Neon Trees PR image - P 2012
Neon Trees frontman Tyler Glenn is coming out to the public via a Rolling Stone article, the magazine announced Monday.
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The 30-year-old admits that he kept his sexuality a secret and didn’t come to terms with it completely until the past decade. “I had my crushes on guys throughout high school, but it was never an overwhelming thing until my twenties,” he says. “Then I’d be dating girls and in love with my straight friend, and it was the worst feeling in the world.”
He began sharing his sexual orientation with family and friends in October 2013 as he was polishing songs for the band’s upcoming release, Pop Psychology, which touches on his years in secrecy.
The singer grew up in Utah the Mormon faith, which is against homosexuality and actively spent approximately $22 million to fight gay marriage in California in 2008. “We were always taught, and I hate this word, ‘tolerance,'” he says of the religion. “The only time that felt different was when the Prop 8 thing came up.”
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He speaks highly of the athletes who have recently gone public with such personal information. “I really love all of the sports figures that are coming out recently,” he says. “I appreciated that Michael Sam was like, ‘I want to be able to go to the movies and hold hands with my boyfriend.’ Even hearing him say ‘boyfriend,’ I was just like, that’s cool.”
Email: Ashley.Lee@THR.com
Twitter: @cashleelee
