Rest in Peace, Stephen Gately

The first thing I saw when I got online today was the headline that openly gay Irish pop star Stephen Gately had died in Spain at the age of 33. I couldn't believe my eyes.

Back in 1999, boy bands pretty much ruled the pop scene and I have to admit that at the time I was a huge fan of N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. I had enormous crushes on certain members of each group and listened to their music all the time. It was in that atmosphere that I first read about a member of an Irish boy band called Boyzone coming out of the closet as gay.

Up to that point, I'd never really heard of Boyzone or of Stephen Gately, but having a member of a hugely popular boy band come out of the closet seemed like a dream come true, and so I ended up becoming a fan of Stephen.

At that time, I especially liked Boyzone's song No Matter What, which can be heard in the movie Notting Hill over the end credits. It seemed to me (and still seems) like an anthem for the LGBT community. Sample lyrics:

No matter what they tell us
No matter what they do
No matter what they teach us
What we believe is true
No matter What they call us
However they attack
No matter where they take us
We'll find our own way back.
I can't deny what I believe
I can't be what I'm not

Even though my boy band phase came to an end, I still followed Stephen's career from afar, as he did some solo work after Boyzone went their separate ways, and also worked in the theatre in the UK.

Stephen married his partner Andrew Cowles first in a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas in 2003 and then married him in the UK in 2006.

Last year, Boyzone reunited and put out a new album. One of the songs was a cover of 'Better' and in the video, which can be found here on YouTube, each of the guys has a love interest that they sing to. Stephen's was played by another man, which for a pop music video is still pretty unique, and which lead to some religious condemnation of the video in Northern Ireland. I watched it last year when it first came out and thought it was beautiful, watching Stephen sing romantic lyrics to another man.

I think Stephen was the first young celebrity to come out of the closet in my own experience, which was probably why he meant so much to me at the time and why I've remained a fan ever since.

At this point, they're saying that his death was natural, not a suicide or drug related, though they don't yet know the specific cause. He was on vacation in Spain with his husband and was working on finishing up a novel that he'd been writing.

Stephen was a beautiful man who seemed to have an equally beautiful soul. My heart goes out to his husband, family, and friends, and to the rest of his fans.