Update: In September 2019, Sam Smith announced that they use they/them pronouns. This content was written in May 2019 before Smith publicly announced their pronouns.
In the upcoming June Issue ofBritish GQ,the multi-Grammy Award winner — who still presently opts for male pronouns — opened up about coming out as non-binary earlier this year, a conversation he previously didn’t know existed in the LGBTQ community.
Louie Banks
He added, “I realized that’s because I don’t fit into either.”
Since discovering this new way to explain his gender identity, the “Stay With Me” singer has felt a sense of relief but still has fear for himself and his family, as he navigates defining his experience to others.
“I was with my mum…and she said something so beautiful,” Smith revealed. “’I’m so relieved that you and me and your whole family have a way to explain this, because it’s also been eating me up your whole life.’ Because my mum could see it and that it was a torture going on in my mind.”
He continued, “But I’m also very scared, because I’ve lived my life as a minority and now it makes me scared because I’m trying to explain it to people around me and they don’t understand. It feels like a new conversation, but I’m now learning it isn’t a new conversation and it’s been around for so long.”
The Grammy-winning artist first revealed his non-binary/genderqueer identity in an interview with actressJameela Jamilin the debut episode of hernew Instagram-based showI Weigh Interviews.
“When I saw the word non-binary/genderqueer and I read into it and I heard these people speaking,” Smith told Jamil. “I was like, ‘F—, that is me.’”
The June issue ofBritish GQwill be available on newsstands and digital download on Friday.
source: people.com
