Silke Jasso
Janelle Monáe Is opening up about the importance of speaking publicly about her non-binary gender identity. In an interview with Sirius XM’s The Jess Cagle Show, the musician and actress explained her approach to discussing her identity and how doing so can highly impact others.
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“I think it’s all about just honoring your truth and your authenticity, and whatever that may look like,” Monáe told host Jess Cagle. “I’m not this arrogant person that thinks I have all the answers, so I think for me, it’s about making sure I’m also saying to people, ‘Further investigate who you are,’ you know?”
She went on to encourage people who questioned their own gender identity, telling them to explore it. “Allow yourself to discover something new about yourself. Open up your mind to different possibilities, and listen to folks who are saying, ‘This is who I am. This is how I feel inside and outside.'”
Janelle Monáe Speaks Out About Being Non-Binary
“I think all of it, to me, is important as we evolve as humanity, as we understand more about gender, as we understand more about sexuality,” added the actress. “So, I’m just keeping an open mind about it all.”
Just last year she opened up about her non-binary identity, appearing on the Red Table Talk alongside Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris. “I just don’t see myself as a woman, solely. I feel all of my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she.'”
“And if I am from God, I am everything. But I will always, always stand with women,” continued the author, who came out as pansexual back in 2018. “I will always stand with Black women. But I just see everything that I am, beyond the binary.”
Earlier this month, she also spoke to The New Yorker about how she prefers to refer to the process of “coming out” as “coming in” instead.
“You’re bringing people into who you are. You’re allowing them a unique opportunity to further understand how you see yourself,” Monáe noted. “For me, it was not this big declarative statement. It was just, ‘This is who I am.’ I don’t think anybody should feel obligated to talk about their sexuality.”
She went on to add, “For me, after having the necessary conversations with my loved ones, and also feeling comfortable enough to let it seep into my writing and my art, I knew that it was time.”
