You think you're in a place where you're all 'I'm thrilled to be gay, I have no issues about being gay anymore, I don't feel shame about being gay,' but you actually do. You're just not fully aware of it. I think I still felt scared about people knowing. I felt awkward around gay people; I felt guilty for not being myself.
I don't buy into the idea that an Irish writer should write about Ireland, or a gay writer should write about being gay. But when I found the right story, I saw it as an opportunity to write about being a teenager and being gay. Most people, whether you're gay or straight or whatever, have experienced that relationship where one person is much more interested than the other.
Honestly, when I first heard that there were rumors out there about me being gay, I thought, 'Wow, someone must really hate me.' There's nothing wrong with being gay, but I just couldn't understand why someone would make up lies like that.
The thing I loved about my old punk band, it wasn't really about being vulnerable, it was about shouting and being fun and being aggressively political, which I thought was really cool and really fit that energy.
Well, being fit is not about flaunting muscles or biceps. Being fit is about flexibility and fit is about flexibility and body composition.
I feel like Hollywood likes to use gay people to tell either really sad gay stories starring straight actors, or everything's about a struggle. Everything's about coming out. Nothing was about just living and breathing as a human being who happens to be gay.
Someone will say, 'Shura's album is about being a gay woman in London.' Umm, I feel like my album's just about me. I am a gay woman, and I live in London... It's not about being a gay woman in London.
My life's not about being gay - although one could argue I'm pretty professionally gay - but that's not how I experience life. Being gay is a profound part of who I am, but it isn't all of who I am.
Is there something about the gay experience, being gay and the gay experience, that pushes us even more than other people toward competition?
I'm happy to do gay material, and I'm gay, and I'm not embarrassed about it, but it's nice not being limited to only doing gay material.
Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where no one thought being gay was even something to ride someone about?
I thought Chris Benoit was worthy of being a Horseman. I thought Dean Melinko was. Obviously I thought Steven Michael was, though obviously he was inexperienced, I thought he was a perfect fit as a horseman. I did not like the Paul Roma deal. I did not like Sid Vicious or about two or three guys that they put in there, I just couldn?t see it. I couldn?t stomach it, but I had to.
When I was 15, I changed my name legally. I think it was largely due to my struggle about being gay. Everything just didn't fit, and I was trying to find things I could identify myself with, and it started with my name.
Yeah i thought about making the character of JD gay... But then i thought, but what about all the poor girls dreams you'll be crushing
Being fit is almost as important to me as my face. And for me, it's a combination of being spiritually and physically fit. There are guys who want to look good, and there are guys who want to perform at their best. Being fit is about being able to perform at your best, not necessarily just looking your best.
What was interesting was talking to older gay men about what it was like being gay in the Eighties.