Melissa Etheridge Never Planned to Be a Gay Icon

Grammy-winning singer Melissa Etheridge knew from a young age that she was gay. But growing up in the 1970s in Leavenworth, Kansas, she didn’t feel she would be accepted if she came out as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Luckily, Etheridge had a supportive family, and when she told her father at the age of 19, he embraced her wholeheartedly.

As she built her music career in the ’80s, her record company knew she was gay but asked that she keep it under wraps. So as she promoted her early albums, she was careful not to disclose the gender of the people she was dating or who her songs were about in media interviews. However, when one magazine skewed her words to say that she had a boyfriend, she knew it was time to come out publicly.

In 1993, at an inauguration ball for President Bill Clinton, Etheridge announced that she was a lesbian. Despite her record label’s fears, she was embraced by fans and went from selling around 1 million albums to 7 million practically overnight. Etheridge’s career only continued to grow with the release of her next album, “Yes I Am,” which featured hits like “I’m the Only One” and the Grammy-winning song “Come to My Window.”

In her four-decade-long career, she has sold more than 25 million albums and has inspired countless people to live authentically.

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CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:10 Melissa Etheridge risked her music career
00:43 Etheridge's parents knew she was gay
01:00 Grammy nomination
01:10 Etheridge never planned to be a gay icon
02:14 Etheridge's public coming out story
03:31 Etheridge spoke her truth

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