Melissa Etheridge recalls coming out at Bill Clinton inauguration

Kathleen PerriconeMon, June 1, 2026 at 9:06 PM UTC

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Melissa Etheridge performs in Austin on April 26, 2026
Credit: Rick Kern/GettyKey Points -

Melissa Etheridge recalled the moment she came out as gay at the 1993 Triangle Ball to celebrate Bill Clinton's inauguration.

"I was so excited... and I got up and I said, 'Hey, I'm proud to be a lesbian,'" she revealed in a new discussion for the Elton John Impact Awards.

"I hope that people years from now can say that I was a lesbian in rock and roll that made it okay to like gay music," Etheridge told iHeartRadio.

Melissa Etheridge's multiplatinum 1993 album, Yes I Am, was groundbreaking for many reasons, particularly as the companion piece to her coming out story.

The rocker intended to publicly announce "Yes I am a lesbian" to coincide with the album's September release, but expedited her plan to January after working with gay leaders on the victorious Bill Clinton-Al Gore campaign.

Melissa Etheridge performs at Clinton's inauguration with Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and more
Credit: Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty

At the Triangle Ball, a gay-themed celebration of President Clinton's inauguration, Etheridge declared: "I'm very proud to have been a lesbian all my life."

Looking back on the historic moment, she recalled what led up to her brave decision for the Elton John Impact Awards, a special that launched today as a podcast series across iHeartRadio PRIDE stations.

"It was the first time that gay organizations had come together, formed political PACs and raised money," Etheridge, now 65, told iHeartRadio host Elvis Duran. "And it was the first time a presidential candidate had actually talked about being gay, not about him, but had said the words 'gay' and 'lesbian.' I had never heard the words 'gay' and 'lesbian' on television, you know? It was the first time and it was very exciting."

So standing onstage at the Triangle Ball, beside friends and mentors like k.d. lang, who had come out the previous year, Etheridge felt encouraged.

"We were all celebrating," she recalled. "And I was so excited and pumped up and k.d. had just spoken and she introduced me and I got up and I said, 'Hey, I'm proud to be a lesbian.' And I went, wow. And it was at the National Press Club… [the] next day it was all Clinton inauguration, blah, blah, blah. And way down at the bottom it said, 'and Melissa Etheridge came out as a lesbian.'"

Melissa Etheridge and k.d. lang in 2000
Credit: KMazur/WireImage

Her coming out may have been a footnote on the night, but it was a watershed moment for Etheridge as well as the gay community.

Although the rocker was technically "in the closet," she hadn't made an effort to hide her sexuality. For years, it had been an open secret among her fanbase. Publicly, she wanted to be more authentic, especially after a journalist altered Etheridge's "genderless" quote in a magazine interview to "boyfriend."

"It was the first time I was on the cover of something," she told Duran. "And I opened it and read it and… Underground, people knew I was a lesbian and it just horrified me. I said, 'People are gonna think I'm lying and I'm trying to cover up.' And it just horrified me. So I was like, 'No, no, no. I need to come out.'"

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In 1992, while promoting her Never Enough album, Etheridge was interviewed by a journalist for The Advocate, an LGBTQ magazine. "I wasn't publicly out, but he knew I was [gay], he'd seen me at these things," she remembered. "And he said, 'Well, are you going to come out?' And I said, 'Yes. After this album cycle, I think I'm gonna come out.'"

Instead of breaking the news without her permission, the journalist respected Etheridge's own timing. "He actually held the interview until my next album came out," she revealed.

'Yes I Am' by Melissa Etheridge
Credit: The Island Def Jam Music Group

Yes I Am spawned three hit singles, "Come to My Window," "I'm the Only One," and "If I Wanted To," as well as a Grammy Award and two GLAAD Media Awards including 1994 Outstanding Music Artist.

Etheridge's sexual orientation didn't negatively impact record sales either. "I went from selling about a million copies a record to selling seven million of Yes I Am in one year," she revealed. "I tell people, 'No, it didn't hurt me,' but I believe that the extra press I got from being gay, all of a sudden, I was more of a headline story… It made me more interesting. They wanted to talk to me. All of a sudden there was different television shows that wanted to talk about it. It became a good thing."

Melissa Etheridge holding one of her two Grammy Awards in 1993
Credit: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty

And for her fans, Etheridge's bravery became inspiring. To this day, 33 years later, people still tell the rocker about how she helped them blaze their own trail.

"It's one of the reasons that has made coming out so satisfying," she explained. "I get these men and women in their forties, somewhere around there who say, 'Look, when I was in high school and I didn't know what was going on… you were the only person talking about being gay.' I have stories of parents who realized when their kids come out to them at a young age, you know, 13, 14, 15, 16, who say, 'Okay, here's this woman, listen to her music.'"

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Etheridge, a mother of four children herself, hopes it's a legacy that continues.

"I hope that people years from now can say that I was a lesbian in rock and roll that made it okay to like gay music," she told Duran. "That I could come out and be who I was and still be accepted by — and listened to — by mainstream audiences, and hopefully it helped people not be afraid to be who they are."

on Entertainment Weekly

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