Michael Stipe celebrates gay announcement anniversary with newspaper essay

Former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has marked the 20th anniversary of his decision to 'come out' as gay by writing an essay for Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

His state of society piece recalls the moment he announced the news back in September, 1994 and he's "thrilled" how much gay rights has changed in the past two decades.

The Losing My Religion singer writes, "The 21st century has provided all of us, recent generations particularly, with a clearer idea of the breadth of fluidity with which sexuality and identity presents itself in each individual.

"Gender identification, and the panoply of sexuality and identity are now topics that are more easily and more widely discussed, debated and talked about openly. It’s thrilling to see progressive change shift perceptions so quickly."