Amandla Stenberg Comes Out As Gay And The Internet Is Living For It

18 June 2018, 15:07

By Woodrow Whyte

Coming out during Pride month in #20GayTeen? Iconic.

#20GayTeen strikes again!

19-year-old Hunger Games actress Amandla Stenberg has come out as gay in a interview with musician King Princess for Wonderland magazine.

Writing on Instagram underneath a rainbow-themed photoshoot, Amandla wrote: "So happy to say the words Yep, I’m Gay in official print. Interviewed for @wonderland by someone I stan infinitely – the fiercest garbagio pop queen @kingprincess69."

"Thank you to KP for providing me with such a safe space to come out. We talk about gay sobbing, first encounters with lesbian masturbation, queer icons, Toni Morrison, disillusionment as a critical step, the art I’ve been working on, and the films that I have coming out this year."

🏳️‍🌈✨ OUT & PROUD. ✨🏳️‍🌈 So happy to say the words Yep, I’m Gay in official print. Interviewed for @wonderland by someone I stan infinitely – the fiercest garbagio pop queen @kingprincess69. Thank you to KP for providing me with such a safe space to come out. We talk about gay sobbing, first encounters with lesbian masturbation, queer icons, Toni Morrison, disillusionment as a critical step, the art I’ve been working on, and the films that I have coming out this year. Full interview on newsstands now and available online Monday. 😁🎉

A post shared by amandla (@amandlastenberg) on Jun 16, 2018 at 4:44pm PDT

Yaaasss!

The full interview, which has just been made available online, is full of (very juicy) insights into Amandla's journey to coming out as a gay woman.

At one point, Amandla recalls the first time she was turned on by a women, which was during a scene between Mila Kunis and Zoe Saldana in the film After Sex. "I’m maybe nine or 10 years-old, channel surfing secretly in the TV room while my parents are asleep", she says. "Something catches my eye on the TV Guide – it says After Sex is playing on HBO. I click on it (how could I not, sex was the most fascinating, mysterious phenomenon to me?!) Zoe Saldana and Mila Kunis fill the screen."

"They’re sitting in a library, and Zoe puts her hand between Mila’s mini skirt and white cowboy boot clad legs. She watches Mila’s face with relish before LICKING HER FINGERS and TELLING HER SHE TASTES GOOD! It was simply too much for a gay tot to bear. I ran to the bathroom confused and disoriented, thinking I had peed my pants." Oh my!

It took a little while for Amandla to adjust to her identity but when she did, a lot of the awkward or confusing encounters she had when she was younger started to make a lot more sense.

"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! 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."

Oh my god YES! Every. Word. Of. This.

People are living for Amandla's honestly and openness on Twitter.

Wow.

What a time to be alive.