11 young celebrities who don't identify as straight or gay

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

Many of us have taken a moment to consider how we'd feel if our children told us they were gay, but have you considered your child might someday tell you they're open to dating others of both sexes?

With increasing frequency young people in the spotlight are opening up about their sexuality, including those who aren't choosing to put a label on themselves at all. A look at what 11 such young stars have had to say:

Lily Rose Depp, daughter of actor Johnny Depp, identified herself as sexually fluid as part of the Self Evident Truths art project in 2015.

A message from the project's page explained, "I’m so proud of my baby girl @lilyrose_depp. She decided she wanted to be in @selfevidentproject because she falls somewhere on the vast spectrum, and I couldn’t be happier to welcome her to the family. She’s a tiny gem of a good human. #prouduncle #weareyou.”

(WWD/REX/Shutterstock)

Rowan Blanchard made headlines in early 2016 for opening up about her sexuality. The Girl Meets World star shared, "In my life [I've] only ever liked boys. However I personally don’t wanna label myself as straight, gay or whateva so I am not gonna give myself labels to stick with—just existing… Yes, [I'm] open to liking any gender in future is why I identify as queer."

PFLAG elaborates on the word by sharing: “Think of queer as an umbrella term. It includes anyone who a) wants to identify as queer and b) who feels somehow outside of the societal norms in regards to gender or sexuality. This, therefore, could include the person who highly values queer theory concepts and would rather not identify with any particular label, the gender fluid bisexual, the gender fluid heterosexual, the questioning LGBT person, and the person who just doesn’t feel like they quite fit in to societal norms and wants to bond with a community over that.”

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In early 2016, Amandla Stenberg said the following while being interviewed by Solange Knowles:

“It’s a really really hard thing to be silenced and it’s deeply bruising to fight against your identity and to mold yourself into shapes that you just shouldn’t be in. As someone who identifies as a black, bisexual woman I’ve been through it, and it hurts, and it’s awkward and it’s uncomfortable…but then I realized because of Solange and Ava DuVernay and Willow and all the black girls watching this right now, that there’s absolutely nothing to change.

We cannot be suppressed. We are meant to express our joy and our love and our tears and be big and bold and definitely not easy to swallow…Here I am being myself and it’s definitely hard and vulnerable and it’s definitely a process but I’m learning and I’m growing.”

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When asked if she was dating her male Divergent costar, actress Shailene Woodley frankly told The Hollywood Reporter, "I fall in love with human beings based on who they are, not based on what they do or what sex they are."

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Songstress Kesha insisted to Seventeen that she falls in love with a person's "sprit" rather than their gender.

"I don’t love just men. I love people," she explained. "It’s not about a gender. It’s just about the spirit that exudes from that other person you’re with."

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Ezra Miller also identifies as queer, choosing the term as a descriptor for himself in a 2012 issue of Out.

The actor, whom you may recognize from The Perks of Being a Wallflower and We Need to Talk About Kevin, later elaborated, "I think there are a lot of people who fall on this open spectrum of sexuality. My friends and I use that word as an all-encompassing banner and for every human being. There should be an ongoing question and investigation of who you love and everything that’s involved with that very tricky and beautiful thing."

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Keke Palmer let her video do the talking in 2015. Referring to how in "I Don't Belong to You" she's seen walking out on a guy and ends up knocking on a woman's door the singer and actress told People:

The video was to represent the young woman today — it's not the traditional woman anymore — and not the specifics of "Am I gay? Am I straight? Am I bi?" I'm making the rules for myself, and I don't have to be stuck down to one label ... I don't feel the need to define nothin' to nobody, because I'm always changing. Why say that I'm this or that when I might not be tomorrow? I'm gonna follow my own feelings and my own heart.

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Miley Cyrus has made it clear she has no problem being open about her sexuality, and she chooses to be vocal so that others who are struggling to fit in might find some comfort.

Telling Elle UK about being pansexual (somebody who open to either falling in love and or being sexually attracted to people of all genders) the singer said in 2015, "I’m very open about it — I’m pansexual. But I’m not in a relationship. I’m 22, I’m going on dates, but I change my style every two weeks, let alone who I’m with."

She later told Paper, "I am literally open to every single thing that is consenting and doesn’t involve an animal and everyone is of age. Everything that’s legal, I’m down with. Yo, I’m down with any adult — anyone over the age of 18 who is down to love me. I don’t relate to being boy or girl, and I don’t have to have my partner relate to boy or girl."

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Though Ruby Rose came out as a lesbian at age 12, she grew up as a child with gender nonconformity. She told News Corp Australia, "I am very gender fluid and feel more like I wake up every day sort of gender neutral."

The Orange is the New Black star went on to share, "Whether straight, gay, bi, trans... body image and identity can be a struggle for us all."

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After Vogue implied Cara Delevingne's bisexuality was a phase when she told the mage she was in love with a woman, the actress clarified to The New York Times: "My sexuality is not a phase. I am who I am."

"I haven't made a concrete decision about anything," the Paper Towns star also told People. "Every day, I change. Every day, I'm discovering new things about myself."

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Twilight star Kristen Stewart told Nylon, "If you feel like you really want to define yourself, and you have the ability to articulate those parameters and that in itself defines you, then do it. But I am an actress, man. I live in the f--king ambiguity of this life and I love it. I don't feel like it would be true for me to be like, 'I'm coming out!'"

She went on to add, "I think, in three or four years, there are going to be a whole lot more people who don't think it's necessary to figure out if you're gay or straight. It's like, just do your thing."

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Statistical data released early this year, which was collected by the CDC between 2011 and 2013, suggests people between the ages of 18 and 44 in the United States increasingly no longer think in terms of absolutes when discussing sexuality.

For example, men are now more likely to say they are mostly attracted (as opposed to only attracted) to the opposite sex. This is particularly true for younger Americans in the 18-24 age range.

The latest report, compared to the previous release, notes bisexuality is becoming increasingly common, with 5.5 percent of women and 2 percent of men identifying as such compared to 3.9 percent and 1.2 percent from earlier years. Though more data is needed, the findings coincide with an increased interest in pansexuality, especially among young people.

How do you imagine you might feel or react if your child self identifies as neither straight or gay?

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Photo: WWD/REX/Shutterstock