(Originally Published on The Huffington Post, 8/7/2012)

Logan Lynn Discusses His Return To Music, His New Single ‘Turn Me Out’ And More
By: Noah Michelson, HuffPost Gay Voices Editor

Gay singer-songwriter Logan Lynn began professionally making music nearly 15 years ago. Since then he has released a slew of albums, has seen his videos featured on LOGO and MTV, and performed around the world.

Now he’s back with a new single, “Turn Me Out”, and an upcoming album. We caught up with Lynn to find out what he’s been up to since he left the music industry, why he’s coming back, what to expect from the new album and more.

The Huffington Post: You’re just coming off a two-year hiatus from the music industry. Why did you take the break and what have you been up to?

Logan Lynn: In 2010, after five straight years of nonstop working and touring, I just needed some time to step back and not feel so consumed by the industry. At the time I was really lonely and tired and felt overexposed in ways that I wasn’t really able to deal with, so I canceled the second leg of my tour, severed ties with The Dandy Warhols and my label, fired my publicist, fired my manager, freaked out publicly in the press and gave the record I had been working on for over a year away as a fundraiser for Q Center, Portland’s queer community center. I pissed a lot of people off during the process of breaking free and in retrospect I would probably be a little less public about the whole thing… but back then it felt like the only way to take some time off and get rid of the toxic people I had surrounding me was to completely blow everything up, so that’s what I did. Once the career suicide dust settled I started giving all of my time to the queer community and have been helping to build the infrastructure of Q Center ever since. I needed real people in my life again and that’s ultimately what I found in my work with the community. Working with people in need really puts your own need in perspective.

You’ ve landed in a bit of hot water and controversy around some of the activism work you have been doing. What exactly went down between Portland’s queer community and the Mars Hill evangelical church?

At the end of 2011 the Mars Hill church bought a building in Portland and announced they were opening their doors in our community. Its founder has publicly equated homosexuality to cancer on society, amongst other very charming hate speech about the gay community. Part of my mission as an activist and an out queer man is to encourage a dialogue with those who oppose us or would do us harm, so I reached out to their pastor and we began meeting together. From there, we decided to assemble nine people from Portland’s LGBT community and nine members of the traditional Evangelical community and we have been meeting once a month with a conflict resolution expert ever since. Read the rest of this entry »

(Originally Published on The Huffington Post on 7/13/2012)

My grandfather is turning 100 years old next month, which completely blows my mind. I’m flying to South Dakota with my partner to do strange Americana activities at Mt. Rushmore and then celebrate his century of life with everyone on my mother’s side of the family. It’s going to be a very special time, and I am really looking forward to it. I wish my aunt could be there with us, but this year has brought with it big heartaches, as well, and she is no longer here. It’s devastating to think about my grandpa having to endure losing his daughter so late in his life, but he is a very wise old man, and he has handled her passing better than any of the rest of us.

I suppose that sort of deep understanding about death is to be expected of a person who has lived 100 years. He has already said goodbye to his grandparents, his parents, his cousins, his siblings, all his friends, and his wife. He is at peace with having loved and lost, and he seems to be fine with his own mortality. Clearly, this man knows something about life that I have yet to learn.
Read the rest of this entry »