In a new interview, out singer-songwriter Jason Mraz discussed his coming out as bisexual.

Mraz, 42, came out in a Pride Month poem he wrote for Billboard in 2018.

(Related: Jason Mraz on sexuality rumors: I've had experiences with men.)

Speaking with Pride Source, Mraz, who is married to Christina Carano, explained why he struggled to come out.

“I was afraid to say who I was when I was younger,” he said. “I was afraid to explore it because I thought exploring it was the wrong thing to do because of things I heard when I was growing up and because of how I saw society react to the LGBT community. So I thought if I go down this lane, I was taught that it was not a good path. And so for me to come out and say I was taught that that’s not a good path is potentially causing harm to my mother who raised me well, so I never wanted to put her in a position that made her feel or look like a bad parent. Same to my stepfather or my stepmother or my father. I had four parents. They’re not all to blame. I’m not going to throw any of them under the bus.”

“So it was just growing up in a kind of community where I didn’t feel safe to go down that path and explore some intuitions that I had. So I closeted it. I suppressed it. I put it aside. And as I go through life, and as I started having experiences, it’s in my programming, it’s the systemic issues of going through life and thinking, “This is not healthy.” But the more I went through life and the more I became supported and supportive of the LGBT (community), I realized I was safe, I was home, and enough is enough.”

“Honestly, I thought, 'I’m gonna have to wait until my parents leave the planet before I get to be who I am.' I didn’t want that. I wanted them to see who I am while they’re still alive and I want to be who I am while I’m still alive. It gave me even more empathy and more compassion for those who are taking that journey every day, and for the out community who just lives bravely in this world every day. So it was time for me to come out. If I was really going to use my superpower for good, it was time for me to start addressing who I am, because authenticity is the new reality,” he said.

Mraz called on the LGBT community to “go harder than ever” this Pride Month.

“So my message to Pride is, even though we may not be in the streets, go harder than ever. And who knows? This thing might spill over into the streets anyway because the Internet can't hold us. It can't,” he said.