The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Janelle Monáe says she is ‘pansexual.’ What does that mean?

Here’s how GLAAD defines it

By
April 27, 2018 at 10:52 a.m. EDT

Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Lisa Bonos.

In a Rolling Stone cover story this week, Janelle Monáe says she initially identified as bisexual, but that has since changed.

“Then later I read about pansexuality and was like, ‘Oh, these are things that I identify with too.’ I’m open to learning more about who I am.”

What pansexual means

GLAAD puts pansexuality under the bisexual umbrella, defining the term as “anyone attracted to people of all genders or sexes, or regardless of sex or gender.” Some people use the labels bisexual and pansexual interchangeably, says Kate Estrop, president of the Bisexual Resource Center’s board of directors. “Pansexual came out of the complication people had with ‘bi’ implying binary,” Estrop adds. Either term can include attraction beyond the male-female gender binary, to those who are trans, gender-fluid, androgynous, intersex and more.

Other pansexual celebrities

Monáe isn’t the first celebrity to come out as pansexual. Here are some others:

- Jazz Jennings

- Angel Haze

- Laci Green

- Miley Cyrus

Role model

“I want young girls, young boys, nonbinary, gay, straight, queer people who are having a hard time dealing with their sexuality, dealing with feeling ostracized or bullied for just being their unique selves, to know that I see you,” she says in Rolling Stone. “This album is for you. Be proud.”