5. k.d. lang

The singer-songwriter came out publicly in 1992, and underscored the announcement the following year when she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in drag with Cindy Crawford pretending to shave her face. For a country star, coming out is rough: it's like publicly denouncing John Deere or Ford. But lang did it, prospered, and paved the way for other out-and-proud women rockers like Melissa Etheridge.

In her own words: "I was always out and coming out wasn't really a big deal for me just because I was living out to my family, and in the world, for a long time. But it certainly made things easier [...] just because it kind of stripped away the question marks in the audience's minds or the business mind — the sort of public understanding of who I was. It took away any pretense or any question." — to Seattle Gay News