This Pride Month, Billboard asked artists to write a series of love letters to their LGBTQ fans, highlighting what the community means to them as people and as artists. Below, Max Ernst of SHAED shares his coming out story, and thanks the community for “being my family.”

In 2008, the idea of coming out at my Catholic all boys high school was inconceivable. Picture an array of 14 -year old wannabe hyper-masculine bros tossing around the word f–got like it was a competition to see who could say it the most times in a sentence (I will admit that I wanted to be like them and as far as I knew, I had everyone fooled).

As you can imagine, coming to terms with my sexuality and sharing this truth with friends and family wasn’t easy. The first person I told was my twin brother, Spencer, in a late night drive to Richmond. I was 19. Before the word “gay” left my mouth, I was so visibly nervous that he thought I might have done something horrible, like kill someone. I could tell he was ready to help me bury the body, but as I explained to him I was attracted to men, the sense of relief was palpable for both of us … “Dude, take a deep breath — it’s okay.”

Next, I told my best friend (and our lead singer), Chelsea, who embraced me with so much compassion and understanding that it made me wish I’d confided in her years earlier. After that, it became easier to come out to family, friends, acquaintances, and the world. 

Of course, none of this would have been easy without the unwavering love and support from those closest to me. I realize that too many of us in the LGBTQIA+ community lack a supporting environment at home. The warm embrace I received from my family and close friends when I came out is the same love that I see run so deep within our community. Thank you for being my family.

Love,
Max