Tyler Glenn is ready for the world to really know him. For the first time ever, the Neon Trees singer, 30, is publicly coming out as gay and opening up about his sexuality in an interview for the new issue of Rolling Stone, on stands Friday, March 28.
"I've always felt like I'm an open book, and yet obviously I haven't been completely," Glenn, who grew up Mormon, tells RS. In fact, he didn't start to come out to close friends and family members until October 2013, when he was working on songs for his band's upcoming LP, Pop Psychology.
"I had my crushes on guys throughout high school, but it was never an overwhelming thing until my twenties," the "Lessons in Love" crooner says of keeping his sexuality a secret. "Then I'd be dating girls and in love with my straight friend and it was the worst feeling in the world."
Seeing others come out publicly in recent months inspired him to do the same, Rolling Stone notes. "I really love all of the sports figures that are coming out recently," Glenn tells RS. "I appreciated [that] Michael Sam was like, 'I want to be able to go to the movies and hold hands with my boyfriend.' Even hearing him say 'boyfriend,' I was just like, 'That's cool.'"
As for his Mormon faith? "We were always taught, and I hate this word, 'tolerance,'" he says of his upbringing in the Church of Latter-Day Saints. "The only time that felt different was when the Prop 8 thing came up." (Back in 2008, the Church spent millions of dollars fighting same-sex marriage in California.)
The response otherwise seems to be positive. "All I can say right now is I'm the happiest lil weirdo I've been in my whole entire life. Thank you for the support and love," Glenn tweeted on March 24. "Yes. I am a happy and healthy Mormon gay pop star. I don't know what it all means, but I'm ok with it."
