PEOPLE Celebrates Pride: Inside the 2022 Pride Issue Featuring Robin Roberts, Christina Aguilera and More

"I opened up to [Heidi about my transition]. A lot of people are scared to ask questions, but Heidi was willing to learn."

— RuPaul's Drag Race star Gottmik, the show's first trans male contestant

"People are worried about saying the wrong thing. I don't think everyone always means to say something wrong — it's just the language is not fully there."

— friend and ally Heidi Klum

"When I was younger, I told a mentor, somebody I really looked up to, 'I think I'm gay.' Her reaction was so not supportive. Hateful, really. It hurt. Later in my 20s, I decided to tell my sister Dorothy; I had to tell somebody.

"We went out to lunch. We're sitting down, I'm working up the nerve, over sweet tea, to spill the tea. And right when I say to her, just like out of the movies, 'Dorothy, I'm gay,' the server put down our lunch. Then he fiddled around for what felt like five minutes. And so I've just told my sister I'm gay, she's crying, and we have to wait for the server. Finally, he walked away, and I look at her and she says, 'I'm not crying because you're gay. I'm crying because you love me enough to tell me.' "

— Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, PEOPLE's 2022 Pride Issue cover star

"Being an LGBTQ+ ally is not something that's short-lived, it's in my DNA. Over the years, I've raised awareness about HIV and AIDS and helped families of victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

"My friends in the LGBTQ+ community have allowed me to be myself and share my darkest secrets with them. I feel safe with them. I get to be as colorful and loud as I want to be. They're my people."

— singer and ally Christina Aguilera

"Allyship to me means someone having your back without reservations or conditions. In Hollywood it is so important for queer people to have the chance to have our stories told. With Lisa [Sibilly's manager] in my corner, I don't have to worry about being anything other than who I am. And even if I don't book a straight role ever again, I will be happy knowing that I've played great queer people."

— Queer As Folk's Johnny Sibilly (front, with costar Devin Way, back, and allies Lisa Filipelli and Shayne Davis)

"Allies are everywhere. The right ones will run the whole race with you. NASCAR is moving in the right direction. And I'm along for the ride."

— out NASCAR driver Zach Herrin (in white) with ally and fellow NASCAR driver Justin Allgaier

"I'm just so humbled by Talon's courage. [He] really taught me what it means to stand up for my principles when it gets hard."

— dad Derrick Fiedler of son Talon (center), who began transitioning at age 9

To see more with celebrities and allies, pick up the Pride Issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.