Entertainment

Jane Lynch Reveals Her Struggle With Her Sexuality

by Kaitlin Reilly

This Glee actress wants LGBT teens to know that it does get better. Jane Lynch, who plays the mean, teen-despising Coach Sue Sylvester on the Fox dramedy, stars in the first episode of the new web series from the It Gets Better project titled "It Got Better." The series is targeted at teens struggling with their sexuality and shows just how much better it has gotten for celebrities who have struggled with the very same thing. Lynch, who was formerly married to psychologist Dr. Laura Embry, described keeping her sexuality a secret as a very painful time in her life.

For me, to be ostracized would have been the worst thing... To be thought of as different and not accepted was a fate worse than death... It was almost like I had a disease I had been diagnosed. I had a journal and … I remember I wrote, 'I am gay. No one can ever know this.' And I went four blocks away and threw it out in somebody else's garbage... It led to a life of secrecy that I had to unravel.

While the slogan "it gets better" is easy to say, it's far more powerful when people who have dealt with similar pain are able to discuss how they've overcome the same obstacles. Though Lynch's story is an important one, hers isn't the only story of triumph. George Takei, Tim Gunn, Laverne Cox, Jason Collins, and Tegan & Sara will also use the web series as a platform for their own stories.

Check out Jane Lynch's video below.

You can learn more about the It Gets Better project here.