Freedom, Pan-Sexuality, And Why Janelle Monae Champions Both

Ahead of the release of her latest project – a collection of short stories titled ‘The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer’ – Janelle Monae said casually during an episode of Red Table Talk that she is non-binary. A couple of days later, when asked about her most recent coming- out moment, Monae told the Los Angeles Times, “My pronouns are free-ass motherf— and they/them, her/she.”

Since the moment she appeared on the scene, Monae’s semi-public explorations of her own sexuality have had the bonus side effect of holding space for gender fluidity and self-exploration in mainstream arenas. Long before the expansion of the LGBT initialism, before the idea of confirming and respecting someone’s preferred pronouns became common practice, Monae was normalizing the idea of female-presenting androgyny.

She was never loud about it either; not to say that there is anything wrong with being open and vocal about your identity. But because Monae stepped into the public eye at a time when she was still trying to define herself, she broke tons of barriers by simply being. In fact, she refused to discuss her sexuality, never confirming or denying dating rumors, and she answered questions about her gender by telling the world she was an android.

So, freedom, pan-sexuality and why Janelle Monae Champions Both all are important.

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