Montreal indie pop singer Beatrice Martin, known as Coeur de Pirate, says the Orlando shootings have motivated her to come out as a queer woman.
In a blog entry posted on Vice’s music website Noisey, the musician outlines how soul searching in the days after 49 people were killed and 53 injured at the Pulse nightclub pushed her to be more honest.
“I can’t be scared that someone will stop listening to my music, or that parents might not want their kids listening to me because of the fact that I want to love whoever I want to love,” the 26-year-old singer wrote.
“I’m coming out for my daughter who needs to learn that love knows no race, religion, gender or orientation.”
The Juno-nominated singer’s letter recounts her past struggles with debating whether to speak publicly about her sexual orientation.
She tells about her first romantic feelings for a girl when she was around seven years old and how she eventually began to repress her feelings for women.
“I settled for a heterosexual lifestyle because I was scared of rejection,” she said.
Living that life while rising into the public consciousness made her feel like a hypocrite, she added, even more so after the recent debates on North Carolina’s bathroom bill.
“Sure, it’s my ‘private’ life, I can say whatever I want, but truthfully there is some good in being honest,” she said.
But it was Sunday’s shootings in Orlando, and the young adults who may have still been closeted, which ultimately led her to come out.
“Some families must have learned about a loved one’s true sexuality along with their deaths. The victims were robbed of the choice to come out on their own terms,” she said.
“I’m coming out for the victims that lost their lives because they wanted to celebrate who they truly were.”
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Read Coeur de Pirate’s letter to fans: http://bit.ly/24UuJ0a
