Ricky Martin in remarks before a United
Nations forum marking Human Rights Day said he “hated” himself
for being gay for many years.
After years of denying rumors about his
sexual orientation, Martin announced he is gay in 2010.
At Tuesday's forum, United Nations
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon continued his calls to world leaders to
end laws discriminating against LGBT people.
“Let me say this loud and clear:
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are entitled to the
same rights as everyone else,” he
said. “They too are born free and equal. I stand
shoulder-to-shoulder with them in their struggle for human rights.”
Martin weighed in on his own coming out
experience.
“If I could come out again, I would
come out again, because it felt simply amazing,” Martin said. “To
all the activists that are here today that opened the doors of light
to people like me and to families like mine, thank you so much for
what you've done – I've done nothing.”
“For many years, I lived on fear. …
I was hating myself, because I grew up listening to a very crooked
concept: 'You're gay, you belong in Hell.' It took me a minute to
come out, but when I did, it felt incredible. And that's what I
mean: I wish I could do it again. And I wish I could stand in front
of the cameras and talk to people that are struggling with their
identity, and just let them know that it's just beautiful. You find
love, you find conventions like this where you are simply loved.”
“I mean, we are here all together
fighting for one cause and that is equality. And love. And social
justice. … I grew up with a code saying the opposite. And to
decode it is very, very, very painful.”
Martin added that he came out gay so
that his twin sons would know their father. (The video is embedded
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