Queen bandmate Brian May has said that Mercury’s sexuality was not something that was openly discussed but was not a well-hidden secret. The band’s most famous song, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, has been analyzed as a song about coming out but Mercury never confirmed or denied this interpretation.
He suggested the name “Queen” for the band, a derogatory term for gay men, and frequently wore outfits on stage that were evocative of gay fashion at the time. Mercury never discussed his sexuality with his family and they were told that a male lover who lived with Freddie in London was actually his gardener. In the faith, homosexuality was considered a form of demon worship. The Bulsara family practiced Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion that is centered on the cosmology of good and evil. This extended to the legal status of homosexuals before 1967, gay men could be sentenced to as long as two years in prison. When Mercury was born and for most of his life, homosexuality was treated as a mental illness, a sin, or a crime. It’s important to understand the environment in which he was living. The Queen frontman never openly discussed his sexuality with the press. They moved to Middlesex in England and Freddie was officially registered as a British citizen, a formality due to his status as a colonial subject. He was raised in India, where he first discovered his love of music and began playing the piano.Īfter briefly returning to Zanzibar, the Bulsara family was forced to flee overseas by a revolution. His parents, Bomi and Jer, were both from western India, and Farrokh had a younger sister, Kashmira.īomi worked for the British Colonial Office and Zanzibar was a British protectorate at the time, making Mercury a British subject. Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, in modern-day Tanzania, on September 5, 1946. Thamrongsak.S / įor more on Freddie Mercury’s sexuality, read on. It is possible that his relationships with women were a way of protecting his public image at a time when homosexuality was socially unacceptable or outright criminal. He once stated that he was bisexual and engaged in relationships with both women and men. There is no definitive statement regarding Freddie Mercury’s sexuality. Considered one of the greatest frontmen in rock history, there are conflicting reports regarding Freddie Mercury’s sexuality.