Lil Nas X never planned to come out.
In June last year, “Old Town Road” hitmaker Lil Nas X let the world in on a very intimate space as he revealed he was gay. But the announcement that happened in June of last year, which is also Pride Month, was in no way planned. As the 30 days grew to a close, Lil Nas suggested his fans take a close listen to his track “C7osure”. The lyrics include the lines, “Ain’t no more actin’ / This is what I gotta do, can’t be regretting when I’m old.” The rapper claimed he thought he meaning behind the song was obvious, but when it evidently wasn’t, he followed it up with a tweet that featured a rainbow image as a means to confirm his coming out.
The move recognized the Grammy Award winner as one of the first openly gay male rappers, and Lil Nas recently told The Guardian that he never actually intended to be so.
Sadly, the 20-year-old’s situation with his family is not unfamiliar. Homosexuality is still a point of contention in the African-American community and Lil Nas highlighted how his family still struggles with his sexual orientation. “My family knows now,” he said. “But it’s not something that’s ever brought up or we speak about. We’re quiet on it. Nobody’s like, ‘Oh, you got a boyfriend?’ I don’t want [my love life] to be something we never talk about. Because what about the kids in my family?”
Despite his own trials, Lil Nas’s coming out has served as a fantastic example of living your truth.