Lil Nas constantly builds his responses to the world around him into his work, from trolls and memes to stereotypes and self-reflection. Rather than shrink back for fear of discomfort or polarising opinions, he leans in – and he is clearly having the time of his life doing so. The importance of these doubly-marginalised communities being represented cannot be understated – for many queer Black people it can often feel that there is not only a glass ceiling limiting their aspirations, but walls keeping them from integrating with their communities.Īs he has done throughout his career, Lil Nas leads by example, embracing his otherness.

Lil Nas joins a relatively short list of openly queer Black musicians that includes Tyler, The Creator, Kevin Abstract and Frank Ocean. Having an openly gay role model changes lives: giving us someone to look up to, showing a version of ourselves that is beautiful because of its queerness, not in spite of it. While it’s true that sexuality shouldn’t have any bearing on success, Lil Nas coming out certainly mattered to countless fans – myself included. Announcing his sexuality casually via Twitter belied its historic nature, which was important to him: he noted that ‘if you’re doing this while you’re at the top it’s showing it doesn’t really matter, I guess’.