Happy Birthday to Rufus Wainwright!

Regarded as one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation, Rufus Wainwright turns 36 today.

I met Rufus in April 2008 at the GLAAD Media Awards where he was being honored. He told me something really cool that day. He said he has “always made a real effort to be completely honest about who I am and to sing about boys and about my life as a homosexual so it’s the right match.”

Then he gave this really amazing acceptance speech on stage: “An artist’s decision to live an authentic life should go hand-in-hand with success. The more honest you are and more willing to share, the more gratifying it will be for your audience.”

He also touched on something else that isn’t talked about too much about so many of us gay people: “We have to work so hard to be so brilliant and be so fabulous all the time, we often forget that we are damaged and we are hurt. To allow gay people to think everything is fine – it’s not.”