Throughout the years there has been hushed whispers about actress and rapper Queen Latifah’s sexuality. First when she played a lesbian in the 1996 film Set it Off.

However, Latifah, real name Dana Owens, has never commented about her sexuality publicly, even though it’s rumored that she had a long lasting relationship with president of Hollywood Trainer fitness, Jeanette Jenkins. The two split ways in 2011.

Now it’s rumored that Queen Latifah is in a new relationship with a choreographer. Perhaps she’s giving Latifah the push she needs to come out to the gay community. Never speaking up on behalf of the LGBT community, Latifah transitioned to coming out in a quiet press release that announced her commitment to headlining this year’s annual Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Festival, which she has never participated in before.

In a press release, the Co-President Pat Crosby expressed excitement over Queen Latifah’s participation in the festival:

From hip to R&B, pop to standards, Queen Latifah is the voice of our generation, and her concert here will be phenomenal, for her to make her worldwide Pride debut here in Long Beach is a tremendous testament to the popularity of our celebration and to the strength of our community.

This has been a quiet transition, that might have to do with the ups and downs of her love life, with her split from her ex, and her new supposed love. In May of 2011 the actress dabbled with gay perception, while acting on VH1’s Single Ladies, which she also produces. The character talks about an accidental coming out, having a revelation that “gay is the new black.” Her character goes on to say, “Being gay is fabulous…I have six new Facebook fan pages. And for every sponsor that falls out, I’ve gotten two more.”

The festival takes place Saturday, May, 19, and only time will tell before we know if Queen Latifah is ready to open up more publicly at the festival.