Queer stars of the Big Brother pantheon.Since its inception, Big Brother has been a social experiment about putting all kinds of different people inside a house and asking them to play a game for a hefty grand prize, which started out as $500,000 and has now evolved to $750,000.Though viewers have taken issue with how certain people of color and LGBTQ+ contestants were portrayed in earlier seasons of Big Brother, that criticism was technically valid to all reality shows, across the board, during those early years of the genre. Thankfully, queer representation in the series has improved, and Big Brother has become a much more diverse show.Thankfully, Big Brother had quite a few LGBTQ+ players who paved the way over the years for the show to become better, fairer, and more inclusive. The show has persevered through many challenging times and is still considered one of the biggest reality competition shows in the world.Scroll through to learn more about the LGBTQ+ contestants who made history on Big Brother.Andy Herren (Big Brother 15)Andy Herren won three Head of Household (HOH) competitions and two Power of Veto (POV) competitions over the course of BB15. His alliances mostly consisted of female houseguests, which was a pretty surprising thing for queer men playing Big Brother in the U.S.In the end, Andy became the first out gay winner of Big Brother by a jury vote of 7-2.Audrey Middleton (Big Brother 17)Audrey Middleton entered the Big Brother 17 house as the first out trans contestant in the series. Unfortunately, she is still the only trans contestant to compete in the entire existence of the U.S. show. Her time on the show was also not great, as Aubrey started to feel isolated from the other houseguests as, by default, became an easy target to get voted out.Ultimately, Audrey made Big Brother history but was evicted pre-jury on week 4.Beau Beasley (Big Brother 6)Beau Beasley, a member of the infamous BB6 alliance known as The Friendship that steamrolled other competitors in that season, managed to win an HOH competition and stay in the game until week 9.Bowie Jane Ball (Big Brother 25)Bowie Jane Ball was an entertaining character on Big Brother 25 who, despite not making the moves the public wanted her to make, had a very earnest way to navigate the competition.Overall the alliance known as The Mafia resulted in all three houseguests getting to the end. Bowie Jane placed third, Matt Klotz finished as runner-up, and Jag Bains won the show.Bunky Miller (Big Brother 2)Bunky Miller an OG houseguest featured on Big Brother 2 spent 61 days in the competition but never won a Head of Household competition.Despite finishing the season in fifth place, Bunky is still remembered by LGBTQ+ fans.Christie Murphy (Big Brother 21)Christie Murphy identified herself as a lesbian as soon as she walked into the Big Brother 21 house, wasting no time at all. The reason? Well It just so happens that she already knew another contestant in the season Tommy Bracco from previously dating one of his female relatives. In any case, Christie was always very confident about her sexuality and would have probably come out that quickly even if Tommy wasn't in the house with her.Claire Rehfuss (Big Brother 23)Claire Rehfuss, who identifies as bisexual, was one of the fan-favorite houseguests on Big Brother 23. Though she played a great game, Claire wasn't able to go up against the historic Cookout alliance.Some fans are surprised to realize that Claire actually had a showmance during her BB23 journey with Derek Xiao except that their showmance only started in the jury house, after both of them had already been eliminated.Fun fact: Claire and Derek returned to reality TV as competitors on The Amazing Race season 34 And they won!Derek Frazier (Big Brother 23)Derek Frazier a.k.a. Big D made it to the end of BB23 by trusting his Cookout alliance and staying loyal to them at all times. He played a strong social game, but ended up losing the competition by a unanimous 9-0 jury vote to Xavier Prather at the finale.Frankie Grande (Big Brother 16)Frankie Grande was a polarizing contestant on Big Brother 16. At the same time that he was extremely competitive and aligned himself with the most powerful alliance in the game, some fans took issue with him siding with the male players who had been taking down the women week after week. In any case, Grande left a huge mark in the Big Brother canon.Jason Roy (Big Brother 17; Big Brother: Over the Top)After being an incredibly captivating contestant on Big Brother 17, Jason Roy came back to compete on Big Brother: Over the Top. During his second chance on the show, Roy played a fantastic game and finished as runner-up.Hisam Goueli (Big Brother 25)Going into BB25, Hisam Goueli was an "archetype" of gay players that fans hadn't seen that often on Big Brother: He was 45 (not the usual 20-something gay person), and he was extremely fit, which made him a comp threat for physical challenges.Jenn Arroyo (Big Brother 14)Jenn Arroyo was another older-than-average person in the LGBTQ+ community to enter this competition. Considering that BB14 aired in 2012 a time when queer women tended to identify themselves as bisexual instead it feels pretty radical that Jenn stood on business and lived as her most authentic self at all times.Jozea Flores (Big Brother 18)We couldn't possibly have a list like this without Jozea Flores. The Big Brother 18 star quite literally, and earnestly, reached the conclusion that he had been sent into season 18 to be "the Messiah for the newbies."Instead, Jozea just put the messy in Messiah. We had a blast, though!Kaycee Clark (Big Brother 20)Kaycee Clark became the first out lesbian contestant to win the show on Big Brother 20. Besides playing one of the most impressive social games of all time, Clark had a string of competition wins toward the end of the season that helped her finale pitch to the jury members. And win, she did!Kevin Campbell (Big Brother 11; Big Brother 22: All-Stars)Kevin Campbell was an entertaining and very savvy player on Big Brother 11 who had a legitimate chance to win that season if he hadn't lost the final HOH competition.That last-minute twist resulted in Kevin placing third on the show. he returned for Big Brother 22: All-Stars many years later but wasn't able to play as good of a game in that subsequent season.Marcellas Reynolds (Big Brother 3; Big Brother 7: All-Stars)Marcellas Reynolds was an iconic houseguest during both of his runs competing on Big Brother: season 3, where he played 5th overall; and season 7, where he finished in 9th place.Michael Bruner (Big Brother 24)Michael Bruner had everything it takes for someone to win Big Brother, except that he couldnt control himself and ended up winning an unbelievable nine competitions during BB24. Those three HOH wins and six POV wins absolutely put a huge target on Michael's back, and he was evicted as soon as he wasn't able to secure any protections in week 9.Paul Abrahamian (Big Brother 18; Big Brother 19)Paul Abrahamian did something that many fans of the show would deem inconceivable: Making it to the grand finale twice, back to back, and losing both finales despite some argue having a stronger track record than the other finalist.Overall, Paul was a certified comp beast with eight comp wins between BB18 and BB19. In 2020, Paul Abrahamian updated their pronouns to they/them.Paulie Calafiore (Big Brother 18)The target on Paulie Calafiore's back was set from the start as he walked into the season being the brother of Cody Calafiore then an iconic runner-up of BB16, and a player who subsequently won Big Brother 22: All-Stars.Despite winning two HOHs, three POVs, and escaping the couple a couple of times, Paulie still placed 8th overall and became a jury member. In 2023, Paulie came out as bisexual.Ragan Fox (Big Brother 12)Big Brother 12 was largely steamrolled by The Brigade alliance. Nonetheless, Ragan Fox still managed to place fifth in the season and starred in one of the most hilarious fights in BB history where he read fellow contestant Rachel Reilly to filth.Tommy Bracco (Big Brother 21)Tommy Bracco placed fifth on BB21 and was one of the main stars of that entire season. Besides his one HOH win and two POV wins, Bracco also played a great social game with his fellow houseguests.Vanessa Rousso (Big Brother 17)Vanessa Rousso is considered one of the best players in Big Brother history. She was so good of a player, in fact, that her own ally Steve Moses chose to cut her at the grand finale of BB17. He candidly confessed, live on TV, and to Vanessa's face, that the only way for him to win the show was to not sit next to her in the final episode."You have played the most brilliant game I mean this as a student and super fan of this game," Steve told Vanessa. "As a student of this game, you are the most brilliant female player this game has ever seen."Will Large (Big Brother 5)Zach Rance (Big Brother 16)It's hard to describe the chaotic and brutally unfiltered sincerity of Zach Rance in the Big Brother 16 house.All season long, Zach had a pretty adorable showmance with costar Frankie Grande. But given that Frankie was always the fabulous gay man he still is, Zach was a total "bro" from Florida. Somehow, these two became each other's beaus in the house and spent days on days cuddling. In 2020, Zach came out as bisexual (via People).