Celesbian typically describes women celebrities who identify publicly as lesbians. The word is quite popular within the LGBTQ+ community. A celesbian can sometimes refer to the female celebrities presented as being a lesbian on-screen, and suspected of being gay in real life.

There is a long list of famous celesbian entertainers. Celebrities that are open about their sexuality like a TV host and actor Ellen DeGeneres, singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, Wanda Sykes, Cara Delevingne, Raven Symone, and so many more can all be called celesbians.

Celesbians – Red Carpet Lesbians

Celebrities. We read about them all over social media; we hear about them on the news; and we watch them as they make their appearances, either in personal life situations or as they attend gala events and awards programs. And we watch many of them in starring roles in movies. Indeed, America’s love affair with celebrity culture is a long-term relationship to be sure.

Enter the LBTQIA+ community. From openly gay athletes and celebrities, the queer community is taking its place among straight celebrities. Queer voices are on the rise, and that includes queer women, especially lesbian celebrities.

So, how do we respond to this sea change? We embrace it with a new term – celesbian.

Just What is a Celesbian?

This term typically describes women celebrities who identify publicly as lesbians. The word is quite popular within the LGBTQ+ community. The term can sometimes refer to the female celebrities presented as being a lesbian on-screen and/or of being gay in real life.

There is a long list of famous lesbian entertainers. Celebrities that are open about their sexuality like a TV host and actor Ellen DeGeneres, singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, Wanda Sykes, Cara Delevingne, Raven Symone, and so many more can all be called celesbians.

What Does the Term Mean?

According to Urban Dictionary, the term celesbian is a contraction of the words celebrity and lesbian. It implies that a person is or was at one point famous. These lesbian celebrities can come from all industries not exclusive to show business. Gay female influencers as well as those who are famous because of their corporate world fame may also be labeled celesbian.

Terminology

There are not many terms associated with lesbian celebrities, but here goes.

Celesbian

This term has already been defined, and it refers to those who are either true lesbian celebrities off screen or who play lesbian characters in movies and TV series.

Faumosexual

This term describes celebrities who have claimed to be lesbians but do so as merely a publicity stunt but who are not, in real life, actual lesbians. They do so to gain their “15 minutes of fame” but are not truly in lesbian relationships and do not have a lesbian. Shame on them.

Gay Pals

This is a term used by those queer women who may not want to be fully “outed” or open about their sexual orientation. And so, they have gay friends within the lesbian community but do not publicly reveal their orientation. A gay pal thus becomes just that – a female gay friend who in fact may be a lover.

History

Celesbian as a word first appeared as a western media phenomenon in 2008. It became a popular word with young people struggling to describe celebrities that identified as lesbians. The term was allegedly first used by New Yorkers Pam Franco and Susan Levine in a full-page ad in a lesbian nightlife magazine GO MAGAZINE promoting Fit NY contest. The ad featured a lesbian nightlife promotion with the word celesbian describing celebrity lesbian judges in the contest.

Lesbian celebrities have always been here, but not many were open about their sexuality until the late nineties. In fact, they could not be because it would kill their careers. And as major film producers became aware or suspected one of their stars was gay or lesbian, they “arranged” for heterosexual marriages to keep their sexuality closeted. Stars like Barbara Stanwyck, Nancy Kulp, Agnes Morehead, Edith Head, and more remained closeted, their secret held until after their death. Male gay people were not immune to these “arrangement” either. Rock Hudson, for example, had a studio-arranged marriage in order to prevent him being exposed.

In 1997, Ellen DeGeneres publicly came out facing a backlash from her audience which ultimately led to the cancelation of her popular TV sitcom Ellen. When Ellen came out on the Oprah Winfrey Show she did it “because it’s okay. Because it is okay!”

Society today is much different than that of the previous century. Some lesbians are changing how the entertainment industry views gay women. Think about the serious issues TV series like the “L Word” or “Orange Is the New Black” raised about presenting homosexuality on screen. Several female celebrities like YouTuber Gigi Gorgeous, Actors Ruby Rose and Cara Delevigne, and television writer Lena Waithe are redefining what it means to be a lesbian in show business. Indeed, Lena Waithe and her current girlfriend, Cynthia Erivo, are all over the red carpet events.

Today, there are plenty of hot celebrity lesbians who are fully open about their lesbian life – it’s a new generation of LGBT rights and visibility, and one that embraces and even celebrates lesbian couples. Let’s take a look at some of the female celebrities who have made the term a part of the queer community.

Contemporary Lesbians Who are Celebrities

This is certainly not a complete list, but these women are all well-known red carpet celebrities.

Kristen Stewart

You’d almost have to be living in a cave to not be aware of The Twilight Series, with Kristen Stewart playing Bella Swan between 2008-2012. But that was not the beginning of Kristen Stewart’s career.

Stewart began her acting career at age 12, as the daughter of Meg (played by Jodie Foster) in the thriller Panic Room and then appeared in several films during the early 2000s. But it was The Twilight Series that really launched Kristen Stewart’s career, earning he the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2010.

After retreating to more independent, lower-budget films for a while. She won the Cesar Award for Best Supporting Actress in the film Clouds of Sils Maria in 2014.

Returning to mainstream film, she had leading roles in Charlie’s Angels, Happiest Season, and as Princess Diana in Spencer. That final role landed Kristen Stewart an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Stewart has not kept her sexual orientation a secret – she is openly bisexual. After a series of failed relationships with men, she began to date women exclusively. Currently, she is engaged to screenwriter Dylan Meyer.

Lindsay Lohan

Here is an actress and singer who has had both a successful and troubled journey. Her debut was years ago, at the age of three, as a child model. She appeared in commercials for biggies like Jell-O and Duncan Hines. She then appeared as a child in the soap opera “Another World.” Then, at age 12, she landed the starring role in a remake of the Disney movie Parent Trap and then another Disney remake Freaky Friday. By age 17, Lohan was a national star from the movies but also from the subsequent release of two albums that hit the top 20 charts.

Her life took a downward turn with many personal issues and failed relationships. Her sexuality was cause for rumors at times, but not until Courtney Semel revealed that she had a lesbian affair with Lohan but was “replaced” by British DJ Samantha Ronson, whom Lohan referred to as her gal pal. But in 2008, Lohan confirmed that she and Ronson were a couple.

As for Lohan? Her personal story is far from over. Clean, sober, and moving into entrepreneurship, she has the rest of her life to make a mark.

Sandra Bullock

Now, here’s an actress who has seen the red carpet over many years. Years ago, she hit the big time after starring in the movie Speed– a role that earned her starring roles in While You Were Sleeping, A Time to Kill, Hope Floats, Miss Congeniality, Two Weeks Notice, The Proposal, The Heat, Ocean’s 8, and too many more to name. She won an Academy Award as Best Actress for her role in The Blind Side.

Bullock has also founded her own production company, fortis Films, and has both produced and starred in several films.

As to her personal life, Bullock has always been heterosexual, as her numerous relationships attest to. She was only married once, to Jesse James, and their divorce was pretty amicable.

While Sandra Bullock is not a lesbian, she co-starred with Melissa McCarthy in the movie The Heat, playing the role of an uptight FBI agent who wants to go “by the book,” and a local cop who has no problem bending the rules. According to The Advocate, the movie “includes all the elements of a classic lesbian love story: the initial culture clash, the intimate bonding, the shared outside status, the emotional merging, and entry into the sisterhood of Sappho.” At the least, each of them, in the film, is definitely a gal pal of the other.

Cynthia Nixon

Cynthia Nixon is an actress who has won both Emmy and Tony Awards and is best known for her role as Miranda Hobbes on Sex and the City – both the TV and film series. Before that, she performed on Broadway. A lesbian herself, Nixon had been an activist for LGBTQ+ rights and educational reform.

In 2018, Nixon ran for governor of New York but lost the primary to Governor Cuomo. In her concession speech, she said, “While the result tonight wasn’t what we had hoped for, I’m not discouraged. I’m inspired. I hope you are too. We have fundamentally changed the political landscape in this state,” Nixon then wrote on Twitter in support of all queer women and the LGBTQ community as a whole, “To all the young people. To all the young women. To all the young queer people who reject the gender binary. Soon you’ll be standing here, and when it’s your turn, you’ll win. You are on the right side of history, and every day, your country is moving in your direction.”

For 15 years, Nixon was in a heterosexual relationship with British professor Danny Mozes, and the couple had two children. Ultimately, she met Christine Marinoni, a fellow education and LGBTQ activist. They began dating and became engaged at a same-sex rally in 2009. They had a son, Max, in 2011.

Sarah Paulson

This actress’s TV, film, and Broadway credits are far too many to name. Probably the most realistic role was as Abby in the movie Carol (released in 2015), in which Paulson played a former gay lover of Carol, played by Cate Blanchett. Another lesbian, Rooney Mara, played the young lover of Carol, Therese. She won both Emmy and Golden Globe awards for the role as prosecutor Marcia Clark in The people v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (released in 2016). Paulson and Cate Blanchett also teamed up in the movie, Oceans 8″ and remain great friends off-set.

Paulson has always been gay. In her 20s, she was engaged to playwright Tracy Letts and later had a dating relationship with actress Cherry Jones. Since 2015, she has been in a relationship with actress Taylor Holland, aged 81. The age gap between the two is 32 years, and while many have raised their eyebrows over this, both have commented that Hollywood seems to see nothing wrong with a man dating or marrying a woman that much younger, somehow it is a big story when two women do the same.

Unlike most celesbian couples, Sarah Paulson and Taylor Holland do not live together, nor do they plan on marriage.

Stella Maxwell

Stella Maxwell is an internationally known model, born in Belgium, but of Irish descent. She has never been silent about her sexuality and has had relationships with a number of other women, including Miley Cyrus, Kristen Stewart, Bella Hadid, Liam Payne, and Jordan Barrett. Currently, she is single and not dating anyone.

Maxwell had been one of Victoria Secrets Angels and the face of Max Factor Cosmetics, along with a number of other modeling gigs.

Samira Wiley

Samira Wiley is an American actress who is probably best known for her character, Poussey Washington, in the Netflix series, Orange is the New Black. She also played Moira in the Hulu series, The Handmaid’s Tale. For the latter role, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding guess Actress in a Drama Series.

She had starring roles in several films and narrated the Netflix documentary Night on Earth in 2020. As an openly and publicly gay, she is fully supported by her co-pastor parents of the D.C. Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ – a church that regularly performs same-sex marriage.

Wiley graduated from Julliard in 2010 having specialized in theatre performance. She performed in live theatre before her forays in TV and film.

Wiley has been the recipient of many awards, including being named Ingenue of the Year by Out Magazine and the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award. She was nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role in the Hulu series, The Handmaid’s Tale.

In 2016 Wiley became engaged to Lauren Morelli who was a writer for Orange is the New Black and they were married in 2017. They have one daughter, born in 2021. Wiley is a staunch supporter and activist for other women who share her sexuality and the entire LGBTQ+ world as well.

Rooney Mara

Imagine growing up in a fully sports-oriented family and being the girl who loved music and the arts. Such was the scene in the Mara household.

Rooney Mara is a hugely versatile actress. She rose to fame playing Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with The Dragon Tatoo, which earned her an Academy Award Nomination. Since that time, she has starred in complex roles both in independent and Hollywood films.

Mara’s first big film role as the movie, Tanner Hall, in 2009, a movie about some crazy kids in a boarding school. She played her role so well, that she got the attention of a number of filmmakers.

In the movie Carol, she played opposite Cate Blanchette, as an aspiring photographer who was earning a living as a salesclerk in Macy’s. Blanchette played the role of a much older woman, and the two developed a lesbian affair. Neither of these actresses is gay, but the role she played earned her a Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film festival, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Aside from acting, Mara is and activist in humanitarian and animal rights causes. She is married to Joaquin Phoenix, a long-time partner with whom she shares a son.

A few other interesting facts? Her sister is also an accomplished actress, her great grandfathers founded the New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and in 2013 she appeared in a music video for the songs “Magdalena” by the band “A Perfect Circle.” She shares that “claim to fame” with Jane Lynch, lesbian actress who has made more than one music video herself.

Jane Lynch

Jane Lynch is a TV and film actress who has spent much of her celebrity life playing quirky characters, usually with hefty and sometimes tyrannical roles. Her obvious most famous role as the nasty high school cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester, who did her best to sabotage the school’s show choir in the TV series Glee.

Lynch grew up in the Chicago suburbs and received a BA degree from Illinois State University and a Master’s in acting at Cornell University. She moved back to Chicago and, over the following 10 years played in live theatre, until she got a small part in an episode of the TV series The Fugitive. This spurred her move to Los Angeles, where she worked in TV commercials and small roles in television shows.

She got her first chance at a film role after meeting a movie director while on a Frosted Flakes commercial. He cast her in a lampoon feature on dog shows and then 4 other films. She continued to work a bit in television at the same time, as a character actress in programs that included The L Word. Eventually, she was cast in the pilot for Glee, and the rest, as they say, is history. She has earned numerous awards for her roles.

Lynch is publicly gay, proud of her sexuality and has been very active in the LGBTQ rights movement, not just for gay women but for the entire gay community.

Lynch married Lara Embry in 2010 but divorced in 2014. she soon began dating and is currently married to Jennifer Cheyne.

Flags and Symbols

There isn’t a lesbian celebrity flag per se. There are, though, six lesbian pride flags from which lesbian celebrities can pick and choose.

Labrys Flag

This was the first lesbian flag, created by a graphic designer, Sean Campbell. It was first published in 2000 in an edition of the Gay and Lesbian Times. Campbell chose a labrys, which is a double-edged axe, placed on a black triangle, with a violet background. The double-headed axe represents the weapon used by the Amazons in Greek mythology and is seen as a symbol of the strength of the lesbian community. The inverted black triangle was a badge that lesbians had to wear in concentration camps in Nazi Germany. The color violet was generally accepted as representative of gay women.

Lipstick flag

This flag was designed by lesbian Natalie McCray and published on her personal blog. There are 7 stripes from purple to white and then violet down to red. The red kiss is meant to represent the femme side of lesbianism. Obviously, this is not a flag that is widely accepted by the larger gay women community, because celesbian couples, such as Rachel Maddow and Ellen and their partners, because butch lesbians cannot relate at all to this flag. And other lesbian women have a problem with some of McCray’s comments which are seen as racist and transphobic.

Pink Flag

This flag has the same horizontal stripes as the lipstick flag but with the kiss eliminated. This has attracted more general acceptance among gay women and is certainly more representative of the larger girlfriend and lover scene.

Orange-Pink Flag

The “orange-pink” lesbian flag was first published by lesbian blogger Emily Gwen on Tumblr. The colors represent the following: dark orange for gender non-conformity, orange for independence, lighter orange for community, white for the unique relationships in womanhood (dating, gal pal, girlfriend, lover and such), pink for peace, the dusty pink for romance and sex, and the dark rose to represent being femininity.

Five Stripe Revised Version

This version was published in 2018.

Lesbian Pride Variant with Double-Venus Symbol

This has become one of the most popular lesbian pride flags. It has colors of the 6-striped flag but the Venus symbols of two females are a key symbol for lesbians, whether that is for a girlfriend, two lesbians dating, or long-term relationships and marriages. It seems to correct what might be wrong with many of the other flags that have been offered, and that’s an important point.

Could I Be a Celesbian?

The idea that lesbians must be nationally known to have a strong voice is not quite correct. There are many popular and influential lesbians with a smaller and yet important following. You can be an influencer in your local community; you can be an influencer via your social media accounts and following. You might be an Indie band whose music impacts many. You might have a YouTube account that promotes LGBTQ rights; you might be involved in podcasts that talk to the idea that lesbian and larger LGBTQ rights are being attacked. So, yes, you can be a lesbian celebrity, no matter how small that audience may be. They are a bunch of followers and supporters of what you believe.

How to Support the Lesbian Celebrity Community

Whether you are a dude or a girl, gay or straight; whether you are a music fan, or just have plenty of friends to talk to; whether you are a part of the LGBTQ scene or just an ally, you need to understand this: celebrities who are lesbians are excited about their lives, even though they may be in some jeopardy in today’s world. It’s important to talk about the current situation and to keep the conversation going. Lesbians who are celebrities can use their voices the world over. You can use your voice locally. Your “music” is just as valuable as theirs.

Here is how you can make a difference in your world:

• Call out anti-lesbian, anti-gay, and any other anti-LGBTQ talk when you hear it. Be a true ally.
• Imagine how the entire LGBTQ community is marginalized (except possibly for that white dude who is more “acceptable”), and if you are not a part of that marginalized community yourself, get active in becoming an advocate.
• Use your social media accounts to talk about the need to support the entire gay community.
• Join LGBTQ organizations on a local level and participate in their advocacy activities and programs.
• Political advocacy may not be your thing, but in today’s climate, it’s important to imagine the threats and fear that the entire community feels, whether you are a part of that community or not. Up until now, members of the community may have felt lucky to be living in a climate of growing acceptance, but no more. It’s time to get excited about what is happening, and not in a good way. Are you a part of putting pressure on lawmakers and the courts? You should be.

Summing It All Up

Celesbian couples and other hot celesbians have a strong voice within their communities. They are lucky in many respects, because they can talk to their followers via the media roles they play – roles that garner the attention of thousands of people, certainly any girl who is seeking validation of her sexuality as a lesbian. But any person, straight or queer can have a strong voice within their own smaller communities and be an advocate of the rights of all people to be who they are and love who they are and leave a mark toward such freedom and equality. Especially in these times, everyone must speak up.