Weeks after catching backlash for his comments about gender affirmation surgery, Paul Stanley is backing Pride month.
"I think everybody has a right to be who they are, and life's too short to be anyone else," he told a TMZ camera crew. "Everyone should celebrate who they are. Be proud of who you are as long as its something worth being proud of."
When asked if being transgender is something to be proud of, he replied, "What's the criteria for being proud is being a good person, not transgender or any other gender."
The supportive comments might be surprising, as they come a month after he said teaching children about gender affirmation surgery and gender identity is a slippery slope.
"There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification as though some sort of game and then parents in some cases allow it," he wrote on Instagram on April 30. "There ARE individuals who as adults may decide reassignment is their needed choice but turning this into a game or parents normalizing it as some sort of natural alternative or believing that because a little boy likes to play dress up in his sister's clothes or a girl in her brother's, we should lead them steps further down a path that's far from the innocence of what they are doing."
Is unclear why the KISS co-founder and guitarist sounded off on the matter at the time.
"With many children who have no real sense of sexuality or sexual experiences caught up in the 'fun' of using pronouns and saying what they identify as, some adults mistakenly confuse teaching acceptance with normalizing and encouraging a situation that has been a struggle for those truly affected and have turned it into a sad and dangerous fad," he continued.
A few days later, Paul backpedaled a bit in a broader statement.
"While my thoughts were clear, my words clearly were not," he tweeted. "I support those struggling with their sexual identity while enduring constant hostility and those whose path leads them to reassignment surgery. It's hard to fathom the kind of conviction that one must feel to take those steps."
He continued, "A paragraph or two will remain far too short to fully convey my thoughts or point of view, so I will leave that for another time and place."