Kae Tempest discusses “beautiful but difficult” process of publicly coming out as non-binary

nme.com:

Kae Tempest has discussed publicly coming out as non-binary for the first time in a new interview, reflecting on the “beautiful but difficult” process.Tempest, who will release new album ‘The Line Is A Curve’ next month (April 8), announced in summer 2020 that they would be changing their name and wants to be referred to with they/them pronouns.Sharing the news on Facebook, the spoken word artist and rapper said at the time that they have been “struggling to accept” themselves for a long time, and that these changes are “a first step towards knowing and respecting myself better.”In a new interview with the Guardian, Tempest has now discussed the process of publicly sharing the news, and how their body dysmorphia has held them back in the past.“Coming out has been huge,” they said, describing it as “a beautiful but difficult thing to do publicly.

It’s hard enough to say: ‘Hey look, I’m trans or non-binary,’ to loved ones. And I have this twin life beyond my friends and family,” they added.“Trans people are so loving, so fucking beautiful.

I think of my community, and how much strength I’ve got from people telling me I don’t have to go through this alone.” They added: “If I hide, and I’m ashamed of myself, it’s [as if] I’m ashamed of them.”Discussing the wider visibility their announcement could give trans people, Tempest said: “I don’t want to say the wrong thing for my people.

When trans issues are spoken about in the press, it’s often not trans people doing the speaking. So in this rare moment there’s a trans person talking about trans things, I don’t want to fuck up or waste the opportunity.”Discussing their childhood and journey to coming out, Tempest said: “Until hitting puberty, I lived as a boy.