WLTM - Ricky Martin

I’ve been thinking about Ricky Martin all day today, since the news that he has come out as being gay as of yesterday.

I first heard about him around 1997, when my then housemate Alexis gave me a tape of his to listen to. I was slightly dubious as it was in Spanish and I thought that I would hate it. Alexis told me that he had first heard Ricky (and seen him) while on holiday in Gran Canaria and thought that I would like him physically as well as musically. He was right. Though I didn’t understand the words of his songs on that album (A Medio Vivir), they were all beautiful songs infused with emotion. I made sure that I had a copy of my own immediately. I’ve just found them again on Spotify and still love them.

I didn’t hear anything else about him until a couple of years later, after I had moved away from Torquay and was living in Hertfordshire, when Ricky hit the worldwide big-time with the (mostly) English language “Livin’ la Vida Loca.” His sex appeal was apparent immediately, especially now that his hair was shorter.

A few years later, once I had my own computer, I discovered that rumours were rife about him being gay. Apparently something that Ricky himself was not ready to discuss, though I don’t think he denied it outright.

After over a decade of rumours Ricky has now decided it is the right time for him to be honest with his fans and the rest of the world. He apparently made this decision while writing his memoirs and deciding that he no longer felt comfortable hiding his sexuality.

I hope that he doesn’t receive any negative backlash, from homophobes or from the gay community for “hiding” it for so long. Everyone has to make the decision of when to come out for themselves and though I feel that celebrities have some responsibility to their fans to set an example, now that he is “out” those looking for inspiration need look no further for an example of a decent human being who works hard and provides for disadvantaged people too (having founded the Ricky Martin Foundation which works in several areas especially in combating child trafficking and relief aid).

I look forward to seeing and hearing Ricky’s music in the future.