1. Gabby Windey first joined Bachelor Nation after appearing on Clayton Echard's season of The Bachelor, in 2022. That same year she then went on to star on her season of The Bachelorette alongside Rachel Recchia. Back in August, she announced on The View that she was dating comedian Robby Hoffman.
On the show, she said, "I've been keeping it kind of private because it is a bigger story and a bigger conversation because I'm dating a girl." The View cohost Sunny Hostin was surprised at the announcement, and Gabby said that she was surprised at herself, too. She added, "I think it was always a whisper in me that just got louder and louder. I didn't really know to pay attention to it. When this happens, there's some shame attached to it, and I had to a little bit navigate through that shame; what is it, where is it coming from."
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2. Colton Underwood first joined the franchise in 2018 when he appeared on Becca Kufrin's season of The Bachelorette. He then went on to star on Bachelor in Paradise, and finally on his own season of The Bachelor in 2019. He came out as gay during an interview on Good Morning America. He's the first man to star in his own season of The Bachelor and come out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
"I'm emotional, but I'm emotional in such a good, happy, positive way," he said. "I'm the happiest and healthiest that I've ever been in my life, and that means the world to me." He married Jordan C. Brown earlier this year.
3. Becca Tilley first appeared on Chris Soules's season of The Bachelor in 2015 before appearing on Ben Higgins's season a year later. Then, in 2018, on her podcast Scrubbing In, she said that she was dating someone but kept the details vague. In 2022, she publicly came out as part of the LGBTQ+ community and revealed that she'd been dating singer Hayley Kiyoko for four years after appearing in Hayley's "For the Girls" music video. The couple is still together and thriving in 2023.
After coming out, she said on her podcast, "I was prepared for anything and everything. I was not prepared for the amount of love and support that we got. Like, I just could have never predicted.”
4. Demi Burnett first appeared on Colton Underwood's season of The Bachelor in 2019 before appearing on Bachelor in Paradise that same year. On BIP she initially began a relationship with Derek Peth but admitted she was actually interested in someone she'd been dating before the show: a woman named Kristian Haggerty.
Kristian was then brought on to the show, and the couple stayed together for the remainder of the season, becoming Bachelor in Paradise's first same-sex couple ever.
5. Elizabeth Corrigan appeared on Clayton Echard's season of The Bachelor in 2022. After the season aired, she came out as bisexual in a post on Instagram.
"It’s important to me today to share with you all that I am queer," she wrote in her IG caption. "More specifically I am, always have been, and always will be bisexual. 🌈 If you know me personally, you probably know this. Every time I tell someone new this information, I experience fear. Fear that it will end a business transaction, fear that I will make someone uncomfortable, fear that I would be ostracized from my family …. Etc etc etc. what’s more important to me at the end of the day is to be me. Authentic. Genuine. Raw. So maybe one person will feel less alone... If you’re that one. I’ve got you. I’m here — I’ll answer. You are NOT alone. Hoping that one day the fear will turn to what it should be…PRIDE. Only love. All love. Today and each day to come. Moments matter."
6. Brooke Blurton first entered the franchise during Nick Cummins's season of The Bachelor Australia in 2018. She later appeared on Bachelor in Paradise Australia in 2019. While on The Bachelor, she came out to Nick on camera and told him that she is bisexual.
She got to star on her own season of The Bachelorette Australia in 2021. And while preparing for her season of the series, the studio put out a casting call for both male and female contestants, which was a first for the worldwide franchise.
7. Minh Thu appeared on The Bachelor Vietnam in 2018. During a monumental rose ceremony, Minh confessed she had feelings for fellow contestant Truc Nhu and asked if she would leave the show with her.
At the time, Truc did not leave the show with Minh, but once they were apart, Truc realized she had feelings for Minh, too. Once they both were eliminated from the show, they got together and confirmed their relationship during a joint interview.
8. Megan Marx first entered the franchise in 2016 when she appeared on Richie Strahan's season of The Bachelor. While on the show, she met fellow contestant Tiffany Scanlon and confirmed that they were dating after the season had ended.
In an Instagram post, she wrote, "From that first cocktail party, it was like this instant calibration between souls, as if we had known each other once before. Friendship ripened into something bolder, trust in a very strange situation was formed, and now every adventure we have rivals the other — and continues to make plans for itself."
9. Tiffany Scanlon also joined Bachelor Nation when she appeared on Richie Strahan's season of The Bachelor in 2016. She then went on to participate in Bachelor: Winter Games in 2018. While she remained very private about her relationship with Megan Marx, she later spoke about how "difficult" the experience ended up being.
"I was finding it more and more difficult to enjoy myself now that we were more recognizable to the public. Strangers grabbing at us for pictures, not even introducing themselves or talking to us, men asking for threesomes, people accusing us of faking our relationship," she wrote on her blog in 2017. "We made the decision (mistake) at that point to share our relationship with the public mostly via our Instagram accounts. This, I believe, would eventually cost us our relationship."
10. Alexa Caves first appeared on Peter Weber's season of The Bachelor in 2020. After her elimination in Week 3 of the show, she took to Instagram to answer questions fans had about her sexuality. “The amount of people that ask me about my sexuality in my DMs is crazy,” she wrote. “LOL, I’ve been getting it since the first episode. It is by far the question I get asked the most.”
"I'm fluid. I've been with women, and I've been with men. I'm open-minded. To me, this really isn't a big deal," she added. "I just do my thang."
11. And finally, Abbie Chatfield first appeared on The Bachelor Australia in 2019 and later appeared on Bachelor in Paradise Australia in 2020. After her stint on Paradise, she came out as bisexual in 2020, and then in 2021, she came out again as queer.
On her podcast It's a Lot, she announced that she had a "revelation." "The biggest reason is...when I've been saying that I'm bi — because I know that I'm not straight — I feel like there's pressure on me to like women and men equally," she said. "I know that isn't what bisexual is. But internally, I feel pressure. And instead of changing societal standards, I'd rather just one time not be the vanguard, and just change what I call myself! My sexuality is fluid, therefore I feel more comfortable saying I'm just queer."
You can check out more posts that celebrate National Coming Out Day and LGBTQ+ History Month over on our LGBTQ+ page.
