#pub:advocate

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I've posted scans of this magazine before, but I think everyone will agree that the cover is improved now. 

Thanks so much to k.d. for signing this for me last week. I feel very lucky to have had such a wonderful first concert experience. 

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Another scan from The Advocate in 1992. 

Do you get tired of people pointing up the fact that your concerts attract a lot of women?

What can I say about that? I'm offering women something that they don't have a lot of: a strong example, something that's geared more to women's feelings. But no one ever says, "Why, at football games, is it 90% men?" It's another example of how women are constantly scrutinized for having any sort of bond. I mean, who cares if they're lesbians? There's a lot of straight women at my show. I am a feminist. I don't care if the women I reach are lesbians or not. I don't even care if men come. Music transcends.

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k.d. discussing gender and her role in Salmonberries with The Advocate in 1992 (spoilers for Salmonberries):

Was it easier for you to play the passionate person?

It suited my style more.

To be the initiator?

Yeah. Although I don't like being the initiator all the time. Are you the initiator?

Most of the time. I don't want to sit back and let life trickle past me.

Me neither.

How was it to play the nude scene in a public library? One moment you're covered up in a parka, looking like a boy, and next you're this beautiful uncovered woman.

At first I didn't know what to think, but now I think it was a really beautiful way to deal with things, because I have been called "sir" so many times in my life and will always be.

Watching that scene, you had to say to yourself, "Whatever the androgyny of k.d. lang, that's some woman up there."

If you want to know the truth, I am so much a woman. I am as womanly as I could be. With my lovers, I'm completely a woman. My body is completely a woman's body. When you get to know me, I'm a total woman. I think the male thing is just a way of surviving-outside. Inside I'm completely a woman.

So your androgynous look was never a calculated image?

No, it wasn't.

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k.d. on the cover of the Advocate in 1992. 

This is a hard interview to excerpt but my favorite parts are about her relationship with her mom and how that affects her feelings about coming out. 

What about your androgyny?

It's just my natural response to how I fit in society-how I feel comfortable, how I feel confident. If I had to wear high heels and a dress, I would be a mental case.

Did you feel that way as a child?

Yeah.

At what age had you had enough of dresses and patent-leather shoes?

Really early. And I had really supportive parents. I remember my mother saying "You're very handsome." I really loved that she said "handsome," because, you know, again, that's breaking stereotypes: You're very handsome, and you don't need to wear makeup. You have beautiful skin.

And then:

I don't want to lie. I'm not a liar; I try not to be. And yet you go, "Is your job as an artist more important than the love between a mother and daughter? Or is lying to 'protect' your mother the biggest sin of all?" It's an ongoing question.

But your mother must know that you're a lesbian.

Oh, yeah, she does. I came out to her 13 years ago.

So that's not a truth that's going to be a surprise to her.

No.

But it's still something that people in that small town where she lives are going to care about. She's going to have to deal with that part?

Yes, she is. And that's gonna hurt our relationship. And that's why I've always hesitated to be really, really out. I'm still worried about this article, you know?

And finally:

Has your mother ever said to you, "Please, k.d., don't come out."

Yes.

Still?

Yes.

Recently?

Yes.

And what do you say to her?

I go, "Mum, if they ask me, I'm gonna not lie to them." She lives in a town of 650 people.

But that's her choice.

Yeah, I know. And I've tried to move her out of there.