All month long we’ve celebrated Pride with a series of interviews from celebrities and artists on Tumblr. We’ve asked the likes of Elton John (@eltonjohn) how he expresses his identity, and the podcast queen herself, Gaby Dunn (@gabydunn), shared what kind of advice she wished she could give her younger self. Today we close out our series with one more queer legend: Stefan Olsdal, the bassist and guitarist from Placebo.
To help fight for world wide equality, Stefan recently designed the Rainbow Glove, seen above, with designer Gizelle Renee. The proceeds of each purchase go directly to The Peter Tatchell Foundation and LGBT Foundation. You can grab yours here.
What advice would you give your younger self about exploring your identity?
Don’t keep your inner turmoil all to yourself! Find someone to talk to, someone who makes you feel safe and will listen. Being in a minority is hard in itself, and it doesn’t have to be made harder by going at it alone. You will feel safer exploring yourself knowing you have someone on your side. I wish I had done that!
What is the biggest change in the LGBTQ experience that you’ve noticed over the past 10 years? What work needs to be done to continue progress in the right direction?
My 5 year old son doesn’t get gender. He calls everyone by the same pronoun, as he sees people just…as people. If it’s that clear to a child, then why complicate things and put people in boxes?
What’s an important moment in LGBTQ history that’s important for LGBTQ youth to understand?
In the UK where I live, my first relationship at 19 with someone a few years older could have landed my partner in prison. The age of consent in 1993 was 21, but then finally lowered to be the same for ALL genders and sexual orientation in 2001. I am lucky to be in the UK where there are now laws that protect and serve all with no discrimination, but our friends in Russia, and many other countries in the world, aren’t so lucky.
This might be the last of our Pride Q&A series this year, but it’s not the last of our Pride celebration. Keep your eyes peeled to @staff, our IG (Story and grid!), Twitter, and Facebook as we continue to signal boost voices and highlight art from the community. Love you, Tumblr.
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