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How coming out became a viral video sensation

Shane Dawson, a popular viral video personality, came out to his fans on his YouTube channel. But he was not the first to use the platform this way.
Author Shane Dawson appears on stage during \"Vlogger to Author\" at BookCon held at the Javits Center on May 31, 2015 in New York, N.Y. (Photo by Brent N. Clarke/FilmMagic/Getty)
Author Shane Dawson appears on stage during \"Vlogger to Author\" at BookCon held at the Javits Center on May 31, 2015 in New York, N.Y.

Viral video sensation Shane Dawson came out as bisexual in an emotional video posted on his YouTube channel "Shane Dawson TV" on Tuesday. In the video, he describes his coming to terms with his sexuality and all the hurdles he had to overcome before he could comfortably admit that he was attracted to both men and women:

Here are five other people who came out of the closet with YouTube videos that went viral:

One of the first people who garnered the attention of the Internet was Maria Carrillo High School senior Kayla Kearney. She posted a video of her coming out to her high school during an assembly honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 2011: 

After the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," a policy preventng openly gay soldiers from serving in the military, a 21-year old soldier stationed in Germany recorded a YouTube video of himself calling his dad and telling him that he is gay:

Ingrid Nilsen, a popular YouTube beauty vlogger who also served as a judge on Project Runway in 2014, also used the video platform to tell her fans about her sexuality:

Country singer Billy Gilman, inspired by another country singer who had recently come out, told his fans he was gay on YouTube despite the culturally conservative reputation of the genre:

In an emotional video, "The Rhodes Bros," twin YouTube stars, Austin and Aaron Rhodes, both come out to their father as gay: