Pop singer and actor Demi Lovato came out as nonbinary on the first episode of their new podcast "4D with Demi Lovato." They recently came out as pansexual in March on an episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience."
"I don't know. I'm so fluid now, and a part of the reason why I am so fluid is because I was super closeted off," they said.
*insert screen recording of Twitter video here*
In an exclusive clip from Bring Change To Mind's "A Conversation Starter" livestream obtained by People Magazine, they talked about coming out in the spotlight and how their upbringing contributed to her struggle with accepting their gender identity.
"I had suppressed so much of myself over the years. Growing up in the South and being raised Christian, I had these beliefs I had been told," Lovato said. "When I came out to LA, I knew I was queer. But, I think that a part of my freedom is acknowledging the queer part of myself."
"Because for so many years I shoved it down and I tried to fit it into a mold of what I thought society wanted from me," they continued. "And, so much freedom in my life today has come from just me living my authentic truth."
Conservative commentators such as Candace Owens and Piers Morgan made headlines after mocking Demi's identity and nonbinary people altogether. Owens took her comments to Twitter saying that she will not be referring to anyone by their chosen pronouns and that the concept is just "poor grammar."
Piers Morgan also took to Twitter to voice his opinions on Demi's identity and mockingly came out as "an annoying attention-seeking celebrity."
Kiss 108 FM radio host Matt Siegel walked off his show after being told by his producers to stop commenting on Lovato's identity.
"I'm against her binary thing; I think she's a troubled woman and a lot of young people are taking her seriously and it bothers me," he said.
"We were having fun with it, and my boss called up and said that I'd crossed the line and they didn't want me talking about it anymore," he added. "I responded by saying, 'If I can't talk about what I'm thinking at this point in my career, I don't want to be on the radio anymore.'"
Contrary to popular belief, the singular "they" pronoun and the concept of nonbinary has been around for longer than the recent public consciousness. Nonbinary was first used as an approved gender change in 2016. However, references to more than one gender span centuries and cultures.
For instance, the term "third sex", dates back to the 19th century and was used to describe people who deviated from the gender binary. In Indigenous communities, the term "two-spirit" refers to nonbinary and queer people and it was coined as a response to the English colonizer term "berdache" that is considered offensive.
It boils down to the fact that Demi Lovato is not the first person to come out as nonbinary in this century even, and hopefully with the elevated platform they have as a celebrity, this will lead to more acceptance from the public for the nonbinary community.
