George Michael kept his secret for a long time homosexuality, but with a solid and successful career in the late 1990s, the British singer finally publicly invested in favor of gay rights.
+British singer gay symbol George Michael dies at age 53
+British singer gay symbol George Michael dies at age 53
The artist, who died on Sunday at the age of 53, revealed his homosexuality in 1998 – after almost 20 years of career – after being arrested for indecent exposure in a public bathroom in the American city of Los Angeles.
Very clear in the world of entertainment, his sexual orientation, however, was unknown to the general public. He later said that he did not want to reveal himself while his mother was alive.
"For parents, in the 1980s, being gay used to mean being HIV positive", he explained in 2007, in an interview with BBC radio.
"My mother was still alive and every day was a nightmare for her to think that I could be affected" by the AIDS virus, added the artist, who says he discovered he was gay in the late 1980s.
"At the time, the tabloids were terrible with homosexual personalities," explains Peter Tatchell, one of Britain's leading gay rights activists, for whom George Michael wasn't just afraid of his mother's reaction.
"They were denigrated and their image was muddied. Being gay was seen as a scandal and a shame."
Worse: the explosion of AIDS led, according to Peter Tatchell, to an increase in homophobia. "Anti-gay bullying and murders of homosexuals exploded. It was a terrible time for gay people, and even for public figures," he explains.
"If George had revealed his homosexuality at that time, it could, perhaps, have helped to fight against it", considers Peter Tatchell. "But I understand why he didn't."
Her first love, a Brazilian, victim of AIDS
During a show at Rock in Rio, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1991, the Brit met Anselmo Feleppa, a Brazilian fashion designer who became his first love.
"It's very difficult to assert your sexuality when it doesn't bring you any joy, but it becomes less difficult when you find true love," the singer confided in an interview with the Huffington Post.
After six months of relationship, the Brazilian discovered that he had HIV, a shock for George Michael.
"I couldn't go through this with my family, because I didn't know how to tell them – they didn't even know I was gay. I also couldn't even talk to my closest friends, because Anselmo didn't want to," he recalled.
His partner died in 1993 of a brain hemorrhage related to the virus.
"The heavens sent and the heavens stole / You smiled at me / Like Jesus for a child", sang George Michael in 1996, in "Jesus To a Child", a tribute to Anselmo.
"For my fans and those who actually listened to the lyrics, it felt like I was coming out of the closet," he later revealed.
The triggering element was finally his arrest, in 1998, in Los Angeles, "a deliberate act triggered by my subconscious", he explained to the BBC, regretting not having revealed his homosexuality earlier.
"I don't think I would have had the same career – my ego might not have been satisfied in all areas – but I probably would have been a happier man," he later considered.
The year he revealed his sexual orientation, he began to get involved in the homosexual cause, helping to make a documentary that portrays six HIV-positive young people.
Out of the spotlight, the artist also funded the Terrence Higgins Trust, a British organization fighting HIV.
"Your gifts have helped shape a world in which people living with HIV live healthy lives, free from prejudice and discrimination," the charity said on Facebook on Monday.
