MNEK Quotes

I was born gay, just as I was born black.

My sexuality is part of my music, part of my identity.

Trying to conceal the fact that I was a gay, effeminate, hyperactive, adopted child with a serious lisp in southern Louisiana would have been like trying to hide Dolly Parton in a string bikini!

In terms of my work, I've never been reticent in terms of defining my sexuality. I write about my life.

I'm a gay man of colour.

Being attracted to my own sex was as much part of who I was as being short or blonde or drawn to the library, but I was made to grow up feeling 'other.' Most books, films - even advertisements - didn't reflect how I felt, and I often watched the world from the outside.

Eight times a week, I got to be a gay man, a remarkable gay man, and every night, that felt as full, as true, as passionate, and as authentic as I ever felt in my life.

Some people have their sexuality really at the forefront of who they are, and I applaud those people.

The radical power of 'queer' always came from its inclusivity. But that inclusivity offers a false promise of equality that does not translate to the lived reality of most queer people.

To hang out in a gay bar or put on a sequined halter top makes me feel like a total person.

I didn't choose the fact that I was gay, but I did choose whether to live my life as a gay woman-that was the terrifying thing for me. Especially being a gay actress.

I've been openly gay since I can remember.

I knew that this was what I wanted to talk about on stage. There was no point being coy about it, or pretending that I wasn't gay. That was the substance of my whole act. If you took that away, there would be nothing left.

I am many things, but one of the things I am is a lesbian.

I love drag queens... they perform me better than I ever could myself.

I felt like I was an outsider growing up in the black church, as a gay man, in a poor community.

My life's not about being gay - although one could argue I'm pretty professionally gay - but that's not how I experience life. Being gay is a profound part of who I am, but it isn't all of who I am.

I didn't quite fit in in any particular, specific way. I was a gay teenager who was into drama.

'If Our Love Is Wrong' is, quite simply, my coming out song, as I was trying to wrap my head around my sexuality and was starting to learn about songwriting, and that my honesty and my authenticity came from my personal experiences and writing about stuff that genuinely bugged me or upset me.

I don't want to be white. I don't want to be straight. I don't want to blend in.

The marginalization of African-Americans within their own community based on sexuality is a construct that is more complex than the idea that 'blacks just hate gays.'

As a gay black man, it's important to me to show up - that I'm able to show up as my whole self, in every space that I'm in, because that's how I'm able to be the most true to who I am.

I myself identify as British-Nigerian, and I'm also gay, and I'm also a young adult in London making music. All of things can co-exist as one.

I hope the fact that I'm gay isn't the most interesting part of me.

Part of me looks at the gay movement now and worries that we're losing our individuality.