KING'S X / KXM Frontman DUG PINNICK Discusses Homophobia In Metal - “We're Just Taught To Be Homophobic... I Think It's Something That's Just Been Beat Into Us”
June 30, 2017, 7 years ago
For Gay Pride Month, Billboard asked artists about the reality of being out musicians in hard rock/metal and the state of LGBTQAI acceptance in the genre. Dug Pinnick, who has been publicly out since he declared his orientation in an interview with Christian publication Regeneration Quarterly in 1998, discussed his experiences as frontman for King’s X and KXM.
When asked what contributes to homophobia in metal, Pinnick reveals: “One thing is ’cause it's such a guy genre. Guys get together, and they make jokes about gay people and talk about gay people and they call each other “gay” and accuse each other of being gay if they do something feminine. Guys are just brutal. I mean, you go to the bathroom in a guy's bathroom, and you don't hear a word. No one looks at each other, no one says anything, and when everybody's lined up at a stall, everybody's eyes are straight ahead. No one looks at each other, because if anybody looks down or anything, they might get hit.
“We're just taught to be homophobic. I think it's something that's just been beat into us, and so as a result of it, guys especially are like, ‘We're in our closet.’ It's crazy. Go into a girl's bathroom, girls are in the same stall with each other, pissin'. And I'm goin', ‘Oh my God, guys would never do that.’”
Read the full article at Billboard.com.
