In a recent interview with Fugues, Rob Halford said gay rockers ask him for advice.
“Yes, that has happened, but I won’t name names because everyone comes out when it’s their time,” the Judas Priest vocalist replied when asked if gay musicians have come to him for guidance about coming out over the years. “As we all know, set yourself free.”
Halford continued, “It’s such a difficult thing for us to do, even now in 2024 because we still have this ongoing challenge of hate and bigotry and intolerance and divisiveness. You think it would be a lot easier, but it’s not. The struggle is still very real for young people, and that’s where I hope any conversations I have with others do some good.”
“You know, I read a story not long ago about a guy in his 90s who came out just before he took his dying breath,” added the singer. “Glory hallelujah! It’s never too late to set yourself free because, as we know, once you’re out, the attacks float away. I’m f*cking here. I’m queer. Get f*cking used to it.”
Halford revealed he was gay in 1998 on MTV News. The frontman talked about how hard it was to hide his sexuality in metal music during a chat with Global News’ Adam Wallis in March. He said, “It’s broad-based. It’s not just in music. It’s everywhere. It’s in every walk of life.”
“When I was a younger person particularly, but through the early metal years, yeah, there was a there was a lot of homophobia and pushback and bigotry, so much so that I really had to hide myself, I had to hide my identity within the band,” he admitted. “The whole point of getting from that place of having to hide to now being able to step out and be who you are, particularly in the metal scene, because the metal community loves and takes care of our own, that’s the advantage.”
Halford stated, “I used to be terribly lonely because of having to live a double life. So this whole business of being embraced and feeling not alone and feeling part of a group of people that are all feeling the same way is really, again, special and unique to the metal world.”
The musician previously noted that his announcement was slow to spread because it was before the internet. He wondered what would happen next after the announcement.