Neon Trees singer: People who say they ‘knew’ I was gay before I came out are missing the point
Neon Trees singer Tyler Glenn has delivered a rebuke to people who said they ‘knew’ he was gay before he came out this week.
The Mormon singer, who came out in an interview with Rolling Stone and praised his church for ‘tolerance’, wrote that people are missing the point of what coming out means.
He wrote in a lengthy Facebook letter: “So now you know what you may have always assumed. Good for you. How does it feel? Do you want a ‘gaydar’ award? Do you want to be pat on the back because you can ‘spot them’?
“It is not meant to be salacious. Until you know what it’s like to hide, to keep away true happiness out of fear. That’s when you truly understand what it’s like.
“I don’t think I’m special for being a gay man. That’s not why I came out. I didn’t come out so all of you could say ‘I knew it’ based on the clothes I wear or the way I dance.
“I’m 30. I don’t want to die anymore. I want to really live. Honestly, and fully. What an amazing place to be. For me it was a place I never cared about. Now all I want is to be honest.”
“Last summer, writing songs for the new album, being so fed up with ‘hiding’ and being so ready to be ‘free’ that I poured my heart out into music more than I ever had before. Music indeed was my first love. Not a boy. It was music that I had always had a torrid love affair with. I felt I owed him, the music, or her, the song. I had to be honest with that relationship.”
In his interview with Rolling Stone, Glenn had claimed that gay NFL player Michael Sam inspired him to come out.
