JUDAS PRIEST's ROB HALFORD On His Life As Gay Man: 'In Some Parts Of The World, People Like Me Get Thrown Off Buildgs'

Contents:

• WHY THE ONLY OPENLY GAY HEAVY METAL SUPERSTAR, JUDAS PRIT'S ROB HALFORD, HID HIS SEXUALY
• JUDAS PRIT ALWAYS KNEW ROB HALFORD WAS GAY, EX-MEMBER SPILLS
• JUDAS PRIEST'S IAN HILL: 'WE KNEW' ROB HALFORD WAS GAY BEFORE HE PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGED IT
• EX-JUDAS PRIEST GUARIST K.K. DOWNING: 'WE ALWAYS KNEW ROB HALFORD WAS GAY'
• ROB HALFORD LOOKS BACK ON G OUT AS GAY ON MTV: “IT’S A GLOR MOMENT”
• ROB HALFORD RELLS WHEN HE CAME OUT AS GAY
• WHEN JUDAS PRIT’S ROB HALFORD ME OUT AS GAY, THE METAL CROWD SAID: ‘YOU THK WE DIDN’T KNOW?’
• FORMER JUDAS PRIEST GUARIST K.K. DOWNG CLAIMS "WE ALWAYS KNEW ROB HALFORD WAS GAY"
• JUDAS PRIEST'S ROB HALFORD ON HIS LIFE AS GAY MAN: 'IN SOME PARTS OF THE WORLD, PEOPLE LIKE ME GET THROWN OFF BUILDGS'

WHY THE ONLY OPENLY GAY HEAVY METAL SUPERSTAR, JUDAS PRIT'S ROB HALFORD, HID HIS SEXUALY

Judas Prit ontman Rob Halford has always lived a loud and proud heavy metal life, but only 1998 durg an MTV terview did he bee the first metal in to announce he is gay. “I thk that every gay person has a bigger story to tell than jt, 'Hello, I'm out, 's me, '” Halford, who turned 69 last month, told me a phone terview ahead of the book’s publitn on Tuday. He wanted to sce Iron Main sger Pl Di’Anno, and he sported bandanas onstage that were a lor-d ve to gay amid the lorful stori are darker moments, both terms of dtry algs and pecially keepg himself closeted for so long.

Halford was born 1951, and homosexualy was illegal the U. While a few mastream metal ontwomen like Otep and Lzzy Hale have been open recent years about beg gay or bisexual, Halford remas the only major gay male metal fans are often attracted to the aggrsive and theraptic nature of the genre — ’s a great way to let out pent-up tratn and feel empowered — and many skew more to the right than some of their ins.

Rob Halford's Judas Prit bandmat knew the ontman was gay long before he me out 1998, but they kept his secret to protect the band's image. "We always knew Rob was gay, " Downg said on a recent appearance on the "No F**k' Regrets Wh Robb Flynn" podst. "What were the chanc of him beg gay (or, if he was, of admtg )?

JUDAS PRIT ALWAYS KNEW ROB HALFORD WAS GAY, EX-MEMBER SPILLS

And, of urse, the overridg fear that was to lim my existence for s: What if got out that I was gay and fans didn't want anythg to do wh a band onted by a queer, and killed Judas Prit stone ad? November 21, 2014In a brand new terview wh the Denver Wtword, JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill spoke about Rob Halford's cisn to reveal more than 15 years ago that the sger was homosexual.

Durg a 1998 terview wh MTV, Halford addrsed the subject of his sexualy publicly for the first time, tellg the mic channel: "I thk that most people know that I've been a gay man all of my life, and that 's only been recent tim that 's an issue that I feel fortable to addrs, and an issue that has been wh me ever sce regnizg my own sexualy. "Halford recently told The Prs Of Atlantic Cy that he expected metal fans to alienate him when he first spoke about his homosexualy. 'Do I step out and say I'm a gay guy?

JUDAS PRIEST'S IAN HILL: 'WE KNEW' ROB HALFORD WAS GAY BEFORE HE PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGED IT

"We always knew Rob was gay, " K. "The ma thg is… Obvly, to me, Rob beg gay, apart om [havg] a great voice, I thought Rob was gonna stay the band forever, and he's obvly gonna be theatril, he's gonna be obvly articulate wh words — and he was; he was all of that, " Downg said.

Also touched upon the revelatn Halford's recent "Confs" tobgraphy that the sger spent much on his time on the road the 1980s and early 1990s "cisg" for one-night stands gay bars, public rtrooms, and other gay meetg plac. "Elsewhere the terview, Downg talked about Halford's efforts to mata the image of heterosexualy the media — most notably through PRIEST's studs-and-black leather biker outfs, which fed the look of the heavy metal genre for years to e — even while livg a secret, double life as a closeted gay man.

"In "Confs", which me out September 2020, Halford tailed the stggle of beg gay while wrg about how he and his bandmat started attractg groupi as PRIEST beme more mercially succsful. "None of our fans knew that I was gay at this pot, of urse.

EX-JUDAS PRIEST GUARIST K.K. DOWNING: 'WE ALWAYS KNEW ROB HALFORD WAS GAY'

What were the chanc of him beg gay (or, if he was, of admtg )? And, of urse, the overridg fear that was to lim my existence for s: What if got out that I was gay, fans didn't want anythg to do wh a band onted by a queer, and killed JUDAS PRIEST stone ad? "Rob also wrote about how PRIEST me to adopt s inic leather look, sayg: "The biggt myth about this new stage gear is that I had somehow mastermd the image as a ver and a vent for my homosexualy — that I was gettg a thrill om drsg on stage as I'd like to drs the street, or the bedroom.

Hang on, let me thk for a mute…"In 1998, Halford beme the first metal in to announce he is gay durg an MTV terview, spe knowg about his sexualy sce he was 10. Judas Prit‘s Rob Halford has marked Pri month by reflectg on the moment he me out as gay on televisn. “And I said somethg to the effect of, ‘Well, speakg as a gay man, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

ROB HALFORD LOOKS BACK ON G OUT AS GAY ON MTV: “IT’S A GLOR MOMENT”

It was one of those gay sharp tak, ‘Oh my God, he’s e out. I thk if I’d…I still say today, if I’d have really thought this through, like today’s the day I’m gog to e out, maybe I even wouldn’t… maybe I may not have e out per se, bee ’s still a big moment for so many of , wh a close iend, wh someone at school, wh Mum and Dad, wh whomever, to actually say, ‘Hey, I’m a gay guy or I’m a gay girl. “So wow, was jt this enormo feelg of eedom, and the prsure was gone, and there’s no more talkg behd your back bee you have all this ammunn of power as a gay person now, as an out gay person.

“Mentally, on top of beg the gay man the closet, I had all the extra piec piled onto my life at that time. Unlike his famo peers, Halford was navigatg heavy metal’s bchero, dg-fueled 1980s heyday and the heights of his own band’s stratospheric populary as a closeted gay man who was petrified about the potential nsequenc of revealg his te self.

“What if got out that I was gay, fans didn’t want anythg to do wh a band onted by a queer, and killed Judas Prit stone ad? ” He soon had to open a new office Arizona to handle all of the grateful letters om queer fans thankg him for givg them the strength to live their own Halford CostelloNow, after livg the public’s electric eye for most of his life, heavy metal’s most famo tattooed leather daddy (who’s actually been as good as hched for 30 years and scrib his own sex life as “vanilla”) proudly refers to himself as “the stately homo of heavy metal.

ROB HALFORD RELLS WHEN HE CAME OUT AS GAY

In honor of Pri Month, Judas Prit ontman Rob Halford — one of the first metal micians to e out as gay and certaly the most well-known at the time — has relled the story of how he announced his sexual orientatn to the world durg an MTV terview 1998, explag that he hadn’t planned to make the reveal that day but found an immediate relief. I thk if I’d… I still say today, if I’d have really thought this through, like today’s the day I’m gog to e out, maybe I even wouldn’t… maybe I may not have e out per se, bee ’s still a big moment for so many of , wh a close iend, wh someone at school, wh Mum and Dad, wh whomever, to actually say, ‘Hey, I’m a gay guy or I’m a gay girl. The gay, leather-lovg sger reveals his “totally ndid” memoir — “Confs: The Autobgraphy, ” out Tuday — that California ps vered up for his long-ago arrt for “public cency” at a Venice Beach rtroom.

Stupid, and ashamed, but also angry — that, this late the century, gay men still had to live fear like this, ” ntu Halford, who publicly me out on MTV 1998 and rned wh the band 2003. Downg said "We always knew Rob was gay.

WHEN JUDAS PRIT’S ROB HALFORD ME OUT AS GAY, THE METAL CROWD SAID: ‘YOU THK WE DIDN’T KNOW?’

Downg claims Rob's sexualy didn't matter to the band: "The ma thg is… Obvly, to me, Rob beg gay, apart om [havg] a great voice, I thought Rob was gonna stay the band forever, and he's obvly gonna be theatril, he's gonna be obvly articulate wh words — and he was; he was all of that, " Downg said. And while the young man knew he was gay om childhood, th far, his only timate experienc were trmatic on.

But Confs n’t be rced to a llectn of salac gay enunters, e bg or romanticized rock’n’roll horror stori.

FORMER JUDAS PRIEST GUARIST K.K. DOWNG CLAIMS "WE ALWAYS KNEW ROB HALFORD WAS GAY"

Yeah, pecially when we talk about the acceptance of my sexualy, which every gay person go through.

And unls you’re a gay person, you n’t unrstand that, you n’t prehend . Well, no ’s nothg to do wh the S&M world or other subcultur the gay world!

But years later when you started g the Handkerchief Co on stage (a system ed gay culture the 70s), that was a ltle different, right? My trips to Ameri really opened my ey as far as what the gay world is about. We had our own style of the UK, but at the time, the early 70s, you uld still be thrown jail for beg a gay man.

JUDAS PRIEST'S ROB HALFORD ON HIS LIFE AS GAY MAN: 'IN SOME PARTS OF THE WORLD, PEOPLE LIKE ME GET THROWN OFF BUILDGS'

At one pot you said how you’d be on the b and read the Bob Damron gui — which highlighted gay-iendly bars across Ameri — and fantasize about gog to the plac, but you jt uldn’t do . One of them is jt gog to a gay bar and seeg somebody and hangg out and havg a drk and a cuddle the rner, not jt go back and wam, bam, thank you man.

Wh Rob out of the closet, the band’s leather biker athetic took on an explicly gay dimensn, g shocked fans to claim that they had no ia. But there’s much more nuance to the way which Judas Prit’s songs are about queerns; ias that go far beyond the not-so-subtle nods towards gay sex.

Even one of Prit’s most ‘obvly queer’ songs, Hell Bent For Leather, had this extra dimensn to l like ‘Seek him here, seek him on the highway / Never knowg when he’ll appear’ evoke cisg, and beg followed directly by ‘Hear the roar as they sense the fear’ brgs to md the dangero anticipatn of lookg for love as a gay man the 1980s. Beg ught has a specific ronance when nsirg the fact that, spe of the Sexual Offenc Act of 1967 crimalisg gay sex to an extent, liberatn was a long way off.