50 BILLBOARD | AUGUST 10 , 2 019
of strange and disconnected, and our career coincided with it
because we signed a deal right out of high school.
But Elliot Roberts, who signed us — he managed Neil Young —
had a conversation with us one afternoon. Sara just burst out like,
“We’re gay. Is it OK to talk about?” He just kind of chuckled and
said, “Then say you’re gay.” I think I just melted into the chair, I
was so embarrassed. Talking about sexuality, it feels like you’re
talking about sex. [Being out] was part of our narrative, but there
was no talking about it, really, because everyone was so awkward
about it.
Freedia, what about you?
FREEDIA For me, what’s understood don’t need to be explained. I
came out at a very early age. I sat my mom down at my 12th birthday
party and told her in front of my friends. She said, “Baby, mama
already knows, and I’m going to love you regardless.” Once I got my
mom’s support, there was nothing else I needed.
A lot of non-queer artists are figuring out how to be good
allies right now. Hayley, you were just in Taylor Swift’s “You
Need to Calm Down” video, which featured many queer
performers and directed viewers to a petition for the U.S.
Senate to pass the Equality Act.
KIYOKO I’ve always had mixed emotions with allies and trying to
understand the relationship. I had a moment during World Pride
in New York: I was on the float, I had my best friend beside me and
everyone who works with me, and they’re all very straight. They
were cheering and crying. They were supporting Pride because
they loved me. So allies are just as important as anyone who’s in
the community. These are
people fighting for you when
it doesn’t have anything to
do with them. So I’m very
grateful for Taylor’s support.
LAMBERT With Taylor, what
was impressive is she put
this petition out there.
She’s moving people to
take action. But there is
criticism when an artist is
just doing it for personal [or]
commercial gain.
FREEDIA It needs to come
from the heart.
LAMBERT Sometimes when
this ally [conversation] comes
up, you see a straight male
pop star or an actor being like,
“I like gay people.” And I’m
like, “I don’t give a shit if you fucking like gay people! Why do I need
your approval?” That’s the hard side of me.
QUIN Dan Reynolds from Imagine Dragons started LoveLoud
Festival [in 2017] in Utah to raise money for the LGBTQ
community, and youth specifically, and I’m involved on the board
and with the speaker and performer side of it. It is absolutely
fucking impossible to get people to come.
Our “allies” are often just saying they’re allies. Sometimes it feels
like unless they’re getting a prize or an award, they don’t come. I
want them to show up, I want them to put a petition at the end of
their video. Dan wraps himself in a rainbow flag every night and
cries real tears. He understands the language, he sits down and has
the conversation, he makes space. I’m like Adam, there’s...
LAMBERT ...the chip. I think that chip comes from being in the
business as long as we’ve been in it.
QUIN Yeah, I’m a dinosaur.
KIYOKO You guys! No, you’re not!
LAMBERT (Laughs.) Not saying that we’re so old, but more that it has
changed so much. Ten years ago was a totally different vibe.
KIYOKO Eventually we want to just be ourselves and not be judged
and not have to rely on validation from an ally. We’re still in that
world where you have to get that approval.
MAKONNEN Yeah, like a cosign.
Were there any cosigns that made a real difference for you?
MAKONNEN Lil Peep [who died in 2017]. He was like a new, younger
artist [who said], “I still love you and want to work with you.”
Actually, I’ve seen a lot of withdrawal and turn-the-other-way
[reactions] since coming out, but it is what it is.
LAMBERT I saw the same thing. When I did it, which was before I
released any solo music, I [saw comments like], “You lost a fan!” I’m
like, “I didn’t want your kind of fan anyway.”
QUIN The internet is a garbage can, but I feel like our community
has been able to support each other in a way that didn’t exist even
10 years ago. Because I’m not going to say that I didn’t want our
straight contemporaries in the music business to reach out and
support me — I would’ve just really loved if someone gay had. And a
lot of that was because there was no way to do it.
FREEDIA Yeah, it wasn’t just that you could reach out.
QUIN Now I’m like a psycho. Every time I meet a new young,
up-and-coming LGBTQ artist, I push people out of the way like,
“My name is Tegan, I play in a band called Tegan & Sara, and if you
ever need anything, please hit me up. I will be happy to stand up for
you, mentor you.” Because it was so lonely.
FREEDIA That’s how I felt when RuPaul came for me [to collaborate
on music in 2012]. That was mother rescue right there. It definitely
feels good when you have somebody in the walk of life that you’re in
say, “Hey, here’s a helping hand.”
In the style of a RuPaul’s Drag Race finale, I want to ask you
all: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give
your younger queer self?
LAMBERT “Relax, it’s all going to be fine. You’re beautiful, you’re not
ugly, you’re not going to be alone.” There was so much shame and
self-hatred. I would just try to calm myself down.
KIYOKO “It’s OK that you’re not super feminine, and it’s OK that
you’re also masculine. There are other people out there like you
across the globe.” I am grateful for the internet. My fans are my
community that I never had growing up, and so I would tell myself,
“You will find your people.”
MAKONNEN “Be happy.” It took me a long time to figure out, like,
“Why are they picking on me? Why are you all bothering me so
much?” I would just tell my younger self, “Don’t stress it. You’ll find
out soon enough what it is.”
QUIN I needed somebody to tell me it was as hard as it felt.
Everyone’s always telling you you’re living your dream: “But you’re
having so much fun!” And I am, but I would just like to visit early-
2000s us and say, “It is absolutely really hard, and it’s OK sharing a
Conner Lodge hotel room with your twin sister. That’s part of being
an adult; that’s part of building a career.”
FREEDIA I would have been more patient. I would have started
thinking about things that can set me up for a better future. But
it’s important that we all went through the journey that we went
through. That’s what makes us who we are. All of those hiccups and
all of those triumphs and tribulations? It’s the basis of the story.
“ SOMETIMES
YOU GET
OVERWHELMED:
I’M NOT DOING
ENOUGH, I’M NOT
SAYING ENOUGH.
I JUST FOCUS
ON KEEPING
PEOPLE ALIVE.”
—HAYLEY KIYOKO
K
IYO
K
O:^ HA
IRBY^G
U
I^
S
CHO
E
D
L
E
R
US
ING
OR
IBE
HA
IRC
A
R
E
AT
EX
CLU
S
IVE^A
R
T
ISTS.^
M
A
K
E
U
P
BY
MA
RLAVA
Z
Q
U
E
Z.^
PR
E
V
IOUS^SPR
E
A
D:^ MA
K
ON
N
E
N
:^
G
R
OO
MING
BY
DAN
PE
R
R
I.
QU
IN:^ HA
IRBY^JOH
NN
Y
ST
U
N
T
Z
AT^C
R
O
S
B
Y^C
A
R
T
ERMA
N
A
G
E
ME
N
T.MA
K
E
U
P
BY
RA
C
H
A
E
L^V
A
N
G
.