SONiC Artists Representing The 2SLGBTQIA+ Community

SONiC is excited to celebrate Pride Month! Check out our Pride Guide below to help you stay in the loop with all the Pride Programming & Events happening this month around Edmonton. You can also celebrate with local businesses owned by or allies of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Happy Pride!

These SONiC artists are out and proud.

1. Tegan and Sara Quin

Calgarian twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin have always shared their authentic selves with fans. Both are openly gay and married. They use their platform to promote 2SLGBTQIA+ equality, music education, literacy, and cancer research.

2. David Bowie

David Bowie first shared his sexual orientation in 1972. In a 1976 interview with Playboy, the iconic rocker said, “It’s true – I am a bisexual. But I can’t deny that I’ve used that fact very well. I suppose it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

3. Laura Jane Grace

The founder of Against Me! came out publically as transgender in 2012, the same year she began her transition. using her platform, she represents trans rights and visibility, saying, “I don’t want to be just that transgender performer or that transgender musical artist. I want to create songs and art and have those be judged on their merit alone.”

4. Ruby Waters

Ruby Waters is a member of both communities being honored this month. She is a Metis singer-songwriter who told SONiC that she “take[s] so much pride in both communities being celebrated this month. I am so proud to be part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, I love it. And I’m just praying this month, praying so hard to all the children. Every child matters.”

5. George Michael

George Michael came out in 1998. Outside his music, he was a passionate advocate for HIV/AIDS treatment and visibility for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

6. Billy Joe Armstrong

In 1995, the Green Day frontman told The Advocate that, “I think I’ve always been bisexual. I mean, it’s something that I’ve always been interested in. I think people are born bisexual, and it’s just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of, ‘Oh, I can’t.’ They say it’s taboo. It’s ingrained in our heads that it’s bad, when it’s not bad at all. It’s a very beautiful thing.”

7. Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke

Okereke came out in a 2010 interview with Butt magazine, explaining, “My parents are super-Catholic, and they come from a culture in Nigeria where there weren’t any visible gay people who were out and were happy. My parents are getting older and I didn’t like the idea that they could possibly die without knowing something that is a big part of my life.”

8. Elton John

Elton John has been openly gay since 1988. In 2005, he and his partner David Furnish entered into a civil partnership. They married in 2014 after same-sex marriage became legal in England and Wales.

9. Passion Pit’s Micheal Angelakos

The Passion Pit frontman came out in on a podcast in 2015, saying, “I just decided it might be best to talk about it here. I don’t really know what happened, but it’s just one of those gut feelings. It’s the same gut feeling I had when I said, OK, I kind of just need to talk to people about the fact that I am. I’m gay. And that’s it. It just has to happen.”

10. Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury never publically came out, but he did live his authentic life. In 1985, he began a relationship with Jim Hutton, who Mercury called his husband. Mercury wore a gold wedding band given to him by Hutton until his death in 1991.

11. Brendan Urie

The Panic! At The Disco frontman identifies as pansexual, saying “I’m married to a woman and I’m very much in love with her, but I’m not opposed to a man because to me, I like a person. I guess you could qualify me as pansexual because I really don’t care. If a person is great, then a person is great. I just like good people, if your heart’s in the right place.”

11. Michael Stipe

R.E.M.’s frontman has never publically come out, but he did state that “I think there’s a line drawn between gay and queer, and for me, queer describes something that’s more inclusive of the grey areas.”