Dating has become so toxic, and it seems like every other day we find out about another celebrity who cheated or a famous couple who is getting divorced.
But for so many queer celebs, their relationships are still going strong after 15 years or more!
Some of these couples have been together since the ‘70s or ‘80s and had to hide their love at a time when gay marriage wasn’t legal and being publicly out could have ended their careers.
But in the end, love won out, and these celebrity power couples are still going strong all these years later.
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka went on their first date in 2004 and celebrated their 20th anniversary together in April 2024. The actors met when they were both on Broadway, with Harris starring in Cabaret while Burtka was in Gypsy, and NPH came out two years after they started dating. They welcomed twins Gideon and Harper in 2010 and got married in 2014.
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi
Ellen DeGeneres came out in 1997, but when the pair originally met in 2001 at a Rock the Vote concert, Portia de Rossi wasn’t publicly out as a lesbian yet. DeGeneres and de Rossi started dating way back in 2004 after they both broke up with their respective partners and tied the knot four years later.
RuPaul and Georges LeBar
\u200bGeorges LeBar and RuPaul
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Georges LeBar and RuPaul
RuPaul and husband Georges LeBar have been together for over 30 years after having met in a New York City club back in 1994. The lovebirds got married secretly in 2017 after having been together for 23 years at the time.
Matt Bomer and Simon Halls
Matt Bomer and Simon Halls
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Matt Bomer and Simon Halls
Matt Bomer came out publicly during an acceptance speech in 2012 where he announced that he had three sons with publicist Simon Halls. Their twins were born in 2008 and the pair got married in 2011.
Colman Domingo and Raúl Domingo
Colman Domingo and Ra\u00fal Domingo
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Colman Domingo and Raúl Domingo
Colman Domingo and husband Raúl Domingo have been together for so many years that they actually started dating when Colman placed a “Missed Connections” ad on Craigslist in 2005 after the two met in a Walgreens parking lot. The happy couple got married in 2014 and celebrated their 20th anniversary together in 2025.
Elton John and David Furnish
Elton John met husband David Furnish in 1993 through mutual friends. They entered into a civil partnership in 2005 and got officially married in 2014. John and Furnish share two sons together.
Jim Parsons and Todd Spiewak
Jim Parsons met Todd Spiewak on a blind date in 2002. Parsons quietly came out as gay in a 2012 New York Times article while at the height of his Big Bang Theory fame. The two tied the knot in 2017 at the Rainbow Room in New York City.
Melissa Etheridge and Linda Wallem
Lesbian icon Melissa Etheridge and Linda Wallem tied the knot in 2014, but they first started dating in 2010 after spending a decade being close friends.
Kal Penn and Josh
Kal Penn surprised fans in 2021 when he reveled in his memoir that not only had he been in a relationship for 11 years, but he was engaged to a man named Josh. Penn met Josh when the actor was working in the White House during the Obama administration.
Sean Hayes and Scott Icenogle
Sean Hayes and Scott Icenogle walked down the aisle together in 2014 after having dated for eight years. The two men met on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2006.
Wanda Sykes and Alex Sykes
Comedian Wanda Sykes was on the ferry to Fire Island in 2006 when she first spotted her future wife, Alex Niedbalski. The two were introduced later and got married in 2008, the same year Sykes came out publicly. The couple welcomed twins in 2009.
Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner
Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner
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Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner
Lily Tomlin met Jane Wagner back in the ‘70s when she reached out for help with a character she was playing. Wagner is a writer and director , so the two women spent their careers making some of the best comedies of the ‘80s and ‘90s together. Tomlin said it was love at first sight, but the pair wasn’t able to tie the knot until 2013.
George Takei and Brad Altman
George Takei and Brad Altman
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George Takei and Brad Altman
George Takei met Brad Altman in the ‘80s when he joined a running group where the two trained for mini marathons before they ever started dating. They kept their relationship a secret for 18 years before Takei came out publicly in 2005. Then in 2008, the couple was finally able to get married.
Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni
Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni met in 2004 while they were both advocating for state schools. Before meeting Marinoni, the Sex and the City star had never dated or kissed a woman before. The pair tied the knot in 2012 and share a son named Max (Nixon also has two children from a previous relationship).
Tan France and Rob France
Tan France and Rob France
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Tan France and Rob France
Queer Eye star Tan France met Rob on a dating app and got married in 2007. They initially bonded over their religious backgrounds — Tan is Muslim, while Rob is Mormon — and now share two sons.
Michael Kors and Lance LePere
Fashion designer Michael Kors met his future husband, Lance LePere, in 1990 when he worked as an intern for Kors, who is 11 years his senior. The pair was together for 21 years before finally getting married in 2011 after same-sex marriage was legalized in New York in June of that year.
Robin Roberts and Amber Laign
Good Morning America host Robin Roberts and Amber Laign met back in 2005 when they were set up on a blind date by mutual friends. Roberts came out in 2013 when she acknowledged her “longtime girlfriend Amber” in a Facebook post. After being together for nearly two decades, the happy couple finally tied the knot in 2023.
Cassandra Peterson and Teresa ‘T’ Wierson
Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira, first met Teresa ‘T’ Wierson at a Gold’s Gym in Hollywood, where Wierson worked as a trainer. Peterson kept her relationship and sexuality a secret until she released her memoir, Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark, in 2021 after the pair had been together for close to 20 years.
This article originally appeared on Pride: 18 of the longest-running LGBTQ+ celebrity couples
