A Metal God Comes Out to the World

On the heels of the announcement that country music star T. J. Osborne (one half of the great country band The Osborne Brothers) is gay, we head back to 1998 for Throwback Thursday, when another remarkable announcement was made. This time it was the lead singer of one of the biggest heavy metal bands ever – Judas Priest.

On this day in 1998, during an interview on MTV, Rob Halford, became the first metal icon to announce his homosexuality.

Singing in a band, in a genre of music that embraces machismo, Halford took a huge professional risk but knew at the time, it was the right thing to do, saying that his announcement was "the greatest thing I could have done for myself."

The subject matter of his lyrics never changed since his coming out and he had always avoided addressing it in Judas Priest's lyrics. However, the song "Raw Deal" from the 1977 album Sin After Sin speaks about Fire Island. “…you listen to that song, it really is almost like a coming-out experience for me. And it never really registered…It's only been in recent years that people have picked up on that song. That's the one," he said.

Growing up amid the exhaust of the local ironworks in Walsall, England, a region known as the Black Country, Halford’s sexuality and intense anthems were a part of the gloominess he encountered in his early life. In his youth and even early Priest years, Halford was sexually preyed upon, including by a friend of his father who got him a theater job. He soldiered on, keeping his sexuality a secret to all but a select circle.

The band and its management knew about his sexuality and were accepting, but he was advised to be discreet given the macho hetero nature of the metal world. He was often lonely and unfortunately, in his young adulthood, he struggled with drugs and addiction.

But he went to rehab, sobered up (and is still sober to this day) and though he faced other struggles and hardships (an ex-boyfriend who struggled with depression and addiction shot himself in the head one night after Halford had quarreled with him over his drug use), Halford is at peace.

At peace because he learned to let himself “out of the cage” and to not “live your life for other people.” He was finally able to truly focus on life and what he was here to do and live his life in his own terms.

Rob Halford - Metal God - Gay Icon - Inspiration.