Halsey Is the Fearless Pop Powerhouse We've Been Waiting For

The way the LGBTQ+ community has been portrayed in popular culture has come a long, long way in recent years. Although there's still a lot of work to be done, so many creative queer folks have been making awesome and inclusive movies, music, TV shows, and more that better represents our lives and our stories, so in honor of Pride Month, we're taking the time to honor 25 of these inspiring people! This is the 2019 #PRIDE25!

No one could ever accuse Halsey of not speaking her mind. And in a world where bisexual identities are so often erased, it’s impossible not to appreciate her refusal to quiet down.

"So if I’m dating a guy I’m straight, and if I date a woman, I’m a lesbian," she said on Twitter in 2017, after dealing with bi-erasure from her fans and the media. "The only way to be a #True bisexual is to date 2 people at once."

And she hasn’t hesitated to embrace all aspects of her sexuality in her music. Her song "Strangers" is explicitly about a woman, and the video for "Ghost" off her first album features a same-sex relationship. Meanwhile, the entire storyline for the series of videos released in conjunction with her sophomore album hopeless fountain kingdom is about a tragic love story with a man. And let’s not forget the beautiful performance she’s done several times publicly for her song "Without Me," a dance interpretation that features a toxic same-sex relationship.

For Halsey, being unapologetically bisexual has gone hand in hand with fighting for the queer community every step of the way. Most recently, she spoke at length to an audience at her London concert about the dangers queer people face, wearing a shirt that featured images of a lesbian couple that was attacked in the city recently, and that read “Fuck Your Straight Pride” on the back.

"You need to promise me that you will not be afraid," she told the crowd. "Say it with me, 'I will not be afraid!'"

It’s that kind of bold refusal to back down from who you are and what you know is right, along with the ability and persistence to inspire the same energy in so many others, that makes Halsey a force to be reckoned with in the LGBTQ community, the music industry, and the world.

Listen to Halsey's #1 single "Without Me" below!

And check out more of the 2019 #PRIDE25 honorees here!