Austin Mahone Says He's Not Gay

I count such teen performers as Uriah Sheldon and Jimmy Bennett as gay-positive even they haven't made any public statements in support of LGBT persons, because their songs are decidedly not heterosexist, rarely if ever insisting that heterosexual desire is universal. And because their film work involves substantial buddy-bonding.

For comparison, let's look at "the next Justin Bieber," up and coming teen idol Austin Mahone.








Born in 1996, the San Antonio native and his friend Alex Constancio began posting songs on youtube when they were fifteen years old.  They went viral, a record contract appeared, and "11:11," aka "Make a Wish" hit the top of the pop charts.

It's rather heterosexist:

She's got me all worked up inside
And I know it's going down tonight,
Because she's moving and it's feelin right
Girl you got me feelin right

Soon Austin was appearing before sold-out crowds and being interviewed on every talk show on tv.  Other songs appeared, mostly decidedly heterosexist.

"Heart in My Hand": I'm never gonna find someone as beautiful as you, girl.

"Say Something":  Girl, I gotta know.

In 2012 Austin starred in his own youtube reality series, Austin Mahone Takeover, in which he does such macho-heterosexual things as play touch football and search for the perfect girl.

With all that heterosexist content, his heterosexual identity seems rather obvious, but maybe it was the videos of Austin and Alex having a pillow fight and hanging out in bed together that got fans wondering if they were gay.  Austin posted a response on youtube:


"I'm a guy, and I like girls.  I'm not gay.  People ask too many questions."



Translation:
1. All guys like girls.  Heterosexual desire is universal human experience.
2. Since all guys like girls, by definition gay men aren't guys.
3. Since to be "Not a guy" is shameful, you should never ask if anyone is gay.  It's an insult.

But that's not nearly as homophobic as the comments on the post.
"He's not gay, he's normal."
"Why you haters got to hate?"
"You people are sick!"
"Just because a guy is cute, you think there's something wrong with him!"
"I want to slap somebody!"

Makes you long for the old days when you read interviews in magazines and kept your comments to yourself.