Sharleen Spiteri: I get a lot of homophobic abuse – I’m not even gay
The star was one of the attendees at Metro's Pride Awards.
Sharleen Spiteri has spoken about receiving homophobic hate, despite the fact that she is not gay.
The Texas singer, 57, was one of the many celebrities at the Metro Pride Awards on Wednesday.
She was presented with the Inspirational Ally award by her friend John Bishop and spoke about the importance of celebrating and uplifting the LGBTQ+ community in her acceptance speech.
Speaking to Metro after receiving this award, she revealed that despite not being gay herself, she has been at the receiving end of homophobic hate.
‘A lot of the homophobic comments that are made – which is a really strange and funny thing – is that they are normally towards me.
‘And I’m like, “Well, I’m not. But what does it matter? I’m not.” To me,it is a completely out of order comment to actually make to somebody. What, you’re going to judge me based on what you think my sexuality is?
‘Just because I look a certain way or dress a certain way, because I’m a strong female, you’re assuming?
‘You get people saying really stupid things like, “Oh yeah, you have short hair.” Like, crazy s**t. “Oh, you must be a lesbian. You’ve got short hair.” I’m like, “Are you f***ing crazy? You know? Like, are you f***ing insane?” Like, what is that comment?’
She emphasised that she couldn’t understand why people would be bothered whether she was gay or not, but she was very capable of defending herself.
‘That’s been more the situation than anything, I think I manage to stand up for myself big time.’
The star was awarded at the Metro Pride Awards (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage) Sharleen reflected on being embraced as a young girl by the queer community (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)The star reflected on the profound impact the LGBTQ+ community has had on her life and career.
‘As a young kid at 14, I got a job in the hairdressers in Glasgow. For me, I was really badly bullied at school because I was not one of the many cute girls and whatever dressed about my boy and had different ideas. I liked my music. I liked my records. I liked collecting records, I played guitar, all those things, and I didn’t really fit in. And because I didn’t fit in, you know, it was, it was a hard ride.
‘But it wasn’t till I started a job in hairdressers, and then came across all my gay friends that used to like dress me up, take my Bennets, and we had the best time ever.’
‘They gave me, they gave me a big set of balls, to put it politely. They gave me the bravery to accept that I really didn’t want to fit, which was great. I found my tribe. Yeah, I found my people. I found the place that I was most comfortable and was allowed to be me and be myself. And that didn’t have to be – which is really important to say – is I didn’t have to be gay, and I didn’t have to be acting a certain way, be a certain way.’
She added that the community has ‘brought the best out’ of her and made her the person she is today.
The Winners of Metro's Pride Awards 2025Icon Award
Winner: The Vivienne
Brand of the Year
Winner: British Airways
Highly commended: Just Eat
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award
Winner: Create Fertility
Highly commended: MSB Solicitors
LGBTQ+ Network Group
Winner: ScottishPower – In-Fuse
Highly commended: Spire Healthcare – LGBTQ+ Colleague Network
Most Inclusive Employer
Winner: London Stock Exchange
Highly commended: Moody’s
Outstanding Corporate Social Responsibility
Winner: Nissan
Grassroots or Charity Organisation of the Year
Winner: Just Like Us
Highly commended: LGBT Foundation
Celebrity of the Year
Winner: Edward Einninful OBE
Marketing Campaign of the Year
Winner: Open Media
Highly commended: Millwall Romans – Millwall F.C.
Business of the Year
Winner: Wickes
Highly commended: Macquarie
Best Breakthrough Business
Winner: Williams & Hirst
Highly commended: Mildreds
Rising Star Award
Winner: GK Barry
Sports Hero of the Year
Winner: Cindy Ngamba
Business Ally
Winner: Lauryn Yuen, TikTok
Highly commended: Emma Carey, MSB Solicitors
Broadcaster of the Year
Winner: Robert Rinder MBE
LGBT+ Trailblazer
Winner: Suki Sandhu OBE and Simon Jones
LGBT+ Business Leader
Winner: Elliot Barton, Tatti Lashes
Highly commended: Anna Deignan, The Premier League
Music Hero of the Year
Winner: Will Young
Inspirational Ally
Winner: Sharleen Spiteri
Lifetime Achievement Award
Winner: Stephen Fry
Metro Global Recognition Award
Winner: Anastacia
The singer has fronted the band Texas for decades (Picture: Joseph Okpako/WireImage)Sharleen has been the lead singer of Texas since 1986. Speaking about which of her songs had been most embraced by the community, ‘Feel like I better go Smile,’ she said referring to her hit song Inner Smile which was released in 2001.
Although she acknowledged that other fans love her hit song Summer Son and have embraced other tracks in her wide-ranging discography.
‘A song like Say What You Want was always a big was a moment where, yeah, I think it touched a nerve amongst the community as well,’ she acknowledged.
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