Queen Latifah Comes Creeping Out of the Closet at Pride Event

This weekend, entertainer and rumored lesbian Queen Latifah performed a LGBT event in Long Beach, California, and said that she is proud to be with "her people," Eurweb.com reported.

The actress got a crowd of 100,000 people pumped up by singing some of her hits during the 29th Annual Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Festival - the state's 2nd largest Pride event and the 4th largest in the country.

Queen Latifah performed "U.N.I.T.Y." and "Ladies First" and gave motivational advice to the audience and told the crowd to "let their inner light shine in the world" and "to conquer hate with love." She also said that she had "been waiting to do this for a long time."

"She was as free as she wanted to be and as honest as she needed to be, from bumping and grinding onstage to acknowledging that she was proud to be among 'her people' to the predominantly LGBT crowd," the article says.

The entertainer covered Al Green's "Simply Beautiful" and performed a number of different songs in different genres, including hip-hop, rap, jazz, R&B and reggae.

"Her first musical appearance at the Gay Pride Festival was a testament that Queen Latifah not only wants to be true to her loyal fans, but that she is willing to stand up and be herself, perhaps gaining even deeper respect and appreciation from her supporters," the article reads.

This apparent coming out has been preceded by endless media speculation and reporting on what many have considered one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood.Back in 2007, it was rumored that not only would the Cover Girl spokeswoman come out, but that she would also announce her engagement to the woman who was widely reported to be her longtime girlfriend, Jeanette Jenkins. In 2011, Queen Latifah reportedly broke up with Jenkins and began dating her choreographer, Eboni Nichols.

But the rapper quickly denied the allegations and said, "When you're famous these days, it's just part of the deal-unfortunately. People will make up all sorts of things that are not true. ...There ain't gonna be no wedding."

On the other hand, in 2008, when asked about rumors that her new album would be called "The 'L' Word," after the popular Showtime series on power lesbian in L.A., she said it was her "attempt to mess with people's heads." The album ended up being named "Persona," itself an interesting choice: the word means "a mask or fa�ade presented to satisfy the demands of the situation or the environment and not representing the inner personality of the individual; the public personality."