Arts & Entertainment
YouTuber Dan Howell comes out as gay
The BBC presenter opened up about his sexuality to his six million followers
Dan Howell. (Screenshot via YouTube)
YouTuber and BBC presenter Dan Howell has come out.
The 28-year-old British Internet personality shared the news with his more than six million subscribers with a 45-minute video titled “Basically I’m Gay.”
“Spoiler alert: I’m not straight,” Howell begins. “We live in a heteronormative world … which means people are presumed to be straight. If you’re not, then at some point you have to ‘come out’.”
Howell says he feels the term “queer” applies more to his identity but he is comfortable using the word “gay.”
“Whatever heterosexual is, I ain’t it,” Howell says. “Really, if you ask me, I don’t think anyone is totally straight. I think there’s a lot of social and emotional issues getting in the way of yet-to-be-understood feelings of attraction that can be very flexible. Am I totally gay? No.”
Howell also hinted at his relationship with fellow YouTuber and frequent collaborator Phil Lester.
“Obviously we were more than friends, but it was more than just romantic,” Howell says. “This is someone who genuinely liked me. I trusted them. And for the first time since I was a tiny child I actually felt safe…we are real best friends. Companions through life. Like, actual soul mate.”
Howell shared a message of encouragement to his viewers who haven’t come out yet.
“To anyone watching this that isn’t out, it’s OK,” he adds. “You’re OK. You were born this way. It’s right. And anyone that has a problem with it is wrong.”
Watch below.
Baltimore
This John Waters interview has been edited for readability — but perhaps not human decency
Pope of Trash dishes on Trump, plane etiquette, last meal, and more
By WESLEY CASE | At 80 years old, John Waters is still the ideal dinner guest — incisively sharp, quick-witted and funny as hell.
The chic Baltimore native proved it again and again in a recent Zoom interview, calling from his summer home in Provincetown, Mass.
The occasion was the Blu-ray releases of two of his movies — the 1977 dark comedy “Desperate Living” and his enduring 1988 musical “Hairspray” — on June 23 by the Criterion Collection, which publishes restorations of films it deems culturally important. The Criterion stamp of approval has become the gold standard among cinephiles.
“It’s like getting an award,” said Waters, who wrote and directed both films.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
The Washington Blade held the seventh annual Pride on the Pier at The Wharf DC on Saturday, June 13.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
The 2026 Lost River Pride Festival was held on the scenic grounds of the Lost River Farmers Market in Lost City, W.Va. on Saturday, June 13. Headliner Tom Goss performed at the festival and gave a second performance at the nearby Guesthouse Lost River.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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