Rainbow Connection

A raw and honest roundtable discussion with six celebrity members of the LGBTQ community as they reflect on growing up, coming out, and living proud in Hollywood.

- Patrick Gomez

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, 52; Star Trek: Discovery star and My So-Called Life alum Wilson Cruz, 45; How I Met Your Mother actor Neil Patrick Harris, 45; author and Pose director Janet Mock, 36; and Ruby Rose, 33, who, this fall, will star as Batwoman, the first openly gay superhero to headline a TV series

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS Have you seen this bar set?

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY It’s pretty fantastic. It’s been 50 years since the riots at Stonewall, so we wanted to pay homage to that major moment in LGBTQ rights history. 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. I remember just seeing the cover of Time that had two men [and two women] holding hands and it was like, “What’s this?” Anytime you can do that, it helps people who think that they’re alone, who think that there’s nobody like them, who think that they can’t be happy. You get to show the beautiful rainbow of people.

WILSON CRUZ I think it’s important, in light of recent progress, to remember how we got here and that there was a time when this wasn’t possible—that you couldn’t walk down the street in major cities holding your partner’s hand and bring your entire self.

ANDERSON COOPER It’s interesting how rarely you see a man and a man or a woman and a woman holding hands walking down the street. Maybe you see it in gay neighborhoods, but I travel around the country all the time, and I can tell you, you don’t see it in airports, even in New York.