Cara Delevingne Models For British Vogue Alongside 11 LGBTQIA+ Cover Stars

Since bursting onto the modelling scene in the early 2010s, Delevingne’s love life has constantly been part of the rumour mill, but she doesn’t recall an official ‘coming out’ story. “It was more that I just decided to put my cards on the table and say look, I’m in love, I’m in love with who I’m in love with. It didn’t feel like I was making, you know, a conscious decision to be out. It just meant that I was done with being in the closet. I was done with being ashamed for who I loved and who I was. So for me it was more just being like, love is love, and we should be able to love who we want,” she tells Vogue.

Delevingne continues to talk of being accepted into the LGBTQ+ community, stating it’s “more than family.” Currently starring in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” alongside friend Selena Gomez, Delevigngne plays the love interest of Gomez’s character, Mabel Mora. She continues to state how important allies are to the community. “There are so many people in so much pain, and throughout the world, there are still choices being made, policies and governments that are going against people’s human rights, and that is not okay.”

DeBose has been paving the way for the community for some time, yet has still been asked to change at moments throughout her career. “As a queer woman of colour I’ve been asked to be more urban as if my brand of Blackness wasn’t quite Black enough. I think that’s interesting,” she tells Vogue. “I’ve also been asked to be more butch, which is not a bad thing. But sometimes you’d like to be able to bring your sheer humanity to a role. I don’t think roles for queer women have to always present in one specific way.”

The “Hamilton” actor also urges all of us to step up in the ongoing rights for gay, nonbinary, and transgender humans. “So when you see something, say something, raise your voice. Write to your government officials about how you would want to be treated in the world. Because if you wouldn’t want it to happen to you, I can tell you something, we don’t want it to happen to us, you know?”

Growing up in South London, Erivo now lives in Los Angeles. Having realised she was queer and bisexual when she was 15, she didn’t have the vocabulary to describe it at the time. “I could feel myself actively hiding that part of myself and it didn’t feel good. That takes a lot of energy to uphold and there is zero return, ” Erivo tells Vogue. “I felt like I was looking at my community be alive and vibrant from inside a glass box. I don’t want to watch from inside that glass box anymore…There’s not enough room in there and there is no ventilation!”

And Erivo, who stars in the upcoming feature film “Luther” with Idris Elba, wants to encourage others to be free and open with their identity. “Everything I do is on purpose. I know there are young people who need to see me speak out so that they can get one step closer to doing the same.”