This profile is part six of Queerty’s 2020 Out For Good series, recognizing public figures who’ve had the courage to come out and make a difference in the past year, in celebration of National Coming Out Day on October 11.
Name: Raymix (a.k.a. Edmundo Gómez Moreno), 29
Bio: Raymix burst onto the music scene back in 2015 with his international hit “Oye Mujer,” which has garnered over 600 million views on YouTube. Since then, he’s released two studio albums and has accumulated over 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Coming out: In a video posted to his YouTube channel in June, Raymix said coronavirus paired with the Black Lives Matter demonstrations happening around the world caused him to do some serious soul searching and he was ready to share his truth. Going against the advice of his handlers, he announced to fans that he was gay.
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“Can you believe that in 2020, there are people in the industry who told me not to do this video?” he said. “They told me that the audience is not ready for an artist who sings cumbia or regional Mexican music [to come out as gay]. With so much pride today, I want to tell you that I’m gay.”
“I’ve been wanting to say this for a long time and I’m happy to finally be able to say it because it isn’t easy,” he continued. “I am more free and happier than ever.”
Finding my flock: As it turned out, Raymix’s handlers were wrong. Instead of hurting his career, he made international headlines and attracted hundreds of thousands of new fans and followers, all eager to show their support to one of the highest-profile cumbia artists ever to come out publicly.
After ditching his old handlers for a more supportive creative team, Raymix released his first new single since coming out, “Llámame” (“Call Me”), in September. The track is a gay love song about crushing hard on a guy friend and wondering if he feels the same way.
“Why not change the game?” Raymix told Billboard. “You don’t know how happy I am for doing what I did and for my new team to support me. They played a huge role in this. Here I am, showing the world that we can and should evolve. The most important thing is to be happy.”
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