![\"George](\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/michael.jpeg?resize=600%2C313\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe 1998 CNN interview in which George Michael came out of the closet following his Beverly Hills ‘lewd conduct’ arrest has been posted online. He was never ashamed.<\/p>\n
Michael offered up reasons for his sexual ambiguity up until that time:<\/p>\n
“It works very successfully in pop culture because it means, especially if you’re trying to communicate something emotional, or sexual, that you’re communicating with both men<\/a> and women<\/a>…My sexuality was not cut and dried.”<\/p>\n He added:<\/p>\n “I spent the first half of my career being accused of being gay<\/a> when I hadn’t had anything like a gay<\/a> relationship…So I spent my years growing up being told what my sexuality was … which was kind of confusing.<\/p>\n “I want to say that I have no problem with people knowing that I’m in a relationship with a man<\/a> right now. I have not been in a relationship with a woman<\/a> for almost 10 years…I write about my life and I want people to know…”<\/p>\n Michael said that what prompted him to come out is because he’d done that “in a way that I hadn’t intended to.”<\/p>\n “I think having done something as stupid as that…I’m a very proud man<\/a>. I want people to know that I have not been exposed as a gay<\/a> man<\/a> in any way that…I don’t feel any shame. I feel stupid and I feel reckless and weak for having allowed my sexuality to be exposed this way. But I don’t feel any shame whatsoever and neither do I think I should.”<\/p>\n Watch:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Guardian’s Owen Jones praises Michael’s shamelessness<\/a>:<\/p>\n Yes, it’s true that the manner in which he was outed became a standard playground homophobic trope, a means for bigots to express their revulsion at how sordid and morally corrupt they deemed gay<\/a> men<\/a> to be. But haters gonna hate, as the expression goes – homophobes will latch on to anything to confirm their bigoted narrative. For LGBT people consumed with terror at the realisation of who they were, to see the man<\/a> who sang Last Christmas telling his tormentors where to stick it was liberating….<\/p>\n …We live<\/a> in an age where bigots are newly emboldened. They treat supporters of anti-racism, feminism and LGBT rights like this: “You’ve had your party, now it’s over, and it’s our turn.” It is tempting to turn and retreat. But, as a closeted teenager back in 1998, it is impossible not to recall the courage and defiance of George Michael<\/a>. A talented and much adored musician, yes. But also a gay<\/a> man<\/a>, and a gay<\/a> icon, who made the lives of so many LGBT people that little bit easier.<\/p>\n The post George Michael’s 1998 Coming Out Interview: ‘I Don’t Feel Any Shame and Neither Do I Think I Should’ – WATCH<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\nRELATED: George Michael Dead at 53<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n
ALSO: Gay Iconography: Keeping The ‘Faith’ in George Michael<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n