Jake Shears, best known as the lead male singer for the band Scissor Sisters, says he's glad he came out gay as a teen.
The 34-year-old Shears reportedly came out to his parents at the age of 15 at the urging of sex advice columnist Dan Savage, who later called his advice "the worst and perhaps most damaging advice I ever gave."
"I'm really glad that I came out when I did because I feel like by the time I reached my twenties I was like raring to go. I didn't feel like I had a lot of baggage," Shears told cabler Logo.
Shears has previously described his coming out as traumatic.
"I can't really say I totally regretted it but it was something I probably shouldn't have done at the time. The reaction was pretty bad and I had very few allies. It really made the rest of the year pretty miserable for me. There was a lot of untethered bullying happening, going totally unchecked by teachers and other staff who watched it happen first hand. When kids ask me for advice about coming out, I always ask them to really examine their surroundings first," he said last year.
Shears expanded in the Logo interview: "I don't know how I did it. It was really, really, really stressful and horrible."
(Related: Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears proud to be a role model to gay teens.)
The 34-year-old Shears reportedly came out to his parents at the age of 15 at the urging of sex advice columnist Dan Savage, who later called his advice "the worst and perhaps most damaging advice I ever gave."
"I'm really glad that I came out when I did because I feel like by the time I reached my twenties I was like raring to go. I didn't feel like I had a lot of baggage," Shears told cabler Logo.
Shears has previously described his coming out as traumatic.
"I can't really say I totally regretted it but it was something I probably shouldn't have done at the time. The reaction was pretty bad and I had very few allies. It really made the rest of the year pretty miserable for me. There was a lot of untethered bullying happening, going totally unchecked by teachers and other staff who watched it happen first hand. When kids ask me for advice about coming out, I always ask them to really examine their surroundings first," he said last year.
Shears expanded in the Logo interview: "I don't know how I did it. It was really, really, really stressful and horrible."
(Related: Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears proud to be a role model to gay teens.)
Article provided in partnership with On Top Magazine
