Jonny Pierce (the Dms) Talks Gay Conversn Therapy, His Te Voice and Fear

Contents:

• THE DMS’ JONNY PIERCE: ‘BEG GAY LERALLY SAVED MY LIFE’
• THE DMS’ JONNY PIERCE SHAR HIS ‘ABYSMAL THOUGHTS’ ON LOVE, LOSS, AND GROWG UP GAY: 'I WANT EVERYTHG TO JT BE OK'
• JONNY PIERCE (THE DMS) TALKS GAY CONVERSN THERAPY, HIS TE VOICE AND FEAR
• SONG OF THE GAY: THE DMS - HEART BASEL

THE DMS’ JONNY PIERCE: ‘BEG GAY LERALLY SAVED MY LIFE’

“They were both very anti-gay. He’s certaly a long way om where he was while dog prs for the band’s but album 2009, when he “full-on lied” about his sexualy to a Sunday Tim reporter who somewhat tsively asked if he or any of his bandmat were gay.

“I am gay, and that’s gog to show through my art, ” he now says nfintly.

If I’m not talkg about beg gay, I feel like I’m not really beg an artist. When die-rock band the Dms, led by openly gay sger-songwrer Jonny Pierce, performed this month at the Los Angel Pri Ftival, marked another major personal and profsnal tone for Pierce, who raised a small town by strict, unsupportive, Pentestal preacher parents. The tth is that for a lot of my life I’ve celebrated homosexualy, but remaed homophobic towards myself.

THE DMS’ JONNY PIERCE SHAR HIS ‘ABYSMAL THOUGHTS’ ON LOVE, LOSS, AND GROWG UP GAY: 'I WANT EVERYTHG TO JT BE OK'

I uldn’t feel more lucky to be gay — and I uldn’t be more exced to play L. ”After his Pri performance, Yahoo Entertament sat down wh Pierce, age 37, to discs his long and sometim paful journey om beg a closeted kid to out-and-proud queer in, and why he now believ that beg gay ultimately saved his Entertament: For years, you didn’t want to participate any Pri events.

Jonny Pierce: I thk Pri is ultimately a really good thg, but at the same time I don't always feel that my versn of homosexualy is reflected a Gay Pri event self. I thk a lot of tim when people thk of Gay Pri, they thk of the most flamboyant, extreme versn of Pri or beg gay and you know, I jt never felt like accepted that muny.

I want to celebrate everyone who's gay. Onstage at Pri, you told the dience, “I ed to pray not to be gay.

JONNY PIERCE (THE DMS) TALKS GAY CONVERSN THERAPY, HIS TE VOICE AND FEAR

Now I pray to be more gay. Gay is good. And I don't thk I'd be standg there, you know, if wasn't for beg gay.

So beg gay lerally saved my life. You know, when you're gay kid growg up a hostile environment, you have to get creative about everythg. If you're gay and you have supportive parents om the get-go that’s great, but that’s not always the se.

But I thk I learned all of the ways of beg om beg gay. That is, you weren’t always so happy to be gay.

SONG OF THE GAY: THE DMS - HEART BASEL

I was born a small town New York state, five hours north of New York Cy, to mother and father who happen to be born-aga Christians and have a Pentestal church — stnchly anti-gay.