Katy Perry Used To ‘Pray The Gay Away’ While Growing Up

Katy Perry made an emotional speech at the Human Rights Campaign Gala, about struggling with her sexuality in a highly Catholic household.

“There’s no other community that has done more to shape who I am today,” the singer says to an audience of LQBTQ people. “I stand with you against discrimination.”

At 32-years-old, Katy accepted the Nation Equality Award, and spoke of her difficulties growing up in a world where she was constantly told not to be herself.

“I’m just a singer-songwriter, honestly. I speak my truths and I paint my fantasies into pop songs. For example, ‘I Kissed A Girl And I Liked It.’ Truth be told, I did more than that, but how could I reconcile that with the gospel singing girl raised in pro-conversion camps?

“What I did know was that I was curious, and I knew sexuality wasn’t as black and white as this dress.”

Katy tells the audience that some of her first words were ‘God’ and ‘Satan’, and that she was taught that, “Homosexuality was synonymous with the words ‘abomination’ and ‘hell’, so for most of my adolescence I prayed the gay away at Jesus Camp.”

It was only when the singer rose to fame in the music world that she got to know members of the LQBTQ community, and she says, “These people were nothing like those I had been taught to fear.

“These people were the most free, strong, kind, and inclusive people I had ever met. They stimulated my mind, and they danced all the while doing it. These people were magic, because they were living their truths.”

See Katy’s speech at the Human Rights Campaign Gala in full here…