Josh Seiter, a contestant on the 11th season of ABC’s reality dating series The Bachelorette, came out as queer and said he is dating a man.
“I always knew as an early teen I was different sexually, I just don’t think I had the vocabulary to articulate what that difference was,” Seiter told Instinct in a recent interview. The Only Fans star spoke openly about his bisexuality and said his conservative upbringing stopped him from realizing his sexuality sooner.
“I was homeschooled from preschool until college by parents who were born again Christians. We belonged to a sort of Christian cult of other homeschooled children, where we had to follow pretty draconian rules about what we could and couldn’t do, say, and think.
“Now, with hindsight, I can see clearly that I’ve been starkly aware of my bisexuality and attraction to men and women since at least college,” he continued.
He joined the cast of The Bachelorette in 2015 with the hopes of walking away engaged to Kaitlyn Bristowe. Though a relationship did not blossom between the two, love is still in the air for Seiter.
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Josh Seiter Does Not Like Labels
Seiter has said he identifies as bisexual and pansexual, but told TV Shows Ace that he does not feel a need to put a label on himself.
“I don’t like labels and I don’t like being put into tiny boxes or categories.” He continued, “I would say I identify as Pansexual. I love everybody equally regardless of gender… I am seeing a guy now and things are going really well.”
His new mystery man, David, is an exotic dancer like Seiter. The two have been friends for a while and actually met through work.
“David is a masculine man like myself and extremely smart and funny,” he told Daily Soap Dish. “I think working together as strippers touring the country has definitely increased the attraction and brought us closer together. We both make our living taking our clothes off and it’s hard not to be turned on by that.”
Though Seiter is content being in the spotlight and sharing his personal life with his friends and online followers, his new partner prefers to keep things more private.
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Fighting the Stigma
When asked why he decided to come out now, the 35-year-old said it had to do with his belief towards calling out the stigma and speaking up. He also sited his therapy sessions and how they have helped him to care less about what others think of him and his new relationship.
“I have extremely thick skin. I’ve been called every name in the book, almost all of them false. I’ve been called a prostitute, a clout chaser, a fame whore, wanna-be, reality TV whore, you name it. I can’t stress how little people’s opinion of me matters. Losing my father taught me that unless something affects my ability to see or communicate with my family members and loved ones, it simply doesn’t matter. My therapy has taught me the same thing. I might prefer to be liked, but if I’m not, that’s neither awful nor terrible, and life will go on.
“People’s opinions of me exist in space (mainly internet space) and are absolutely inconsequential to my every day life. I think it’s precisely because I’ve been dragged and trashed so much in the past that I can hold this sort of enlightened perspective. If people think I’m coming out now for fame, let them think that. I have no desire to change their mind. All I can speak is my truth.”
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