#26: Jane Lynch

Year They Came Out of the Closet: early 2000s

Jane Lynch, born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, is widely recognized for her standout role in Glee. In March 2012, she starred as Maggie Gallagher in Dustin Lance Black’s play 8, which reenacted the federal trial that overturned California’s Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage.

Lynch performed alongside Martin Sheen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Colfer, and Brad Pitt, streaming the event on YouTube to benefit the American Foundation for Equal Rights. Openly gay for much of her career, Lynch married clinical psychologist Lara Embry in 2010 but later divorced in 2014.