Every June, LGBTQ+ Pride Month , and June 28th is the official day of commemoration, marking the beginning of the Stonewall riots , a major milestone in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and liberation in the United States and around the world.
Over the years, much has been said about the LGBTQ+ community worldwide. This is especially true in the entertainment and arts world. With few exceptions, the discussions revolve around rights, freedom, and ending the prejudice these people face. However, talking about major rock and metal artists who are part of the community is still not common practice in these genres, reinforcing the idea that heavy metal music is only for heterosexual men.
Perhaps the person who most made fans with such thoughts reconsider their opinion was the Metal God , Rob Halford . Have you ever considered that the one we call God within the genre is a gay man? A great artist who uses his voice to speak about his community and advise people around the world who have felt like him , hiding their sexuality in such an oppressive environment?
Halford coming out in 1998 may have been an unpleasant surprise to some, causing the artist to suffer homophobia because of his sexuality. Even so, Rob and Judas Priest remain one of the biggest names in metal history. But what happens when a "mortal" artist comes out in a country with one of the highest rates of murders against LGBT people in the world, like Brazil?
Guitarist Vini Castellari , from Project46 (who will be at The Wikimetal Happy Hour ) , had already come out to his friends, family, band, and fans. But in 2015, an interview with G1 went viral because it revealed that a Brazilian metal artist was openly gay, a very rare characteristic within the genre. From then on, Castellari became more than just a great artist; he became a figure who represents many, citing singer Linn da Quebrada .
“This whole ‘closet’ thing in metal, in the niche, there’s a lot of conservatism (…) What I can do is forgive those people who have a closed mind, which sometimes might even be due to internal conflict, and that’s why it bothers someone who is well-adjusted. And I think the best way to get a message across is to be ourselves; there’s no point in talking and not doing,” says the guitarist.
“I’m someone who has already stopped being many things, and will stop being many things in the future, and I believe that this whole thing is about life being much bigger than that, you know? It’s not a musical style, a color, it’s not clothing, right? There’s a sexuality aspect, there’s a gender aspect, so when I gave my interview on G1 I didn’t have all the knowledge of the community, so after being involved I started to learn about other aspects, other styles, other experiences, you learn as you go. My boyfriend, for example, is non-binary, so I came to understand what it is to be non-binary, trans, what it is to be a transvestite, a lesbian. (…) A closed mind makes prejudice surface much more, regardless of who is speaking… I’m not asking anyone to like it, I’m not asking for anyone’s approval, it’s about acceptance, people need to accept, respect, that’s the basis of any relationship.”
The artist emphasizes and appreciates the public's acceptance of his sexuality, and is happy about this, especially for fans of Project46, because it allows fans to understand why the band's lyrics address topics such as living one's truth and not neglecting oneself.
Beyond sexuality, the guitarist is now using his voice to address another issue: chemical dependency. Vini spent the last five months in a rehabilitation clinic, which, in his words, was the best decision he ever made in his life, and he intends to share and help others with his experience.
“Historically, not only in metal but throughout the world, we have family men, we have many heroes not only in music but in many areas who died because of the disease of addiction , which is what I discovered within the therapeutic community where I stayed for those five months,” Castellari stated.
“This process was liberating; it’s just a foundation, the beginning of a daily recovery, and so I was able to learn much more about myself. We live in a society where everything is very rushed, very immediate, very ready-made, and life is much bigger than that. (…) In the past, I managed to find a temporary solution because I hadn’t yet encountered a program that helps in the process, which is an anonymous fellowship that saves millions of lives worldwide, is non-profit, and within this therapeutic community I had the opportunity to learn about it. It was a very important process, even though it’s painful and difficult to give up everything you have around you, but you don’t have yourself; you can’t value other things.”
The artist also highlights the fact of going from one isolation to another, in quarantine, but using this time before returning to real life to perceive and appreciate the things in life that truly matter. He also advises, as much as possible, that those who can use the time to look inward and get to know themselves so that when they return to the outside world, they are prepared, as he explains in more detail in a video on the Project46 channel .
Despite Project46's hiatus at the beginning of the year, agreed upon due to Vini's hospitalization, the band is frequently updating their social media and releasing new content, including the English version of their latest unreleased album , TR3S , uniting more fans worldwide through the English language. And soon, a recording of the band's performance at Knotfest will be available for fans to enjoy.
But Vini's journey of public affection and acceptance regarding his sexuality, which he emphasized recognizes as such because, in his words, he is "a heteronormative gay man," he did not suffer the same level of offense as other members of the community suffer daily. And the experiences of Castellari and the transgender singer Föxx Salema , vocalist of the band that bears her name, differ precisely in this respect.
The artist, originally from Bragança Paulista, has been fighting since last year with the release of her first studio album, Rebel Hearts (but make no mistake, Föxx has been into metal for much longer than that, loving the genre since childhood thanks to the influence of a cousin, and playing for years), facing threats, insults, and even boycotts from Brazilian metal pages and portals, as she recounts in an interview.
“Some media outlets specializing in metal, which surprised me, boycotted me primarily because I'm an activist with a left-leaning political stance, so to speak, and consequently, even more surprisingly, group online attacks began, specifically mocking my transgender identity. They went beyond the political aspect, so to speak, and moved into the personal realm (…) consequently, they also mocked the album, and this still happens. In 2020, I still have to deal with this. On the other hand, I also received support from many people in the public and also from the specialized media. (…) I'm reaping good results and consequently reaching people who are LGBT and who like metal, so I've become a spokesperson, a representative for these people. And for me, that's fucking awesome, you know?”
Despite the immense prejudice she faces, Salema doesn't give up on her passion: music. With the great Andre Matos and influenced by various subgenres of metal, in 2019 her first album was chosen as one of the best by several heavy music websites, even reaching Roadie Crew 's list of best albums of the year .
Föxx is also planning for the near future, her first single in Portuguese, and who knows, maybe produce an EP or a second album even with the distance of quarantine, taking advantage of the fact that she now has a stable band lineup, an unprecedented feat for the singer, who suspects that the attacks she has been suffering on the Internet have made it difficult to maintain and invite musicians to join her.
But to stay strong, Föxx relies mainly on the support of fans and her husband and keyboardist in her band, Cleber , finding strength and affection there.
Finding encouragement in those who love her to continue pursuing her dreams in music, Föxx and Vini meet. Despite their different experiences and sexual orientations, they become two great artists in Brazilian metal who are making history by being exponents in making metal more open, inclusive, inviting and, consequently, even more metal.
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To support the LGBTQ+ community and groups in need during the pandemic, Vini Castellari and Föxx Salema recommended some NGOs, see below: