Empire’s Jussie Smollet confirms his sexuality to Ellen
By Rhuaridh Marr
on
March 9, 2015
“There’s never been a closet that I’ve been in. I don’t own a closet.”

— Jussie Smollet, who plays gay character Jamal Lyon on Fox’s Empire, coming out to Ellen DeGeneres on the latter’s ABC talk show. Smollet has never publicly confirmed his sexuality, but told DeGeneres because he was worried that not confirming his sexuality was sending the wrong message.
Olivia Hill made history on Thursday evening, winning one of Nashville's Metropolitan Council's five at-large seats and, in the process, becoming the first out transgender woman elected to office in the history of Tennessee.
Hill secured her seat by finishing third in the runoff election, with 12.9% of the vote. She joins a body with a historic number of women councilmembers, where women comprise a majority of the 40-member council.
"I want to say that I am elated," Hill told The Tennessean after the results came in. "For every trans kid in the state of Tennessee that has felt discomfort or that they didn't belong...we are valid. We are who we say we are. And we are going to move forward."
Welcome to The Riley Roundup, a daily collection of LGBTQ-related stories worth your attention by Senior Editor John Riley. Here's the news for September 6, 2023:
U.S. ON CANADA'S BAD LIST
Canada has issued a travel advisory to the United States, per National Public Radio, warning members of the LGBTQ community that some American states have enacted laws that may affect them if they choose to travel to the United States.
While the country's Global Affairs department did not specify to which states it was referring, it did advise travelers to research local laws before traveling.
READ THIS COLUMN IN THE MAGAZINE
People in the United States, particularly the LGBTQ community, have become numb to the very words leaders are using to describe what is going on politically and socially. The GOP has groomed members for years to be hateful of LGBTQ people and to use all their power against any idea of equality.
The writing is on the wall: America is no longer a safe place for LGBTQ people. Earlier this summer, the Human Rights Campaign issued its first-ever warning, an Emergency Declaration, after more than 75 anti-LGBTQ bills were signed into law in just two years. An actual State of Emergency.
