Amandla Stenberg would like your attention please.
The actress, who rose to fame my playing beloved Tribute Rue in the first Hunger Games movie, has an announcement to make:
She’s gay.
This may not be a complete stunner to those who have followed Stenberg’s career, considering she came out as bisexual in early 2016, but it’s still worth noting.
And it’s especially worth sharing the way in which Stenberg has addressed this topic.
“OUT & PROUD,” she says in a cover story for Wonderland magazine. “So happy to say the words Yep, I’m Gay in official print.”
In the accompanying piece, Stenberg explains how she released “joyful and overwhelmed sobs” upon realizing her sexuality.
It’s an understandably personal issue, so we’re just gonna go ahead and quote Stenberg at length here:
I was so overcome with this profound sense of relief when I realized that I’m gay – not bi, not pan, but gay – with a romantic love for women.
All of the things that felt so internally contrary to my truest self were rectified as I unravelled a long web of denial and self deprivation. Like oh, maybe there’s a reason why I kissed my best friends and felt ashamed growing up.
Or watched lesbian porn and masturbated (and more) with my friends at sleepovers.
Or stifled a scream of horror the first time I saw a penis and had to convince myself with much internal strife that I was enjoying what was going down.
Or could only find attraction towards gay men and femme boys who damn near had the sensibility of a woman.
Or developed earth shattering, all consuming crushes on… GIRLS!
The actress also appeared a number of episodes of Fox’s Sleepy Hollow, along with Mr. Robinson and the movie Everything, Everything.
Added Stenberg in this article:
“I was flooded with a sense of calm and peace because everything that I struggled with or felt discomfort around finally made sense to me, and once those floodgates opened and years of pent up pain and shame were released, I found the freedom to live my best life waiting for me just underneath.”
According to Stenberg, her “first lesbian crush” was on Mila Kunis (good taste you’ve got, Amandla!), while other crushes have included Mirage from The Incredibles and Christina Vidal from Freaky Friday.
In closing, Stenberg expressed her appreciation for being gay.
Not only is she ashamed of this fact, she could not be more proud.
“I’m grateful for how being gay has afforded me this ability to experience and understand love and sex, and therefore life, in an expansive and infinite way,” she told the publication, adding:
“The continual process of unlearning heteronormativity and internalized homophobia can be difficult, but one of the biggest blessings lies in the magic that comes from having to understand love outside the confines of learned heterosexual roles.
“It is the power to reveal the ethereal love that exists within us underneath socialization.
“Once I was able to rid myself of those parameters, I found myself in a deep well of unbounded and untouchable love free from the dominion of patriarchy.
“My sexuality is not a byproduct of my past experiences with men, who I have loved, but rather a part of myself I was born with and love deeply.”
