American songwriter and singer Katy Perry is once again the talk of the town after she accepted at the 2017 Human Rights Commission Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday the National Equality Award. In her acceptance speech, she candidly admitted “kissing girls” which she did out of curiosity over the different sexuality she felt when she was young amid being raised as a Christian.
Addressing inner turmoil
As the daughter of pastors, she shared that she had to grapple with inner turmoil over a feeling of a different kind of sexuality. “Truth to be told, I did more that that!” Katy Perry shared.
“But how was I going to reconcile that with the gospel-singing girl raised in youth groups that were pro conversion camps? What I did know was that I was curious, and even then I knew that sexuality was not as Black And White as this dress,” Stuff.co.nz quoted the singer
In 2008, controversy hounded Katy Perry seven years after she released “Katy Hudson,’ her debut studio album under Red Hill Records when she released the single “I Kissed A Girl” over the song’s homosexual theme.
Nuns too are angry at Katy Perry
Katy Perry also angered some Catholic nuns in Los Angeles who accused her of practicing witchcraft. The accusation by Rose Catherine Holzman and Rita Callanan stems from the singer’s offer to buy their former convent for $14.5 million.
The two nuns cited her alleged anti-Catholic lifestyle as the reason why they opposed her purchase of the mansion.
In early March, entertainment magazine Vanity Fair reported that Katy Perry and Orland Bloom broke up after a one-year romantic relationship. Their representatives issued a statement that the two celebrities took a break after almost a year of dating.
LGBTQ champion
On Sunday, March 19, following her acceptance speech, Katy Perry tweeted “I will never cease to be a champion, an ally, a spotlight and a loving voice for all LGBTQ-identifying people.” Along with the tweet, she shared the YouTube video of her almost 10-minute speech when she accepted the National Equality Award.
In her acceptance speech, Katy Perry explained that she uses little bite-sized pop songs to speak the truth and paint her fantasies. She implied that “kissing girls” was a lived experience which she did out of curiosity although she also acknowledged that “sexuality wasn’t as black and white as this dress,” The Guardian quoted the singer.
Finding her gift and bursting the bubble
Part of her inner turmoil, Katy Perry said on Saturday, was growing up in a Protestant upbringing where homosexuality was considered synonymous with the words “Hell” and “abomination. That upbringing resulted in the, an unconscious adolescent, playing “the gay away at my Jesus camps.” However, a twist of events resulted in the teen born-again Christian finding her gift that introduced her to people outside her bubble.
It led to her bubble beginning to burst.
HRC President Chad Griffin pointed out in a statement that the powerful voice of Katy Perry and international platform were used to push for LGBTQ equality. The Human Rights Campaign gave her National Equality Award – the largest LGBTQ civil rights political lobby organization and advocacy group in the U.S. - for the more recent advocacy for LGBTQ rights by the singer, including her campaigning for Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton for the U.S. presidency in 2016.
