14 Famous Queer Couples And The Stories Of How They Met
1.Brad Altman and George Takei
In the '80s, George met his now-husband, Brad, in a gay running club called LA Frontrunners. On Oprah: Where Are They Now? George explained, "He was the best runner in the club, and also great-looking. So I went up to him and I asked him to train me for my first marathon." The pair have been married since 2008.
2.Lauren Morelli and Samira Wiley
Samira and Lauren met each other on the Orange Is the New Black set, where Lauren was a writer and Samira played Poussey. Samira told Bust, "I was really attracted to Lauren’s mind first before I met Lauren the person. I got her script and I was like, 'This person’s really talented; I can’t wait to meet this person.'" They, of course, did meet, and Samira remembered "her coming to set and me being able to watch her be a boss from afar, telling whatever people to go this way, answering this question. Just seeing her literally be the person in charge was really attractive to me." They got married in 2017.
3.Justin Mikita and Jesse Tyler Ferguson
While Jesse and Justin like to tell people they were introduced through mutual friends, they ~actually~ first met each other in the locker room at Equinox gym in West Hollywood. Jesse explained that Modern Family had begun and Justin recognized him from the pilot, so he stopped Jesse to ask about his character. Jesse told Variety, “I was taken by how handsome he was and how sweet. ... I started asking questions about him, and I think he was sort of thrown off by that and ran away from me.” They kept in touch and Justin asked Jesse out, but he was in a relationship at the time. Luckily, they ran into each other at the gym again when Jesse was single, and the rest is history. Jesse and Justin have been married since 2013.
4.Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner
It's rumored that this pair met when Lily was searching for a collaborator to help develop her character Edith Ann for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Since then, they've worked together on many projects — like Lily's one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and The Incredible Shrinking Woman — and got married in 2013.
5.Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka
NPH described his now-husband as a "brooding, James Dean–type guy in a leather jacket" the first time Neil "met" him when he coincidentally ran into his friend Kate. David was in a long-distance relationship at the time, and while the pair were "always around" each other, they didn't hang out for the first time until Kate threw an American Idol viewing party and invited them both. Neil explained, "I just stammered around him. I couldn’t take my eyes off him." David told Out, "I ended up breaking with my boyfriend, and a week later, Neil and I had a date. ... We started hanging out every single night, and after three months, it was just nonstop." The two have been married since 2014.
6.Holland Taylor and Sarah Paulson
On Watch What Happens Live, Sarah explained that she and Holland met a very long time ago, and the two were brought back together while working on separate PSAs for the same organization at a friend's house. They started following each other on Twitter because of it, and Holland slid into Sarah's DMs. They've been together since 2015.
7.Elton John and David Furnish
When Elton returned to his Windsor house in 1993, he wanted to meet new people. He asked a friend in London if they could get a group together for dinner at his place that weekend, and his future husband, David, was in attendance. Elton told Parade, "I was attracted to David immediately. He was very well dressed, very shy." They had dinner again the next night and hit it off. The pair got married in 2014.
8.Linda Wallem and Melissa Etheridge
Linda — who was the showrunner of That '80s Show — wanted Melissa to play a record-store owner on the show. The two met to discuss the role, and while that didn't quite work out, they did become good friends. After Melissa and her first wife divorced, she invited Linda to live with her and her kids just as friends. The whole thing turned into a bit of a Parent Trap situation, where Melissa's kids really wanted them to date. Eventually they did, and the couple have been married since 2014.
9.Jwan Yosef and Ricky Martin
On Radio Andy, Ricky explained how he met Jwan and slid into his DMs. “I’m scrolling and I see this beautiful piece of art, and I’m like, ‘Whoa, how cool! Who’s this?’ Then I start checking, and all of a sudden I’m like, ‘Ooh, ooh.’” And then I wrote to him ... We were talking for like six months without me hearing his voice. We talked about art — nothing sexy … I swear, nothing sexy. It was all about art and life in general. He used to live in London. I went to London and I met him.” The couple have been married since 2017.
10.Christine Marinoni and Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia and Christine met at a campaign event for the Alliance for Quality Education. Cynthia — who had two kids in the New York City public school system — and Christine, who helped found the nonprofit organization, were both at the event fighting to decrease class sizes. In an interview with Attitude, Cynthia — who had previously dated only men — explained, "Falling in love with my wife was one of the great delights and surprises of my life, but it didn’t seem like I became a whole new person, or like some door had been unlocked. It was like, ‘I have fallen in love with different people in my life, and they’ve all been men before. Now this is a woman, and she is amazing.’” They started dating in 2004 and have been married since 2012.
11.Georges LeBar and RuPaul
RuPaul met his now-husband — a Wyoming-based rancher named Georges — on the dance floor of the Limelight nightclub on his birthday in 1994. RuPaul spoke highly of Georges in an interview with BuzzFeed News, saying, "He's so kind and funny. I remember praying, 'I want a sweet, sensitive man,' and I got an Australian who's just lovely." The couple got married in 2017 on the anniversary of when they met.
12.Wanda Sykes and Alex Niedbalski
Wanda saw Alex on a ferry to Fire Island and thought to herself, Wow, that’s what you need, Wanda. She told a friend the next day, who promptly told her she needed to start using cheesy pickup lines instead of boring stories about things like remodeling her kitchen to ~get things going~ with people. It turns out that friend was very wrong, because when Wanda told the next person she met about her kitchen remodeling plans, they introduced her to Alex — who, coincidentally, sold granite countertops. The pair have been married since 2008.
13.Adam Smith and Billy Porter
Billy first saw Adam while walking to a restaurant with his friends and was into the "stranger" before learning that Adam was also attending the dinner. Billy sat next to him and they hit it off. The couple dated for a year before they broke up in 2010, but they stayed very good friends the whole time. They got back together in 2015 after watching Hamilton at the Public Theater. Billy explained the night to People magazine: "I felt it, and the tears came, and I pulled over, and he said, ‘I love you, and I’ve always loved you, and if there’s any chance, I would like another shot — I would like us to have another shot at this.' He was the one that got away — so it wasn’t hard. The yes came easy and immediately!” They got married in 2017.
14.Michael Turchin and Lance Bass
Lance and Michael met at a friend's birthday party in Palm Springs, California, and became good friends after. They both liked each other and wanted to be more than friends but didn't think the other felt the same. Michael told People magazine, "I am so shy and never would have made the first move. I was thinking, This is Lance Bass. I grew up watching him on TV and listening to his music. That just added a whole other layer of intimidation." Things changed about a month later when they had their first kiss. The couple got married in 2014.
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