The ntroversial moment that led Gee Michael to publicly acknowledge he was gay | The Inpennt | The Inpennt

Contents:

• WHEN GEE MICHAEL ME OUT AS GAY ON LIVE TV AND SPIRED A GENERATN
• THE NTROVERSIAL MOMENT THAT LED GEE MICHAEL TO PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGE HE WAS GAY
• GAY POP LEGEND GEE MICHAEL TO BE IMMORTALIZED ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME

WHEN GEE MICHAEL ME OUT AS GAY ON LIVE TV AND SPIRED A GENERATN

Gee Michael appeared on televisn 1998 revealg he was gay for the first time and spirg the world wh the words: "I don’t feel any shame whatsoever. ""I thk people like to thk they n spot a gay person as opposed to a straight person bee mak them feel somethg … a ltle more fed themselv. Watch: Gee Michael's last ncert - his fal words were heartbreakgly poignant"I spent the first half of my reer beg acced of beg gay when I hadn’t had anythg like a gay relatnship.

I want people to know that I have not been exposed as a gay man any way that I feel … I don’t feel any shame for... And neher do I thk I should, " he Gee Michael's heartbreakg poetry at 11-years-old prov the star's early talentJim go on to ask Gee about his life-changg reveal, sayg: "Was a difficult cisn for you to e out publicly about beg gay? He adds: "I fe my sexualy terms of the people that I love and my life right now is very happy livg a gay relatnship.

"And I’m perfectly prepared to believe that as long as I am tthful to myself and tthful to the people who are out there wh my mic then I have nothg to fear, " he Moret has sce said of the famo terview: "Gee Michael believed the Brish tabloids were gog to out him as gay and he wanted to beat them to the punch and he me out to me, his own words, his own way, "After g out as gay, Gee Michael beme a public activist for HIV and AIDS, shg a light on the plight of sufferers worldwi and donatg lns to charable throughout his life. “So firstly, unrstand how much I love my fay and that Aids was the predomant feature of beg gay the 1980s and early 90s as far as any parent was ncerned.

THE NTROVERSIAL MOMENT THAT LED GEE MICHAEL TO PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGE HE WAS GAY

”Dpe personal and psychologil stggl, Michael beme almost as well known for his outspoken views support of gay rights as he was for his bt-sellg mic, g his 1998 arrt as a platform om which to highlight and make light of mon prejudic wh vio for “Outsi”, the first song released by Michael after his Beverly Hills arrt, is a particularly strong work of satire – the sger pos as a Los Angel police officer performg a dance a public toilet styled out as a the climax of the vio, two male officers arrt numero upl prevly shown engagg “lewd acts”.

The Brish heartthrob me out as gay 1998 after years of speculatn on his sexualy. Almost a later, the “I Want Your Sex” sger me out as gay, endg years-long speculatn about his sexualy.

“I spent the first half of my reer beg acced of beg gay when I hadn’t had anythg like a gay relatnship. Was me as I sudnly thought, 'Oh my God, I’m a massive star and I'm gay.' The prsn was about that, about the way I'd boxed myself ."For a documentary that's supposed to be all about Wham!, this feels like ccial rmatn, yet ltle mentn is ma of Gee's sexualy aga, let alone how led to the end of Wham!.The clost we get is one more terview segment where Michael explaed how he knew he was gay or at least bisexual by the age of 19: "I had stayed over at this guy's hoe," said Gee. And there li the problem.Had Gee Michael himself been volved, 's likely that much more would have been ma of his stggl as a closeted gay superstar.

GAY POP LEGEND GEE MICHAEL TO BE IMMORTALIZED ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME

And aga, what about his stggle as one of the world's biggt gay pop stars at a time when beg gay wasn't even somethg teachers uld legally discs at school? Michael said he was "persuad" not to e out as gay to his father, which kept him closeted publicly.

He said to me, 'Didn't know how to tell you this, but I'm gay. If not gay, you know, bisexual, '" Ridgeley said.

"In 1998, at age 34, Michael publicly me out as gay durg an exclive terview wh CNN.