Hozier, the bluesy Irish singer-songwriter, has been met with a swirl of speculation around his sexuality after the release of his immensely popular single “Take Me to Church” and the accompanying music video.

IS Hozier Gay?

In “Take Me to Church,” Hozier takes aim at organizations such as the Catholic Church that indoctrinate its people to believe that certain people are less deserving of exercising their humanity.

“Sexuality, and sexual orientation — regardless of orientation — is just natural. An act of sex is one of the most human things. But an organization like the church, say, through its doctrine, would undermine humanity by successfully teaching shame about sexual orientation — that it is sinful, or that it offends God,” Hozier explained to NYMag. “The song is about asserting yourself and reclaiming your humanity through an act of love. Turning your back on the theoretical thing, something that’s not tangible, and choosing to worship or love something that is tangible and real — something that can be experienced.”

In the music video for “Take Me to Church,” set in Russia, two men share an intimate kiss and are subsequently bullied and beaten. Hozier particularly wanted to show the organized attacks on LGBT youths, which fail to result in consequences for the attackers.

“It’s people carrying out terrible acts through the justification of far-right traditionalism, and also a long campaign to make homosexuality equivalent with things like pedophilia and bestiality, which is absolutely appalling. So that’s what we wanted to show. The video wasn’t over-exaggerating anything. We just wanted to tell it how it is,” Hozier said.

By tackling the topic of civil rights for the LGBT community in his song and premiering a video that shows the love between two men and the tragic danger they face because of it, people have wondered whether the subject hits close to home for Hozier. While Hozier thinks it’s an important subject, it’s not because he’s gay – he’s said in multiple interviews that he’s not – nor is it because there are a lot of people close to him who’ve experienced homophobia. For the musician, it’s a human issue that one doesn’t need to directly experience to be affected by.

“To me, it’s not even a gay issue or a civil rights issue, it’s a human rights issue, and it should offend us all. It’s just simple. Either somebody has equal rights, or they don’t,” Hozier explained. “You grow up and recognize that in any educated secular society, there’s no excuse for ignorance. You have to recognize in yourself, and challenge yourself, that if you see racism or homophobia or misogyny in a secular society, as a member of that society, you should challenge it. You owe it to the betterment of society.”

“If you feel offended or disgusted by the image of two people kissing,” Hozier added in an interview with Fuse TV. “If that’s what it is, but you’re more disgusted by that than the actual violence … I think you should take a look at your values, maybe.”

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