Singer Comes Out, Thanks to Michael Sam

Is there anything better than when someone finally accepts who they are inside? Even when coming out stories sometimes feel like a dime a dozen (which is good because PROGRESS! you guys), it feels as though each and every one is worth celebrating for the bravery it takes. Which is why we're sending major warm-fuzzies and general joylation (that's elation + joy, combined) to the lead singer of the band Neon Trees. Tyler Glenn has come out of the closet, everyone! And it's partially thanks to Michael Sam.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone where the Mormon frontman opened up about his struggles with his own sexuality for the first time, Glenn cites the football player as an inspiration. "I really love all of the sports figures that are coming out recently," he explained. "I appreciated Michael Sam was like, 'I want to be able to go to the movies and hold hands with my boyfriend.' Even hearing him say 'boyfriend,' I was just like, that's cool."

He's exactly right — after all, continued normalization of things that are perceivable as "new" is the key to this all one day becoming a non-starter, controversy-wise — and that's what makes his coming out just as celebration-worthy as the rest. No doubt growing up in the conservative community of Provo, Utah had a huge impact in Glenn's own repression. "We were always taught, and I hate this word, 'tolerance' ... The only time that felt different was when the Prop 8 thing came up," Glenn explained, referring to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' $22 million spend in the fight against same-sex marriage laws in California.

But it's only through the most conservative and, uh, heteronormative-loving subsets of culture accepting their own differences and striations from their beloved norms that we'll finally get to a place where people's sexual preferences are just one aspect of many. And maybe from there we can put a kibosh on institutionalized homophobia. So ka-dooze to you, Glenn!