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Katy Perry Says She Tried To 'Pray The Gay Away' When She Was Younger

Katy Perry Says She Tried To 'Pray The Gay Away' When She Was Younger

She had a strict-Christian upbringing.

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

Katy Perry opened up about her teenage struggles with her sexuality during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign Gala on Saturday night.

She had a strict Christian upbringing and said that she was taught to 'pray the gay away', which is a pretty disgusting thing to teach a child.

Katy was at the event to accept a LGBTQ award for equality.

She told the audience: "My first words were Momma and Poppa, God and Satan.

"Right and wrong were taught to me on felt boards ... When I was growing up, homosexuality was synonymous with the word abomination.


Credit: Human Rights Campaign

"I speak my truths and I paint my fantasies into these little bite size pop songs. For instance, 'I kissed a girl and I liked it.' Truth be told I did more than that, but how was I going to reconcile that with a gospel singing girl raised in youth groups that were pro-conversion camps?

"What I did know was that I was curious and even then I knew sexuality wasn't as black and white as this dress.

Credit: PA

"Honestly, I haven't always gotten it right, but in 2008 when that song came out, I knew that I started a conversation that a lot of the world seemed curious enough to sing along to."

Perhaps unsurprisingly for an artist who released a top ten hit titled 'I Kissed A Girl', Katy said that she found her own 'tribe of people' in the LGBTQ community.

She said: "These people were nothing like I'd been taught to fear. They were the most free, strong, kind and inclusive people."

She went on to add that she will be using her platform as a pop-star to get more political with her upcoming material - saying it will be more purposeful and politically-infused.

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Topics: Katy Perry