JANUARY 23, 2009
A Kiss Is Just a Kiss
Y
Jim Radosta: Your gay fans must have a hard
time imagining what it was like growing up with
two pastors as parents.
Katy Perry: It was probably like their regular,
strict parents as well! [Laughs] Sometimes growing
up in a family that doesn’t quite understand who
you are and who you’re turning into—I think that
is what we both have in common.
1 didn’t really know anything other than that
world. Everything was related to church and going
to church and my church
friends and my church
school. 1 didn’t really
realize that: “Shit, the
world is not flat. It’s actu
ally round.” And 1 found
that out when 1 was 17.
JR: Was your fam
ily actively opposed to
homosexuality?
KP: They were never
the types that would go and
picket. They have their be
liefs and perspective on lots
of different subjects, and I
have my roots in my faith,
but it’s definitely not the
picture that they paint. We
agree to disagree.
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BY JIM RADOSTA
j
JR: How did “I Kissed a Girl” come about?
KP: In some ways it was based on a friendship
1 had when 1 was younger that was more like an
obsessive crush. She was beautiful and had the
perfect features of a ballerina. I never kissed her.
She was kind of like my ghostwriter/muse for this
song, I guess you could say.
But it wasn’t really about that one woman in
particular. It was just about the idea that beauty
sometimes can turn anybody’s sexual orienta
tion—it doesn’t mat
ter, male or female.
Sometimes, for me,
there is a woman that
walks into the room
and you’re just like:
“Where did this come
from? You’re perfect.”
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Alphabeat opens for K aty P erry 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 26 at Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burnside
St. Tickets are $18 from Ticketmaster. She'll
also perform at the 51 st annual Grammy Awards
8 p.m. Feb. 8 on CBS.
Arts and Culture Editor J im R adosta needs your
feedback. E-mail Kim at jim@justout.com.
Inviting Desine
ph: 503.227.6000 fax: 503.227.4702
john@law420.com
Laugh, cry and blush at
Breaking and Entering's
ForePlay at the Someday
JR: How did
you feel when that
church in Ohio posted a sign that read, “I kissed
a girl and I liked it, then I went to hell”?
KP: I posted a blog response back to it. 1 basically
just wrote back and said, “Come just as you are?”
JR: Did you ever dream that a bi-curious
anthem could be No. 1 in America for seven
weeks?
KP: Well, 1 think America just caught up with
itself. You know, it’s 2009. 1 think 1 just said the
unspoken. It’s not really any secret if you get into
a group of girls. It’s very normal, and if you ask a
lot of people on the street, a lot of girls will give
you the same answer 1 gave them, but 1 just kind of
wrote a song about it, you know? It’s one of those
things where it’s not very taboo anymore, ’cause it
never should have been in the first place. ©
Explore the rainbow of feminine sexual desire at
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Katy Perry, 24, grew up as the middle child of
two traveling-minister parents in Santa
Barbara, Calif.
JR: What was it like when Madonna endorsed
“Ur So Gay” during a radio interview? How do you
respond when people say the song is homophobic?
KP: It was like the champagne sendoff for
my career. It was amazing that the queen of all
pop—the woman who, when she speaks, every
body listens—said something about me, another
female. Wow!
I think a lot of people who haven’t heard the
song and just look at the title very easily could be
confused and judge a bwk by its cover.
Sex, love, identity politics, drag and dance.
Whether you like your art steamy, smart, sexy or
all three you'll find it all at these
Fertile Ground Festival performances
Break out of the box of gender identity
atjessamyn Roe's
JR:
But you
consider
yourself
straight, right?
KP: Uh, I wear
many hats at many
different times. But
I don’t think I could
ever handle being in
a relationship with
another one of me.
JR: How did you
come around to see that they were on the wrong
side of that issue?
KP: I remember coming to Los Angeles and
meeting some really fantastic people and they
happened to be gay, and they were really always
there for me and encouraging me and we had the
best time. There would be that small little thing
inside of me from my childhood days like, “These
people aren’t good for you!”
That’s a totally wrong opinion that I was in
stilled with that has definitely left my body. I was
like, “Oh, no, you’re a fantastic human being, and
you’re not going to hell, ’cause if you are, I wilt
hold your hand all the way there."
33
Resolve to taking
better care of
YOU in 2009!
Katy Perry puckers up
ou’ve come a long way, baby.
In 2001 she was a teen contemporary
Christian singer named Katy Hudson
crooning, “Lord, help me see the reality/
That all I’ll ever need is you.”
Today she’s Katy Perry, the pop princess be-
hind “I Kissed a Girl," a summertime smash that
received a Grammy nomination for Best Female
Pop Vocal Performance. Last month she graced
the cover of Out (alongside Portland gay filmmak
er Gus Van Sant) for being among last year’s 100
most influential people in the queer community.
JUStpUt I
Spend time in the doghouse with
four gay/straight/transgender men on the brink
of breakup with Perna Teeter's
Talking Dogs
Plus amazing world premieres from
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