Throughout a latest occasion for the Los Angeles LGBT Middle through which she was honored with a Vanguard award (through Selection), Keke bought actual about her personal relationship to gender and sexuality, and the way she resists simple labeling.
“I’ve at all times been my very own individual,” she mentioned in her remarks. “Sexuality and identification for me has at all times been confusion.”
“, it’s, ‘I by no means felt straight sufficient. I by no means felt homosexual sufficient. And I by no means felt lady sufficient. I by no means felt man sufficient.’ , I at all times felt like I used to be a bit of little bit of every little thing.”
Keke went on to say that she “usually…leads with masculinity” and that she’s been “met with a lot disdain” as a girl. “I feel a lot of that got here from who I believed I needed to be to get respect, admiration, and love,” she defined.
“And I’ve at all times actually wished to be like my father…to wish to be taken significantly and never diminish as a result of I used to be a girl. , that’s at all times been a supply of — I assume you’ll say — ache and resentment.”
“Why did my gender need to outline the ability I’ve on the earth? And why does my gender get to determine my sexuality?”
Keke went on to say that she “questioned the containers I used to be compelled to be in” from a younger age. “You’re imagined to be as a Black individual or regardless of the background you’re from… Then these partitions simply attempt to cave you in from each rattling angle, who you’re as a inventive, who you’re as a pal.”
“I’m actually so grateful to be seen on this room,” she mentioned, “as a result of I do know I’m surrounded by individuals who know for sure what it’s wish to determine to be who you’re in a world that tells you to be every little thing however your self.”
You may learn Keke’s full remarks right here.