Tyler Glenn, the frontman for the
Utah-based rock band Neon Trees who came out gay last year, has
described coming out as a “thrilling rush.”
Glenn headlined Equality Utah's annual
“Allies Dinner” fundraiser, where he discussed his coming out
journey.
Glenn, a Mormon, told the audience that
an elder came out to him while serving as a missionary in Omaha,
Nebraska.
“The only words of encouragement I
could seem to utter was telling him he's not alone,” he said.
Five years later, “the dark storm of
Prop 8 is hovering over California, my home, and Utah, my home. I'm
still six years away from mentioning the words I'm gay to my parents
and family and friends. And yet I feel the pain and sadness and
inhumanity.”
“And then around that same time, I'm
sitting in a movie theater alone in Los Angeles and I'm watching the
film Milk and I'm sobbing. And it's beginning to click. This
whole thing is bigger than me.”
“Harvey [Milk], I feel you right
now,” an emotional Glenn started, “and I feel you in this room.
I'll never be able to match the courage and the passion for human
rights you exuded while you were alive.”
Glenn explained that a few months later
he heard that the elder who came out to him had committed suicide.
“And I think about him from time to
time and what I could have said and what I didn't say. And could I
have been stronger or braver at that moment.”
He ended his remarks by urging people
like himself to come out.
“If you're like me – a wanderer, a
questioner, a dreamer, a soul searcher, or misunderstood in any way –
come out. Come out as you. It's a scary leap, trust me, but dammit
it's the most thrilling rush,” Glenn
said.