All queer people have to escape from a prison, says Ezra Furman
INDIO, CA – APRIL 16: Musician Ezra Furman performs on the Outdoor Theatre during day 3 of the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival (Weekend 1) at the Empire Polo Club on April 16, 2017 in Indio, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella)
American singer and queer artist Ezra Furman has shared his most poignant thoughts on coming out in a candid interview, saying that being LGBT+ means that you are “escaping from a prison”.
The artist, who is famed for songs such as Body Was Made and My Zero, said that it took him “years” to consider coming out as a bisexual man.
“It took me years before I even thought of coming out,” said the star to Huck.
“I think this is true for a lot of bisexual people, you think: well I don’t really need to come out, I’m not gay enough to merit all the disruption and effort if I tell everyone I’ve got this thing going on.
INDIO, CA – APRIL 16: Musician Ezra Furman performs on the Outdoor Theatre during day 3 of the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival (Weekend 1) at the Empire Polo Club on April 16, 2017 in Indio, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella)
INDIO, CA – APRIL 16: Musician Ezra Furman performs on the Outdoor Theatre during day 3 of the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival (Weekend 1) at the Empire Polo Club on April 16, 2017 in Indio, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella)
“It was kind of okay to just be closeted mostly, to just tell a few people, until after a while it started to corrode my soul a little bit,” he added.
Although Furman is now an out and proud queer man, he believes that society may accept LGBT+ identities, this is under the guise of tolerance, rather than inclusivity.
“I also think there’s a dangerous tendency underneath that – society wants to pat itself on the back and congratulate itself for its tolerance, but there’s a problem with the idea that gender difference is something to be tolerated, and a bigger problem which makes you think the work is done.”
Transangelic Exodus, Furman’s seventh album, was released 9 February 2018.
Issues and difficulties surrounding bisexuality have come to light this March as part of Bi Health Month.
While 77 percent of gay men and 71 percent of lesbians say that “most or all of the important people in their lives know of their sexual orientation” only 28 percent of bisexual people report being out, according to the Pew Research Centre.
