It’s Pride Month, and one artist who’s always had the support of the gay community has used the opportunity to come out publicly.
Paula Cole, the Grammy winner best known for her hits “I Don’t Want to Wait” and “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” tells ABC Audio, “Honestly, I’m the ‘B’ in LGBTQ. And it took me years to be able to say that.”
Paula spoke with ABC Audio before performing at the Garden Party Celebration of Pride event at The Center, New York’s LGBTQ community center. Regarding coming out, she credited her daughter and her “daughter’s generation” for “bringing that fluidity to my attention,” adding, “I feel celebratory in kind of acknowledging that part of myself.”
While noting that she’s “always been part of the community,” Paula added, “But to be more vocal about it in public is very freeing and wonderful.”
Explaining why she hasn’t spoken about it before, Paula said, “I’ve been very shy about it. I’m an introvert, and also, it’s a nebulous place to be for us Gen-X’ers. I’m 54 and there was just no place [to be open about it].”
Recalling how she attended a Pride Parade in the early ’90s and saw people yelling at bisexual women to “make up your f***ing mind!” Paula said, “I felt like, ‘O.K. I don’t know how to be, I don’t know what I am’…and years passed.”
But, she continued, “Then comes new generations, and then comes new thought processes, openness, fluidity…and I understand who I am, and it’s beautiful.”
Of the event, Paula noted, “The gay community has always been so loving to me. And they stood by me loyally…y’know, hits come and go, [but] this is my community…so I’m home.”
Paula’s tour is scheduled through the summer.
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