Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, the leader of the acclaimed experimental black metal group Liturgy, has come out publicly as transgender, writing, “I am a woman.”
In an Instagram post, Hunt-Hendrix discussed her previous hesitance in making a statement, remarking, “I could have done this before Liturgy started, but I didn’t, out of fear. I knew I was female and not male, emotionally and in my experience of my body. But I was afraid – of social rejection, romantic rejection, career rejection, rejection by my family, failure.”
Hunt-Hendrix’s statement reads in full:
“I am a woman. I’ve always been one. The love I have to give is a woman’s love, if only because it is mine. To varying degrees many already understand this, but I’d like to make a clear statement about my actual gender. I could have done this before Liturgy started, but I didn’t, out of fear. I knew I was female and not male, emotionally and in my experience of my body. But I was afraid – of social rejection, romantic rejection, career rejection, rejection by my family, failure. The vagueness and incongruity of my solution has afflicted me. I wish it had been different, though maybe that wasn’t possible, the feminine imbues everything I am, beyond ‘gender identity.’ As a woman, I am a musician, theologian and poet and aim to model my life on the saints, to be an authentic channel for God’s love. The music and ideas I compose come from a female heart, whatever that means, and I don’t want to partially distort the transmission through an ‘effeminate male’ mask any longer. I don’t full understand what I mean, or why it is true, but I experience it with lived certainty, and say it with sincerity. I have no wish to efface that I am a natal make (I’m happy to be considered ‘third gender’), and I have great respect for masculinity, but I’ve never known how to participate in it, because it isn’t me. This statement is essentially making itself. I have no choice, there is no way for me to stop it from coming out, I am simply surrendering to it. I say this as an artist in a way, but ultimately it’s about my own relationship to my emotions and my body. Through a long-developing process I’ve finally broken free from some kind of compromise I felt I needed to accept, without being fully conscious of what I was doing or able to seriously imagine an alternative for myself. It has been very emotional, and it’s over now, so I am punctuating it.”
Along with the statement, Hunt-Hendrix shared three new self-portrait photos (as seen in the Instagram slideshow below). The singer-guitarist’s decision to come out as transgender publicly follows in the footsteps of fellow musicians like Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! and Mina Caputo of Life of Agony.
Editors’ Picks
Liturgy returned last year with the album H.A.Q.Q., which Hunt-Hendrix surprised released digitally in November. Physical editions of the album will ship on May 29th. Over their 15 year career, Liturgy have released a total of four albums, with Hunt-Hendrix starting the outfit in 2005 as a solo project before expanding to a quartet in 2008.
