Gay metalhead

Godfathers of metal Judas Priest released a new album, Firepowerand are in the middle of a world stadium and festival tour. Yet, beneath the surface, there is something very special and exciting happening. Otep Shamaya of Otep came out as lesbian in And most recently inLife of Agony singer Mina Caputo shared that she is transgender.

How can the heavy metal community be providing a platform for LGBT stars to shine? A closer look beyond the misguided stereotypes suggests that the prominence of LGBT stars in gay metalhead metal community actually makes quite a bit of sense. Both communities have faced marginalization and discrimination — reduced at times to stereotypical caricatures and judged harshly by those outside of each respective community.

As a result, for both LGBT people and metalheads, simply being your authentic self — whether it means being out as openly gay or transgender or simply having long hair, tattoos, and a Slayer shirt — is often seen as a confrontation of societal norms to be met with derision.

The discrimination against both groups is well documented.

Grymm Comments: On Coming Out and Acceptance in the Metalverse… Again.

Members of the LGBT community often face harassment, bullying and discrimination throughout their life. LGBT individuals often face rejection and abuse at home; LGBT children comprise forty percent of all homeless youth and family rejection is the primary cause.

And not only have LGBT couples historically faced marriage gay metalheadbut also many states still discriminate against LGBT couples in adoptiondespite research showing that children raised by LGBT parents function as well as children raised in other households. The heavy metal community has faced a different type of discrimination due to the misinformed notion that metal music is harmful to those who are exposed to metal music.

While there is limited research on this issue, lifelong metalheads often report being shunned, harassed and even beaten up for the music they love. And over 30 years gay metalhead, the Parents Music Resource Center PMRC put heavy metal music on trial with Senate hearings describing the dangerous effects of heavy metal music on children with the intention of censoring heavy metal artists.

Further, over the years, heavy metal musicians have actually been accused of and even put on trial for being the cause of violent acts committed by others, including suicides, homicides, serial killings and school shootings. And far from causing mental health problems, experimental research suggests that listening to extreme metal music can actually soothe rather than exacerbate negative emotions.

Ina study published in Journal of Youth Studies found that among participants agedindividuals who regularly listened to heavy metal music were significantly more likely to be engaged in civic activism as compared to listeners of other music genres. So how have these communities come together and what is the evolution by which LGBT musicians have become gay metalhead in the metal community?

Alago and Shamaya agreed that early on, the heavy metal community was in fact less accepting of LGBT people than it is now. I think it was a bit confusing. Shamaya made similar observations as she encountered men with specific stereotypes about lesbian women and transgender people.

Write another song about getting drunk? Write another song about heartbreak? Write another song about what? Alago concurs, saying that the metal community is often a stronger vehicle for addressing social issues than more radio-friendly music. If you want to get on the radio, how heavy can you go?

How deep can you get? This confrontation manifested on a personal level as well. As someone who was out as a gay man throughout his life, Alago described personal confrontations with people who embraced more biased attitudes. Shamaya described how she found other musicians confronting bias on her behalf, and how welcomed she felt as a result.

Shamaya and Alago recalled how powerful of a statement it was for Rob Halford to be out, as Judas Priest is one of the most revered bands in the history of metal. And it was beautiful — 25, people singing along. They were just there to see their favorite band and their favorite singer sing and perform.

We love Judas Priest.