Did Childhood Sex Abuse Figure Into ‘The 5th Beatle’s’ Closeted Queerness?

With the National Sexual Assault Hotline stripped of resources, how many more Billy Prestons will grow up broken in America?

Boy on Tire Swing, photo treatment by the author

This is a follow-up to my recent article: Being Gay Was a Heavy Cross to Bear For the “Fifth Beatle.”

I am delighted with the response to my piece on Billy Preston; however, at this juncture, I feel compelled to address certain comments and links to other articles pointing my attention to a detail I deliberately chose not to address in the piece. Specifically, I’m talking about occurrences in childhood that may or may not have factored into Preston’s closeted gay life.

In a nutshell:

Not only had the iconic keyboardist/singer been sexually abused as a child, he had told his mother about the abuse at the time and was not believed.

One extremely informative Medium article about Preston postulated that the sexual abuse he suffered at such a young age must have factored into his same-sex attraction.

[Preston] also sought comfort in same-sex relationships, which likely has its roots in being abused as a child by both a pastor and the musical director of a touring musical show in which Preston…