”
And one at a time [we did] and we really supported each other.
We call it the gay community, or whatever we wanna call it, the rainbow community.
How was coming out publicly different from coming out privately?
ETHERIDGE:I personally came out when I was leaving home when I was 18.
I’m like, “I’m gay!”
And they were like, “We know!”
My mother didn’t talk to me for a while, but that all came back.
Every-place else, you pay to play.
I got turned down by every record company.
And I said, “I don’t know.
I’m not gonna be anyone I’m not.”
And he said, “Well, as long as you don’t flag-wave.”
There was this funny “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Nobody in the press would ask in the ’80s, early ’90s.
And I just said, “Oh, I’m gay.”
There comes a time when you just…you just do it.
COOPER:I came out in high school to my friends.
But reporters didn’t really talk about their personal lives.
And then, with Twitter and the internet, suddenly you could access something about anybody.
And the expectation became “You’re a public person, you should be public.”
And in the world of journalism, that was kind of still…I don’t know.
It was a difficult thing to navigate.
I was traveling in the Middle East a lot.
I spent most of my early years in war zones.
I was by myself in Somalia and all these places and it was just easier not to say something.
But I reached a point where, by not saying something, I realized I was saying something.
Oftentimes you hear, “Well, why should I have to come out?
I’m open in my private life.
I’m not hiding anything.
I never pretended.”
But it does make a difference.
So I thought about it a long time.
I spent a lot of time writing out an explanation, a letter.
And I decided not to take a stab at make a big deal about it at the time.
But as soon as I got to Johannesburg, my phone lit up.
And I’d realized I’d forgotten to tell my mom I was making this announcement.
HARRIS:I was the same as Anderson for a long time.
I wasn’t trying not to reveal myself.
I do magic, and magicians as well don’t want anyone to know anything about them.
And so I didn’t deny anything at all.
And it just felt disrespectful.
ROSE:I actually got outed by one of those [blind items in a magazine].
I was just like, “What took you so long?”
Because I came out when I was 12 and my mom was like, “Yeah.
And I was just like, “What do you mean?
I just say it.”
And they’re like, “No.
Do you think…?”
I don’t know how to pretend to be bisexual.
That’s weird!”
I don’t even know what that looks like because I’ve only ever been gay.
I’m trans."
I came there to be a writer, right?
I wrote for a number of years at your sister publicationPeople.
I saw the suicide of Tyler Clementi.
We covered both those stories forPEOPLE.
They were on the cover.
And I was holding on to that.
And the reason I wanted to write was that I could tell the truth.
As a young trans person of color, there had been no affirming images for me.
And so I was basically like, “Bitch, I guess you gotta do it.”
CRUZ:And that was the case for me, almost verbatim.
And so it was not lost on me, the responsibility that came with that.
But it was a conscious choice.
And then, to be inspired by you in return is a full-circle moment for me.
Do you feel like coming out helped your career?
I [joke that] my coming out was a publicity stunt.
ROSE:Gay for pay, honey.
ETHERIDGE:There you go.
It’s working for me.
All of a sudden I had more press than I ever had.
And it was awkward press.
And I just kept answering the same questions over and over.
But I realized, this is the first time they’ve been asked.
CRUZ:I think it changed the trajectory of my career.
I was concerned that the writers would feel like they needed to write jokes for me differently.
And that wasn’t the case I just kept playing it.
And I’m happy.
My job as an actor is to play as many different types of roles as I can.
And so, I’m just trying to be turning on as many different demographics as possible.
It almost made it more inclusive, as opposed to more marginalized.
ROSE:Like when we first met and you told me I look like a 12-year-old boy?
‘Cause honey, it worked.
HARRIS:I said you were gorge first!
I was afraid you’d be offended.
Rose:[Laughs] No!
I said, “Thank you so much!”
MOCK:Young people have always been at the beginning of every major movement.
They’re always going to push you.
CRUZ:I was a young activist, right?
And then I started working at GLAAD as an older activist, and I learned you have to listen.
And I got called out while I was working at GLAAD.
And it was the biggest learning moment I’ve had.
She was like, “You might wanna take a look at this.”
And my reaction was defensiveness right away.
I think that’s a human reaction.
But then I learned how to listen.
This is…I will never!"
But I’ve also gotten backlash.
And that’s when you realize you have to keep up with the terminology.
My initial response was “Pfft!”
And then I was like, “Wait.
Let me just figure this one out.
That’s when I sort of said, “I’m a woman that identifies as a woman.
I’m not trans.
Maybe I need to make up another term, one that doesn’t step on any toes.
ETHERIDGE:I think the English language fails us.
ROSE:We’re all just human.
