I was featured in a LGBT tribute with Demi Lovato

Some people become fans of an artist because of a certain popular song, but Kyle Coffey’s love for Demi Lovato has a much deeper meaning.

In 2007, Kyle, a Rutgers junior, first became a fan of Demi Lovato after she teamed up with star Selena Gomez and began to create YouTube videos. Kyle followed Demi’s journey to stardom and since then, he has been to meet and greets and concerts which has allowed him meet his idol three times. Little did Kyle know when he first started watching those YouTube videos, Demi would impact and change his life forever.

Going into freshman year in college, Kyle struggled with expressing the fact that he was gay. He said it was the type of thing in which he always knew he was gay but didn’t actually accept it.

Fast forwarding to the summer after his freshman year, Demi Lovato came out with the music video for “Really Don’t Care” and it was filmed at the Gay Pride parade. Kyle found it inspiring that a straight woman was encouraging others to embrace their sexuality.

Thinking back to when Kyle first watched the video, he said: “That was the first point in my life when I felt like I need to stop hiding this.”

Kyle opened up for the first time about his sexuality to his friend back in September of his sophomore year and listened to the inspirational song to work up the courage to do so. He then went on to tell a few more of his friends and started to show interest in guys.

Last year, Demi Lovato released “Cool for the Summer,” another song with a strong meaning that Kyle attributes to giving him courage to be open about his sexuality. He said he began talking about being gay in everyday conversations with co workers.  Demi then put out the song “Confident” during Kyle’s Junior year and he came out to his roommates and his family.

Kyle’s mindset was: “Who cares anymore, why am I not being comfortable in my own skin.”

One late Sunday night Kyle was on Facebook when he saw a casting call for Demi Lovato fans in the LGBT community who would like to share their story. He had applied to things like this before so he didn’t expect to hear back from anyone but he did. He was called into Viacom two days later where he was surrounded by production workers and bright lights.

They asked him questions about Demi, his life story, and he was able to film a personal thank you that would be sent to Demi Lovato’s management. Afterwards, Kyle found out that the video was being shot for the GLAAD awards where Demi was being honored for her excellence in the LGBT community.

Kyle said he was anxious but didn’t want to get his hopes up because he knew there were other people being interviewed for the same role. He had nothing to fear because right before Demi was given her award two weeks later he saw his face appear on national television.

Kyle posted the video the next day on Facebook which was the first time he publicly expressed his sexuality via social media and used this as a way to come out to the rest of the world.

“It was a relief in a way that she [Demi] started it and then she gave me that final push and I think that is so cool that I had that opportunity to do that with her help. I’m glad I’m at this point now, putting that video out there made me so happy”

Sadly, Kyle has not heard personally from Demi but is still happy that he was able to have an impact on her life as she did on his.

Kyle had a few motivational words for others who were in his situation a few years ago.

“No one gives a crap about your sexuality, it’s about how you are as a person. If you have friends that don’t treat you the same way, they aren’t your friends. You just have to do it and have the courage, whether it is Demi inspiring you or someone else like a friend you just have to do it.”

Like any true Demi fan, when Kyle was asked at the end of the interview if he had any other comments he replied: “Buy Confident on iTunes”.