Weeks after officially coming out to his fans, American Idol alum David Archuleta is sharing his story of learning to accept his sexuality.
In a new interview with Good Morning America, Archuleta sat down with ABC News’ Steve Osunsami to talk about how it feels to publicly identify as a member of the LGBTQ community. “There’s so much relief to not feel like you have to hide a part of yourself, like a secret,” he said.
Archuleta, who said he still doesn’t fully know how he identifies other than as “some form of being bisexual,” explained that as a devout Mormon, he found himself praying constantly for his sexuality to be different. “I was praying like, ‘God, you can do all things. You are a God of miracles … Please take these feelings away from me because I don’t want to feel things I shouldn’t. I don’t want to feel things that would be wrong,'” he said.
But the singer continued, saying that over time, he’s learned to accept himself as he is, rather than hoping for change later on down the road. “I’ve had to learn how to love myself, even when I don’t understand why I’m the way I am, but to learn that’s how God has created me,” he said. “I have to discover that, and there’s so many millions of other people who’ve gone through the same thing as me where they’ve tried to change who they are.”
The Idol star first came out to his fans in an Instagram post earlier in June, where he wrote that he initially came out as gay to his family in 2014, but later found himself struggling with attraction to women as well as men. He asked his followers to be “more understanding” for closeted LGBTQ people struggling with coming out, especially when those individuals are also struggling with their faith.
“Please consider making room to be more understanding and compassionate to those who are LGBTQIA+, and those who are a part of that community and trying to find that balance with their faith which also is a huge part of their identity like myself,” he wrote. “I think we can do better as people of faith and Christians, including Latter-day Saints, to listen more to the wrestle between being LGBTQIA+ and a person of faith. There are more than you may realize going through that wrestle after all the misunderstandings that come with it.”
Check out the clip from Good Morning America below:
