Freddie Mercury 'me out as gay lyrics to h Queen song Bohemian Rhapsody' | London Eveng Standard | Eveng Standard

Contents:

• QUEEN GUARIST BRIAN MAY: 'I DIDN'T KNOW' FREDDIE MERCURY WAS GAY
• FREDDIE MERCURY 'ME OUT AS GAY LYRICS TO H QUEEN SONG BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY'
• QUEEN ELIZABETH II LED THROUGH S OF CHANGE ON GAY RIGHTS, BUT HER LGBTQ LEGACY IS PLITED
• FREDDIE MERCURY’S SEXUALY REMAED A MYSTERY EVEN TO HIS QUEEN BANDMATNICK DERISONICK DERISOPUBLISHED: MAY 16, 2018KEYSTONE, GETTY IMAGSHARETWEETTHEY DIDN'T KNOW. MAYBE, THEY DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW.QUEEN NEVER TALKED MUCH ABOUT FREDDIE MERCURY'S SEXUALY, AND EVEN LS ABOUT THE DISEASE THAT EVENTUALLY KILLED HIM. "WE WERE VERY CLOSE AS A GROUP," DMMER ROGER TAYLOR SAID, NOT LONG AFTER MERCURY DIED OF AIDS 1991. "BUT EVEN WE DIDN'T KNOW A LOT OF THGS ABOUT FREDDIE."STILL, MERCURY'S BANDMAT WERE NFINT OF ONE THG: HE ULDN'T BE FED SOME SUPERFICIAL, BARY WAY. THAT SIMPLY DON'T REFLECT THE PLEXY THAT SHOT THROUGH EVERY ELEMENT OF MERCURY'S LIFE AND, OF URSE, THE BAND HE ONCE ONTED.IF ANYTHG, SOME SAY, FREDDIE MERCURY WAS BISEXUAL, LONG BEFORE THAT BEME SUCH A MONLY DISCSED THG. "I DON'T THK EVEN HE WAS FULLY GNIZANT THE BEGNG," GUARIST BRIAN MAY ONCE TOLD THE DAILY EXPRS. "YOU'RE TALKG TO SOMEONE WHO SHARED ROOMS WH FRED ON THE FIRST UPLE OF TOURS, SO I KNEW HIM PRETTY WELL. I KNEW A LOT OF HIS GIRLIENDS, AND HE CERTALY DIDN'T HAVE BOYIENDS THOSE DAYS, THAT'S FOR SURE. I THK THERE WAS A SLIGHT SPICN BUT NEVER OCCURRED TO ME THAT HE WAS GAY."MERCURY KEPT TO HIMSELF, PERHAPS AS A FENSE MECHANISM BUT ALSO BEE HE LIKED TO CULTIVATE A SENSE OF MYSTERY. IT WORKED: QUTNS ABOUT JT HOW MERCURY MIGHT BE PORTRAYED DOGGED THE QUEEN DOCU-DRAMA BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, EVEN BEFORE WAS RELEASED TO THEATERS. MAY ADD THAT MERCURY REVEALED TO QUEEN THAT HE ALSO LIKED MEN ONLY "YEARS AFTER WAS OBV.""THE VISORS TO FREDDIE'S DRSG ROOM STARTED TO CHANGE OM HOT CHICKS TO HOT MEN," MAY TOLD THE TIM OF LONDON 2017. "IT DIDN'T MATTER TO ; WHY SHOULD ? BUT FREDDIE HAD THIS HAB OF SAYG, 'WELL, I SUPPOSE YOU REALIZE THIS, THAT OR THE OTHER,' THIS VERY OFFHAND WAY – AND HE DID SAY AT SOME POT, 'I SUPPOSE YOU REALIZE I'VE CHANGED MY PRIVATE LIFE?'"SOME ARGUE THIS SHIFT WAS ONLY A BELATED MANIFTATN OF FEELGS THAT WERE ALWAYS THERE, RATHER THAN ANY KD OF SUDN REALIZATN. CLASSMAT AT THE ST. PETER'S CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL PANCHGANI, INDIA, AN ELE BOARDG SCHOOL WHERE THE YOUNG TANZANIA-BORN FARROKH BULSARA HAD BEGUN SCHOOL AT AGE EIGHT, APPARENTLY ALWAYS SPECTED HE MIGHT BE GAY. NEEDLS TO SAY, TIM WERE DIFFERENT 1954."HE HAD THIS HAB OF LLG ONE 'DARLG,' WHICH I MT SAY SEEMED A LTLE FEY. IT SIMPLY WASN'T SOMETHG BOYS DID THOSE DAYS," SCHOOLMISTRS JA SMH SAYS MERCURY: AN INTIMATE BGRAPHY OF FREDDIE MERCURY. "IT WAS ACCEPTED THAT FREDDIE WAS HOMOSEXUAL WHEN HE WAS HERE. NORMALLY, WOULD HAVE BEEN, 'OH, GOD, YOU KNOW, 'S JT GHASTLY.' BUT WH FREDDIE SOMEHOW WASN'T. IT WAS OKAY."THE BULSARAS EVENTUALLY END UP MIDDLEX, NEAR LONDON, AFTER THE FAY'S HOMELAND – THEN LLED ZANZIBAR – WAS NSUMED A REVOLUTN 1964. THERE, FARROKH BULSARA WAS PERMANENTLY LEFT BEHD FOR FREDDIE MERCURY, THOUGH EVERY NTRADICTN WAS PLACE OM THE START.WATCH QUEEN'S 'BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY' VIOHIS OUTFS WERE WILDLY ANDROGYNO; HIS ONSTAGE PERSONA RPORATED A THEATRIL SENSE OF MP. "IN THOSE DAYS, WAS THE FASHN TO BE KD OF DANDYISH, AND I SUPPOSE WE HAD A HAND CREATG THE FASHN," MAY TOLD THE DAILY EXPRS. "SO THERE WAS THIS DOUBT PEOPLE'S MDS AS TO WHETHER YOU MIGHT BE GAY OR NOT. IT WAS A NVENIENT LTLE PLACE TO BE."EVEN THE CISN TO LL HIS BAND QUEEN WAS MEANT TO PROVOKE, TO LOR EVERYTHG THEY DID WH A WHISPER OF MYSTERY: IS HE OR ISN'T HE?"THE NAME WAS FREDDIE'S IA," TAYLOR SAID IS THIS THE REAL LIFE?: THE UNTOLD STORY OF QUEEN. AT THIS POT, THE TWO WERE SELLG ODDS AND ENDS AT THE FAMOLY BOHEMIAN KENSGTON MARKET, STILL HOPG MIC ULD ONE DAY PAY THE BILLS. "IN THOSE DAYS, THERE WAS A PRETTY ECCENTRIC CROWD THERE, AND A LOT OF THEM WERE GAY AND A LOT OF THEM PRETEND TO BE, AND JT SEEMED TO F ," TAYLOR ADD. "I DIDN'T LIKE THE NAME ORIGALLY AND NEHER DID BRIAN, BUT WE GOT ED TO ."TRACKS LIKE "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY," WHICH SO LONGED FOR AN UNREACHABLE EEDOM, SEEMED TO BE HTS AS TO WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN EP SI HIS HEART. "THERE'S BEEN SO MUCH ANALYSIS OF THE SONG, BUT I SUBSCRIBE TO THE THEORY – AND I NEVER DISCSED WH [FREDDIE] – THAT WAS HIS G OUT SONG,” JOHN REID, QUEEN'S MANAGER AT THE TIME, SAID SOMEBODY TO LOVE: THE LIFE, DEATH, AND LEGACY OF FREDDIE MERCURY. MAY, ON THE OTHER HAND, VEHEMENTLY DISAGREED.BEYOND THE WOMEN MERCURY DATED DURG QUEEN'S EARLY YEARS, HE MATAED A LENGTHY RELATNSHIP WH MARY AT – FIRST AS A ROMANTIC PARTNER AND ONE-TIME FIANCEE, THEN AS THE CLOST OF NFIDANTS. HE REVEALED HIS SEXUAL YEARNGS TO AT WHILE QUEEN WERE AT WORK ON 1976'S A DAY AT THE RAC – STATG FLATLY BACK THEN THAT HE WAS BISEXUAL. "I TOLD HIM, 'I THK YOU'RE GAY,'" AT TOLD THE DAILY MIRROR 2000. "AND NOTHG ELSE WAS SAID. WE JT HUGGED."BY THE EARLY '80S, MERCURY'S OUTLANDISH OUTFS HAD GIVEN WAY TO A TONED AND TRIM STYLE, PERHAPS AS HE GREW MORE NFINT HIS OWN SK. BUT TROUBLE LOOMED, AS THE AIDS CRISIS SWEPT THROUGH THE GAY MUNY. AFTER YEARS SPENT UNABASHEDLY ENJOYG THE SEXUALLY OPEN DIS SCENE MUNICH, WHERE QUEEN HAD RERD, MERCURY SUBMTED TO A PAIR OF AIDS TTS. THE RULTS WERE NEGATIVE 1985, BUT HE WASN'T SO LUCKY 1987. LATE LIFE, HE'D SETTLED TO A STURDY PARTNERSHIP WH JIM HUTTON, BUT WAS TOO LATE TO SAVE MERCURY. A CKTAIL OF DGS THAT SOON MA THE ILLNS MANAGEABLE WAS NOT YET MON E.LATER, SOMEBODY TO LOVE SOUGHT TO PPOT THE MOMENT WHEN MERCURY NTRACTED THE HUMAN-IMMUNOFICIENCY VIS, SAYG HE AS ALREADY EXHIBG SOME SYMPTOMS AS EARLY AS SEPTEMBER 1982 WHEN QUEEN WERE NEW YORK CY FOR AN APPEARANCE ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.CONTUG A LIFE-LONG TREND, MERCURY CHOSE NOT TO DISCS ANY OF THIS TOO EPLY WH QUEEN. "WE KNEW SOMETHG WAS GOG ON," MAY ADMTED LATER ON, "BUT WAS NOT TALKED ABOUT."WATCH QUEEN'S 'THE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIV' VIOEVENTUALLY, MERCURY WAS STCK WH AIDS, A GROUP OF BILATG SYMPTOMS ED BY HIV. FALLY READY TO DISCLOSE HIS HEALTH ISSU, HE RETURNED TO ANOTHER FAIAR TROPE: "HE SAID, 'I SUPPOSE YOU REALIZE THAT I’M ALG WH THIS ILLNS,'" MAY TOLD THE TIM OF LONDON. "OF URSE, WE ALL KNEW, BUT WE DIDN'T WANT TO. HE SAID, 'YOU PROBABLY GATHER THAT I'M ALG WH THIS THG AND I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT , AND I DON’T WANT OUR LIV TO CHANGE, BUT THAT’S THE SUATN.’ AND THEN HE WOULD MOVE ON."BY THE TIME QUEEN RELEASED THE MIRACLE MAY 1989, HAD BEE CLEAR TO THEIR SGER THAT HIS TIME WAS NNG SHORT. MERCURY SET ABOUT RERDG AS MUCH AS HE ULD, THE HOP OF PLETG MULTIPLE QUEEN ALBUMS. HE NEVER TOLD HIS PARENTS HE WAS GAY OR THAT HE HAD AIDS."HE CID TO JT VE ALL OVER TO THE HOE FOR A MEETG," TAYLOR TOLD ROLLG STONE 2014. MERCURY SAID, "YOU PROBABLY REALIZE WHAT MY PROBLEM IS. WELL, THAT'S AND I DON'T WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. I DON'T WANT TO BE KNOWN. I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT . I JT WANT TO GET ON AND WORK UNTIL I FUCKG WELL DROP. I'D LIKE YOU TO SUPPORT ME THIS."SO MUCH, AS ALWAYS HAD, REMAED UNSPOKEN. THE BAND CLOSED RANKS AS WORK BEGAN ON INNUENDO, WHICH FOLLOWED 1991. (ADDNAL RERDGS OM THIS PERD WERE LATER ED TO NSTCT 1995'S MA HEAVEN.) MAY AND TAYLOR, ON MORE THAN ONE OCSN, FOUND THEMSELV VOICG THEIR BANDMATE'S UNEXPRSED FEELGS."WE DIDN'T SPEAK TO EACH OTHER ABOUT LYRICS," MAY TOLD MOJO 2004. "WE WERE JT TOO EMBARRASSED TO TALK ABOUT THE WORDS." MAY'S "THE SHOW MT GO ON" AND TAYLOR'S "THE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIV" "WERE THGS THAT WE GAVE TO FREDDIE AS A WAY OF HIM WORKG THROUGH STUFF WH ." MAY TOLD ROLLG STONE. "AND THAT WASN'T SPOKEN. IT WAS TRYG TO FD THE END BEFORE WE GOT THERE."DPE HIS CREASGLY GNT APPEARANCE, MERCURY NTUED TO NY REPORTS THAT HE HAD NTRACTED AIDS – UNTIL HE SUDNLY RELEASED A STATEMENT ON NOV. 23, 1991. MERCURY WAS FOUND AD THE VERY NEXT DAY, AS TAYLOR SHED TO HIS BEDSI. PETER FRETONE, MERCURY'S PERSONAL ASSISTANT OVER HIS LAST 12 YEARS, LLED TO SAY "DON'T BOTHER G."FREDDIE MERCURY REMAED A ENIGMA: AFTER ALL OF THIS TIME, AND AFTER ALL OF HIS MANY SUBSEQUENT LOV, MERCURY'S WILL DICTATED THAT MARY AT – NOT JIM HUTTON, OR ANY OTHER MAN BEFORE HIM – WOULD RECEIVE NEARLY HIS ENTIRE TATE. AT, WHOM MERCURY HAD SCRIBED AS THE "LOVE OF MY LIFE," WAS ALSO TO SPREAD HIS ASH A SECRET LOTN. SHE STILL LIV HIS ELABORATE MANSN; THE R IS UNCHANGED."ANYONE WHO PORTRAYS FRED AS PURELY A GAY STORY," MAY TOLD THE DAILY EXPRS, "IS MISSG A LOT OF THE POT."YOU THK YOU KNOW QUEEN?   FREDDIE MERCURY: YEAR BY YEAR PHOTOS

QUEEN GUARIST BRIAN MAY: 'I DIDN'T KNOW' FREDDIE MERCURY WAS GAY

(Image cred: Alamy)As a new box-set of Mercury’s solo work is released, Nick Leve nsirs the Queen legend’s myster inty – and his plex relatnship wh both his race and 1984, two years after the Gay Men’s Health Crisis anisatn was formed New York to bat Aids, Freddie Mercury sred his first solo h wh Love Kills.

FREDDIE MERCURY 'ME OUT AS GAY LYRICS TO H QUEEN SONG BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY'

In his lifetime, Brish newspaper The Sun brand the sger a “bisexual rock star”, and recent years the media has equently referred to him as gay. ” On another ocsn, he answered a siar qutn by sayg playfully: “I’m as gay as a daffodil, my ar! “I thk if Freddie were livg now the way he lived his own lifetime, we’d probably ll him ‘queer’ rather than ‘gay’ or ‘bisexual’, ” says Ryan Butcher, edor of LGBT webse PkNews.

His bandmate Brian May said 2008: “I know that all through his life Fred didn’t thk that whether he was gay or not was important.

” Aston also pots out that we readily embrace Judy Garland as a queer in “even though she didn’t make statements about anythg to do wh homophobia and LGBT acceptance” was so outrageoly mp, was almost like a double bluff – Mart AstonBy 1986, when Mercury and Queen gave their most inic performance at Live Aid, there were some openly gay performers the mastream; the UK’s biggt-sellg sgle that year was Don’t Leave Me This Way by the Communards, whose ontman Jimmy Somerville was proudly gay and highly engaged wh the LGBT-rights movement. Sger Gee Michael remaed the closet, and Culture Club’s Boy Gee had navigated his first flh of fame a few years earlier by tong down his homosexualy. Ryan Butcher go further, scribg Mercury as “almost a vert agent for the LGBT muny, droppg the ltle seeds of queer culture to the heterosexual mdset” the ‘80s, Mercury was known for his tight whe vts and motache – his take on the Castro Clone look that origated San Francis’s queer Castro district and beme popular the gay unrground, but which was ls faiar to mastream mic fans.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II LED THROUGH S OF CHANGE ON GAY RIGHTS, BUT HER LGBTQ LEGACY IS PLITED

Certaly, he didn’t let his massive fame stop him om visg popular London gay venu like Heaven and the Royal Vxhall Tavern. You know, looks homosexual. ’”In Queen’s mic, meanwhile, there were always clu about Mercury’s private life for fans who wanted – and had the knowledge of the gay scene – to spot them.

FREDDIE MERCURY’S SEXUALY REMAED A MYSTERY EVEN TO HIS QUEEN BANDMATNICK DERISONICK DERISOPUBLISHED: MAY 16, 2018KEYSTONE, GETTY IMAGSHARETWEETTHEY DIDN'T KNOW. MAYBE, THEY DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW.QUEEN NEVER TALKED MUCH ABOUT FREDDIE MERCURY'S SEXUALY, AND EVEN LS ABOUT THE DISEASE THAT EVENTUALLY KILLED HIM. "WE WERE VERY CLOSE AS A GROUP," DMMER ROGER TAYLOR SAID, NOT LONG AFTER MERCURY DIED OF AIDS 1991. "BUT EVEN WE DIDN'T KNOW A LOT OF THGS ABOUT FREDDIE."STILL, MERCURY'S BANDMAT WERE NFINT OF ONE THG: HE ULDN'T BE FED SOME SUPERFICIAL, BARY WAY. THAT SIMPLY DON'T REFLECT THE PLEXY THAT SHOT THROUGH EVERY ELEMENT OF MERCURY'S LIFE AND, OF URSE, THE BAND HE ONCE ONTED.IF ANYTHG, SOME SAY, FREDDIE MERCURY WAS BISEXUAL, LONG BEFORE THAT BEME SUCH A MONLY DISCSED THG. "I DON'T THK EVEN HE WAS FULLY GNIZANT THE BEGNG," GUARIST BRIAN MAY ONCE TOLD THE DAILY EXPRS. "YOU'RE TALKG TO SOMEONE WHO SHARED ROOMS WH FRED ON THE FIRST UPLE OF TOURS, SO I KNEW HIM PRETTY WELL. I KNEW A LOT OF HIS GIRLIENDS, AND HE CERTALY DIDN'T HAVE BOYIENDS THOSE DAYS, THAT'S FOR SURE. I THK THERE WAS A SLIGHT SPICN BUT NEVER OCCURRED TO ME THAT HE WAS GAY."MERCURY KEPT TO HIMSELF, PERHAPS AS A FENSE MECHANISM BUT ALSO BEE HE LIKED TO CULTIVATE A SENSE OF MYSTERY. IT WORKED: QUTNS ABOUT JT HOW MERCURY MIGHT BE PORTRAYED DOGGED THE QUEEN DOCU-DRAMA BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, EVEN BEFORE WAS RELEASED TO THEATERS. MAY ADD THAT MERCURY REVEALED TO QUEEN THAT HE ALSO LIKED MEN ONLY "YEARS AFTER WAS OBV.""THE VISORS TO FREDDIE'S DRSG ROOM STARTED TO CHANGE OM HOT CHICKS TO HOT MEN," MAY TOLD THE TIM OF LONDON 2017. "IT DIDN'T MATTER TO ; WHY SHOULD ? BUT FREDDIE HAD THIS HAB OF SAYG, 'WELL, I SUPPOSE YOU REALIZE THIS, THAT OR THE OTHER,' THIS VERY OFFHAND WAY – AND HE DID SAY AT SOME POT, 'I SUPPOSE YOU REALIZE I'VE CHANGED MY PRIVATE LIFE?'"SOME ARGUE THIS SHIFT WAS ONLY A BELATED MANIFTATN OF FEELGS THAT WERE ALWAYS THERE, RATHER THAN ANY KD OF SUDN REALIZATN. CLASSMAT AT THE ST. PETER'S CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL PANCHGANI, INDIA, AN ELE BOARDG SCHOOL WHERE THE YOUNG TANZANIA-BORN FARROKH BULSARA HAD BEGUN SCHOOL AT AGE EIGHT, APPARENTLY ALWAYS SPECTED HE MIGHT BE GAY. NEEDLS TO SAY, TIM WERE DIFFERENT 1954."HE HAD THIS HAB OF LLG ONE 'DARLG,' WHICH I MT SAY SEEMED A LTLE FEY. IT SIMPLY WASN'T SOMETHG BOYS DID THOSE DAYS," SCHOOLMISTRS JA SMH SAYS MERCURY: AN INTIMATE BGRAPHY OF FREDDIE MERCURY. "IT WAS ACCEPTED THAT FREDDIE WAS HOMOSEXUAL WHEN HE WAS HERE. NORMALLY, WOULD HAVE BEEN, 'OH, GOD, YOU KNOW, 'S JT GHASTLY.' BUT WH FREDDIE SOMEHOW WASN'T. IT WAS OKAY."THE BULSARAS EVENTUALLY END UP MIDDLEX, NEAR LONDON, AFTER THE FAY'S HOMELAND – THEN LLED ZANZIBAR – WAS NSUMED A REVOLUTN 1964. THERE, FARROKH BULSARA WAS PERMANENTLY LEFT BEHD FOR FREDDIE MERCURY, THOUGH EVERY NTRADICTN WAS PLACE OM THE START.WATCH QUEEN'S 'BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY' VIOHIS OUTFS WERE WILDLY ANDROGYNO; HIS ONSTAGE PERSONA RPORATED A THEATRIL SENSE OF MP. "IN THOSE DAYS, WAS THE FASHN TO BE KD OF DANDYISH, AND I SUPPOSE WE HAD A HAND CREATG THE FASHN," MAY TOLD THE DAILY EXPRS. "SO THERE WAS THIS DOUBT PEOPLE'S MDS AS TO WHETHER YOU MIGHT BE GAY OR NOT. IT WAS A NVENIENT LTLE PLACE TO BE."EVEN THE CISN TO LL HIS BAND QUEEN WAS MEANT TO PROVOKE, TO LOR EVERYTHG THEY DID WH A WHISPER OF MYSTERY: IS HE OR ISN'T HE?"THE NAME WAS FREDDIE'S IA," TAYLOR SAID IS THIS THE REAL LIFE?: THE UNTOLD STORY OF QUEEN. AT THIS POT, THE TWO WERE SELLG ODDS AND ENDS AT THE FAMOLY BOHEMIAN KENSGTON MARKET, STILL HOPG MIC ULD ONE DAY PAY THE BILLS. "IN THOSE DAYS, THERE WAS A PRETTY ECCENTRIC CROWD THERE, AND A LOT OF THEM WERE GAY AND A LOT OF THEM PRETEND TO BE, AND JT SEEMED TO F ," TAYLOR ADD. "I DIDN'T LIKE THE NAME ORIGALLY AND NEHER DID BRIAN, BUT WE GOT ED TO ."TRACKS LIKE "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY," WHICH SO LONGED FOR AN UNREACHABLE EEDOM, SEEMED TO BE HTS AS TO WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN EP SI HIS HEART. "THERE'S BEEN SO MUCH ANALYSIS OF THE SONG, BUT I SUBSCRIBE TO THE THEORY – AND I NEVER DISCSED WH [FREDDIE] – THAT WAS HIS G OUT SONG,” JOHN REID, QUEEN'S MANAGER AT THE TIME, SAID SOMEBODY TO LOVE: THE LIFE, DEATH, AND LEGACY OF FREDDIE MERCURY. MAY, ON THE OTHER HAND, VEHEMENTLY DISAGREED.BEYOND THE WOMEN MERCURY DATED DURG QUEEN'S EARLY YEARS, HE MATAED A LENGTHY RELATNSHIP WH MARY AT – FIRST AS A ROMANTIC PARTNER AND ONE-TIME FIANCEE, THEN AS THE CLOST OF NFIDANTS. HE REVEALED HIS SEXUAL YEARNGS TO AT WHILE QUEEN WERE AT WORK ON 1976'S A DAY AT THE RAC – STATG FLATLY BACK THEN THAT HE WAS BISEXUAL. "I TOLD HIM, 'I THK YOU'RE GAY,'" AT TOLD THE DAILY MIRROR 2000. "AND NOTHG ELSE WAS SAID. WE JT HUGGED."BY THE EARLY '80S, MERCURY'S OUTLANDISH OUTFS HAD GIVEN WAY TO A TONED AND TRIM STYLE, PERHAPS AS HE GREW MORE NFINT HIS OWN SK. BUT TROUBLE LOOMED, AS THE AIDS CRISIS SWEPT THROUGH THE GAY MUNY. AFTER YEARS SPENT UNABASHEDLY ENJOYG THE SEXUALLY OPEN DIS SCENE MUNICH, WHERE QUEEN HAD RERD, MERCURY SUBMTED TO A PAIR OF AIDS TTS. THE RULTS WERE NEGATIVE 1985, BUT HE WASN'T SO LUCKY 1987. LATE LIFE, HE'D SETTLED TO A STURDY PARTNERSHIP WH JIM HUTTON, BUT WAS TOO LATE TO SAVE MERCURY. A CKTAIL OF DGS THAT SOON MA THE ILLNS MANAGEABLE WAS NOT YET MON E.LATER, SOMEBODY TO LOVE SOUGHT TO PPOT THE MOMENT WHEN MERCURY NTRACTED THE HUMAN-IMMUNOFICIENCY VIS, SAYG HE AS ALREADY EXHIBG SOME SYMPTOMS AS EARLY AS SEPTEMBER 1982 WHEN QUEEN WERE NEW YORK CY FOR AN APPEARANCE ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.CONTUG A LIFE-LONG TREND, MERCURY CHOSE NOT TO DISCS ANY OF THIS TOO EPLY WH QUEEN. "WE KNEW SOMETHG WAS GOG ON," MAY ADMTED LATER ON, "BUT WAS NOT TALKED ABOUT."WATCH QUEEN'S 'THE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIV' VIOEVENTUALLY, MERCURY WAS STCK WH AIDS, A GROUP OF BILATG SYMPTOMS ED BY HIV. FALLY READY TO DISCLOSE HIS HEALTH ISSU, HE RETURNED TO ANOTHER FAIAR TROPE: "HE SAID, 'I SUPPOSE YOU REALIZE THAT I’M ALG WH THIS ILLNS,'" MAY TOLD THE TIM OF LONDON. "OF URSE, WE ALL KNEW, BUT WE DIDN'T WANT TO. HE SAID, 'YOU PROBABLY GATHER THAT I'M ALG WH THIS THG AND I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT , AND I DON’T WANT OUR LIV TO CHANGE, BUT THAT’S THE SUATN.’ AND THEN HE WOULD MOVE ON."BY THE TIME QUEEN RELEASED THE MIRACLE MAY 1989, HAD BEE CLEAR TO THEIR SGER THAT HIS TIME WAS NNG SHORT. MERCURY SET ABOUT RERDG AS MUCH AS HE ULD, THE HOP OF PLETG MULTIPLE QUEEN ALBUMS. HE NEVER TOLD HIS PARENTS HE WAS GAY OR THAT HE HAD AIDS."HE CID TO JT VE ALL OVER TO THE HOE FOR A MEETG," TAYLOR TOLD ROLLG STONE 2014. MERCURY SAID, "YOU PROBABLY REALIZE WHAT MY PROBLEM IS. WELL, THAT'S AND I DON'T WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. I DON'T WANT TO BE KNOWN. I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT . I JT WANT TO GET ON AND WORK UNTIL I FUCKG WELL DROP. I'D LIKE YOU TO SUPPORT ME THIS."SO MUCH, AS ALWAYS HAD, REMAED UNSPOKEN. THE BAND CLOSED RANKS AS WORK BEGAN ON INNUENDO, WHICH FOLLOWED 1991. (ADDNAL RERDGS OM THIS PERD WERE LATER ED TO NSTCT 1995'S MA HEAVEN.) MAY AND TAYLOR, ON MORE THAN ONE OCSN, FOUND THEMSELV VOICG THEIR BANDMATE'S UNEXPRSED FEELGS."WE DIDN'T SPEAK TO EACH OTHER ABOUT LYRICS," MAY TOLD MOJO 2004. "WE WERE JT TOO EMBARRASSED TO TALK ABOUT THE WORDS." MAY'S "THE SHOW MT GO ON" AND TAYLOR'S "THE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIV" "WERE THGS THAT WE GAVE TO FREDDIE AS A WAY OF HIM WORKG THROUGH STUFF WH ." MAY TOLD ROLLG STONE. "AND THAT WASN'T SPOKEN. IT WAS TRYG TO FD THE END BEFORE WE GOT THERE."DPE HIS CREASGLY GNT APPEARANCE, MERCURY NTUED TO NY REPORTS THAT HE HAD NTRACTED AIDS – UNTIL HE SUDNLY RELEASED A STATEMENT ON NOV. 23, 1991. MERCURY WAS FOUND AD THE VERY NEXT DAY, AS TAYLOR SHED TO HIS BEDSI. PETER FRETONE, MERCURY'S PERSONAL ASSISTANT OVER HIS LAST 12 YEARS, LLED TO SAY "DON'T BOTHER G."FREDDIE MERCURY REMAED A ENIGMA: AFTER ALL OF THIS TIME, AND AFTER ALL OF HIS MANY SUBSEQUENT LOV, MERCURY'S WILL DICTATED THAT MARY AT – NOT JIM HUTTON, OR ANY OTHER MAN BEFORE HIM – WOULD RECEIVE NEARLY HIS ENTIRE TATE. AT, WHOM MERCURY HAD SCRIBED AS THE "LOVE OF MY LIFE," WAS ALSO TO SPREAD HIS ASH A SECRET LOTN. SHE STILL LIV HIS ELABORATE MANSN; THE R IS UNCHANGED."ANYONE WHO PORTRAYS FRED AS PURELY A GAY STORY," MAY TOLD THE DAILY EXPRS, "IS MISSG A LOT OF THE POT."YOU THK YOU KNOW QUEEN?   FREDDIE MERCURY: YEAR BY YEAR PHOTOS

In the vio, he wears a T-shirt om Mhaft, a popular New York BDSM gay bar of the time.

In an era when homophobia and racism were far more prevalent than they are today, Freddie Mercury was the queer, South Asian ontman of the band who released one of rock's most inic sgl, Bohemian Rhapsody, and the bt-sellg album UK chart history, Queen's Greatt Hs. At one pot he claimed to be bisexual, but he may have been a gay man who got volved wh members of the oppose sex bee he was tryg to survive — and build a reer — a very homophobic world.

Yet a look at the circumstanc of his life, lov and reer n still offer sight to who he tly was.Mercury hid his sexualy om his fayFor most of Mercury's life, the wir world didn't accept gays and bisexuals. LGBT people were barely reprented the media, and the msage society had to offer was that not beg heterosexual was unacceptable.Wh homophobia rampant, many gay men felt prsured to hi their sexualy, cludg om their fai. Mercury's Parsee parents practiced Zoroastrianism, a relign that saw beg gay as a type of mon worship.